Since we moved into our new place I've been fishing for some type of project to brighten up our living room. Because our adventure is temporary, I didn't think about bringing decorations on the trip... now I regret not having pieces to make it feel more like home. To fix the problem, I decided to whip something up that was both practical and decorating.
Esma Pacal Turam isn't very well known in the US - yet. She is an amazing artist from Turkey who focuses on creating lacy sculptures out of one of my favorite materials: hot glue. I never thought about this technique before but it makes perfect sense because hot glue is moldable before it dries very fast and keeps it's hard shape while staying light and flexible. Although she doesn't have very many examples on her site, the idea is inspiring enough for me to pick up my hot glue gun and make something unique.
 To start, I bought a plain canvas, lots of hot glue sticks, paint and a blow dryer. You'll find out what the clock hands are used for next time.
 I quickly sketched a design on the canvas to get the shape right. It doesn't have to be perfect or stencil-straight because the lines will get slightly messed up later anyways.

 I didn't want the plain white canvas as the base so I quickly covered it with a solid color and then let it dry overnight. If it doesn't dry all the way, the glue might pick the paint up with it later.
Once the canvas is dry you can start gluing your design. If the solid color was light enough, you should be able to faintly see your design underneath as a guide.

 I love the way the lacy glue looks! Part of me wanted to stop right here and call the project done - perhaps during another time this technique will look perfect on it's own. However, for this particular piece I decided to continue on. So, after mixing up some paint I used the glued lines as borders and went ahead.