Tag Archives: make

Leftovers Fairy

24 Saturday Dec 2011

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As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good bout of organizing and order, and in general I am not one to hoard things away just in case. (After all, my name is actually in the phrase “spring cleaning…”) However, all that goes out the window when it comes to art. My family knows I’ve got first dibs on all empty bottles, tins, and interesting cardboard containers, and my studio features lovingly sorted, labelled drawers full of what others might consider trash: out-of-date maps, vintage greeting cards, pages from encyclopedias older than me, and rusty hinges, just to name a few. I respect and value the daily ephemera of the past, and I hate to waste anything that might one day find new life in a piece of art.

Enter the Leftovers Fairy. He’s a charming, slightly odd little fellow made from a blob of polymer clay left over from the Truth Rocks project. His other features are made from bits and bobs lying around the studio after I made a few Clockwork Cthulhus. The Leftovers Fairy is the patron saint of waste not, want not. He loves listening to cover bands and taking long, moonlit walks at the flea market. His favorite foods are wilted chard, bits of chicken stuck to the bottom of the roasting pan, and slightly stale brownies. He believes in the importance of cleaning your plate and saving your recyclables, and some day he would love to settle down with a nice lady fairy made from popsicle sticks, dryer lint, and glitter.

I think I’m in love. :)

And on this farm, she had a cow…

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

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This time of year is tricky. I am painting and crafting a dozen things I’d like to share with you, but I don’t want to ruin any surprises. I decided this project is pretty safe, as I don’t think my one-year-old nephew is checking the blog very often. :)

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I made this little cutie from a Martha Stewart craft kit called “My First Numbers Book.” The set came with a 6″-square, pre-assembled fabric book and all the appliques for the numbers and animals. My job was to organize and assemble, both of which I enjoy as a general rule.

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Like every other Martha project I’ve ever made, this turned out to be a lot more time-consuming and fiddly than the directions implied. I blame the Martha Stewart-patented font. Anything printed in that tiny, tidy little script automatically looks more manageable. “Decoupage intricate tissue paper shapes on to hand-blown eggs? Sure — it’s only three short steps!” These particular three steps turned out to take almost two hours of pain-staking attention to detail.

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However, also like many other Martha-inspired projects, I really like the results. I am absolutely in love with the brightly-colored animals in this book, and I know my nephew will be too. I can already imagine his enthusiastic cow moos and doggy woofs, and honestly it will be worth all that time and effort just to hear him say the word “bumblebees.” :)

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Truth Rocks

18 Sunday Dec 2011

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Art represents both communication and restoration for me. It helps me revel in the joy of every beautiful, blessed breath I take today. It also allows me to explore and share the hardest parts of yesterday, so that I can grieve my losses and discover the goodness that will undoubtedly come from them.

To me, art is also about relationships, about voicing the feelings and truths that might otherwise go unexpressed. I love that both my children are artistically inclined in their own ways, and I treasure the artwork they share with me; every piece is like a little window into how they feel, what they think, and who they are. Kids are complicated, always changing and questioning and becoming, and I value the glimpses of clarity their art provides.

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A few months ago I wandered on to an art site called Brave Girls Club, and the name alone was enough to win me over. It is run by a pair of sisters whose main focus is art classes that give girls and women opportunity for creative fun while encouraging some real soul-searching, honest reflection. When I saw they were hosting a three-week on-line art retreat for mothers and daughters, I knew it was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. My daughter was equally excited about the prospect of making art and memories together, so we signed up and gathered our supplies.

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Each week there are new projects with how-to videos, detailed directions, and pdf’s to print out. Last week, we made Truth Rocks. Brave Girls Club provided gorgeous little inspirational phrases, which we printed and cut out, then decoupaged on to the backs of large glass pebbles. The last step was to cover each one with polymer clay; I also stamped mine for texture and brushed on metallic mica dust to give them a little shine.

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I love the sentiments the Truth Rocks express, and there is something so special about reading them, about holding a small piece of something real and beautiful in your hand. It has been touching and more than a little revealing to discover how my daughter perceives me, what needs she senses and what strengths she values.

I appreciate this kind of focused quality time with her, and it also gives me a bit of peace to know she is carrying away something concrete to show her how I feel. An 11-year-old girl’s memory might get hazy with time, and I won’t always be around to tell her how greatly she is valued and loved; but I know the art projects we’ve made in the last few weeks will keep on echoing those important truths.

