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A love of children’s-book illustrations and a need to renew her creative side sparked 26-year-old Brooklynite Katie Deedy to launch her spanking-new hand-printed wallpaper line Grow House Grow! (growhousegrow.com). “I stopped making art and became depressed,” she recalls. For folks equally despondent about their lack of craft time, Deedy recommends this easy DIY project designed to perk up bleak walls with an image inspired by National Geographic. She recommends using a photocopier to enlarge or shrink your photograph (it must be at least 4"x5" to cover a standard switch plate) and beige professional clay Super Sculpey (her husband, William Robison, once fashioned the material into realistic-looking fungus for artist Roxy Paine). A one-pound box ($12, at utrechtart.com) of the Silly Putty alternative should make about three switch-plate covers. Deedy recommends using Krylon spray paint in a semigloss or satin finish ($5, at michaels.com) for the best results.
Download a printable PDF of the vulture stencil
Step by step
1. Arrange the precut Sculpey blocks so that they form a square. Smooth out seams with your fingers. With a rolling pin, roll out the Sculpey so that it’s ¼ inch thick and even all over.
2. Carefully transfer the Sculpey to a cake pan. Using scissors, cut about one inch around the vulture’s silhouette printed on a sheet of paper. Tape the cut-out vulture onto the Sculpey.
3. With a pen or pencil, lightly trace the bird’s outline onto the Sculpey. Make sure not to press too firmly with your hand or rest your hand on the Sculpey since you can mar the surface.
4. Remove the image. Using an X-Acto knife, with the blade at a 90-degree angle, cut out the traced vulture, carefully trimming and pulling away small sections of the Sculpey, especially around the intricate beak. After cutting, trim any rough edges and use your fingers to smooth out any surface flaws.
5. Gently lay the switch plate face down on the center of the Sculpey, so that the clay completely covers it. Slowly twist one of the switch plate’s original screws all the way through its holes, creating two holes in the Sculpey. Gently trace the edge of the rectangular light-switch hole onto the Sculpey with a pen, then cut out (it’s always best to cut a slightly larger light-switch area).
6. Bake in a 275-degree oven for around 20 minutes. Let cool.
7. Working outdoors, lightly rub with fine sandpaper the side you’d like to paint, sanding in circular strokes.
8. Blow off any dust and then spray with paint. Let dry for ten minutes and fasten to the wall.