It’s a small world

15 Thursday Dec 2011

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As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sucker for life in miniature. (It dawns on me that perhaps it’s not coincidence that we own a toy poodle and a chihuahua…) While there is a time and place for chocolate chip cookies that require two hands, I generally gravitate toward the bite-size. And in the studio, I love the challenge of small, intricate artwork. If life is in the details, I’m living well. :)

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It should come as no surprise, then, that I was so excited to read Microcrafts: Tiny Treasures to Make and Share by Margaret McGuire and friends. It contains patterns and pictures for 25 little whimsical projects. Among my favorites are matchbox-size felt monster babies, walnut shell sailboats, and mini-fabric bunting just crying out to decorate the top of birthday cupcakes. However, there was no contest for which piece I would try first: as soon as I saw the itty-bitty solar system mobile, I was already reaching for my art supplies.

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I recently tried my hand at felting for the first time (the process of making handmade felt from wool roving), so I already had a bin full of hand-dyed alpaca wool waiting to be turned into little planets. The process itself was fairly simple and the only other requirements were soapy, warm water, a bamboo mat (like the type sushi is rolled on), and a little patience.

This turned out to be a great do-together for my daughter and I, as we took turns rolling and shaping the wool into various heavenly bodies. (The only drawback was that our hands smelled like wet alpaca for days. I can now add “smelling like a llama left out in the rain” to my list of Weird Things I’ve Done for Art.) The finished felted spheres range in size from 3/4″ to 1 1/2″ in diameter, and as you can see from the pictures above, they are a fraction of the size of the wool balls with which we began.

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After a day of drying time, assembling the mobile was also pretty straightforward — just a matter of threading embroidery floss through each piece and tying them on. I harvested a couple of twigs from the tree in our front yard to use as the hanging frame (quite possibly the only useful contribution a Bradford pear tree ever made). I already knew my complete lack of scale wouldn’t be winning me any new astrophysicist friends, so I threw in Pluto too. Really, how could I possibly make a miniature solar system model and not include our diminutive neighbor? (Don’t worry Pluto, you’ll never be too small for me.)

(Microcrafts, Quirk Books: 2011, ISBN 978-1594745218)

Inspired

08 Thursday Dec 2011

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What a sweet source of inspiration my children are! Every day they inspire me to do more, create more, trust more, and love more. They remind me to take chances, both as an artist and a human being. This art journal is my attempt to capture my daughter’s passion, humor, and creativity and what an encouragement those things are to me.

Since this is meant to be more journal than scrapbook, I started by writing a series of letters to Kenzie about the ways she delights and inspires me. Then I added in photos I took while she was in full-on create mode, with sketchbooks, markers, and pencils spread out all around her.

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The journal itself started life as a blank 6″x6″ chipboard window album from Maya Road. Each page has a cut-out that allows you to view the next, so it was a fun challenge to place all the pictures and papers so that images showed from one page to the other. I chose papers and embellishments in my daughter’s favorite bright palette, with a vintage feel that she also loves.

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My daughter’s artwork is much like her: cute, quirky, and fun. I asked for donations of drawings and then cut them out and placed them so they are highlighted among the letters and photos. Her imagination is full of the cutest little characters.

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One of the things I admire most about Kenzie is how fearlessly she loves. Whether it’s the people around her or her newest hobby, she is completely prepared for joy. My challenge as a parent is to help her guard her heart, and yet somehow she teaches me more every day about opening mine up.

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One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my recent health issues is not to wait. I want my loved ones to know they are treasured because I have clearly said and shown it is so. I think this journal is a step in the right direction. :)

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Paper monster invasion

04 Sunday Dec 2011

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Thanks to my artsy kiddos and their new favorite book, there are miniature paper monsters cropping up all over the house. Their cumulative paper-crafting zeal and Papertoy Monsters: 50 Cool Papertoys You Can Make Yourself! by Brian Castleforte have populated our dining room table with a 5″-tall community of charming little creeps. (Clearly the cut-and-paste gene has been passed on. :)

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There are 50 original papertoy templates in the book, from Confetti Yeti to Octopup. Author Castleforte and the 24 other contributing artists are talented, imaginative designers, evidenced by their fun paper menagerie. The monsters all feature a mini biography and easy-to-follow instructions, and they are printed in full color on cardstock that’s been both perforated and pre-scored for easier assembly. I am usually leary of “just tear here” paper crafts, but these actually work; unlike my daughter’s paper doll years, the last few weeks have heard very few cries of frustration over inadvertent paper amputees.

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I would recommend Papertoy Monsters for those over age 10, including the grown-up paper artist with a sense of humor. Some monsters require more of a patient, careful hand than others, and I wouldn’t give this book to an amped-up fifth grader who needs to run off a sugar high. But it is just right for quiet time, and in my years of teaching art, I have found kids of all ages have a surprising capacity for focus and detail if the project is engaging and the end result worth the effort. These papertoys certainly meet those requirements.

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(Workman Publishing: New York 2010, ISBN 978-0761158820)

Housewarming Tree

30 Wednesday Nov 2011

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I made this paper tree full of birds as a housewarming gift for dear friends who just moved in-state. Something appealed to me about using vintage maps to welcome them, and the colors seemed a good fit for their charming 1920s home. I am often drawn to using books and text in my artwork, a natural tendency I suppose for an English major and bibliophile. I’m among the few shoppers for used books who entirely bypass consideration of subject matter in favor of pretty fonts. :)

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Making the little birds required some patience, but I don’t mind that at all. Whether in the kitchen or the studio, I find great therapeutic value in hours spent on methodical, detailed tasks. It gives me the opportunity to put all my energy into accomplishing one single thing well. That kind of focus is an increasingly rare occurrence among my other daily responsibilities, and I find I need the balance provided by those deliberate, harnessed moments; they result in a beauty of their own, no matter what I create.

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One of the housewarming tree’s layers of texture comes from cashmere wool the color of linen (also the color of book pages). I finished the tree off with a curled paper nest at its base. It probably says more about me than I care to admit that the little paper nest didn’t get added until three weeks after I originally gave the tree away. I planned to put it on there all along, but my life seldom divides neatly into “before” and “after,” so why should my artwork? I kind of like the potential in that.

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Everything Alice

25 Friday Nov 2011

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“Well!” thought Alice to herself. “After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!” (Which was very likely true.)

I love Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I make a point of re-reading both annually, and they make me smile until my cheeks hurt every time. How can you not love literature that manages to exemplify both scathing political commentary and dry British humor, equal parts insightful observation and complete nonsense?

Alice has inspired multiple art adventures in my own studio, so I was excited to find Everything Alice: The Wonderland Book of Makes and Bakes. The book features 50 different projects based on Carrol’s work, with crafts and recipes ranging from Teacup Candles to Topiary Cupcakes; Duchess Macaroons to Lavender Dormice sachets. It’s clear that authors Hannah Read-Baldrey and Christine Leech are plenty creative and genuine admirers of all things Wonderland.

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I thought I’d give you a sneak peek and share my first project from Everything Alice, a fabric-covered teapot planter. I started with the inexpensive, Japanese-style ceramic teapot pictured above. (thank you, T.J. Maxx) This piece was also the obvious home for some Alice in Wonderland fabric I had squirreled away in my sewing supplies. The only other requirements were scissors, a paintbrush, Mod Podge, and two hours’ time to cut the fabric into strips and glue it on the teapot.

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I decided to finish my teapot planter off with some teabag-style tags made from a vintage playing card and a suitable quote: “It was all very well to say ‘Drink me,’ but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry.” The final touch was a few resin beads to compliment the colors and shapes of the Queen and her deck of subjects. I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

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If you’re the sort who likes to keep her hands clean, this probably won’t be your favorite craft; however, if you were one of those kids who loved making a second set of fingerprints out of glue, then have I got a project for you! (That’s the first time I ever got Mod Podge on my elbows before. :) My studio will soon have a little Alice-inspired native flora, and I can officially say I’ve upholstered my dishes. What more could I ask for?

P.S. — I can’t post about Alice without plugging my very favorite film version, the 1999 production originally shown as an NBC miniseries. It is true to the books in tone and whimsy, though much more laugh-out-loud funny. The music and special effects are charming without being too pretty, and there are dozens of big-name actors involved. My favorite characters are Martin Short as the Mad Hatter, Miranda Richardson’s Red Queen, and, best of all, Gene Wilder as the Mock Turtle. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing a real treat. (It’s streamed on Netflix for those of you with a membership, or you can rent/buy it on Amazon.) It is one of my family’s top five “cocooning” movies — the sort of film perfectly suited to cuddling on the couch with a quilt and a mug of hot chocolate.

All dressed up

17 Thursday Nov 2011

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I love miniature versions of everyday items, and I can’t resist a good bargain. So when I found this 24″-tall dress form for cheap, there was no question it was coming home with me. What most appealed to me were the classical female curves formed from angular, iron bars.

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I started by piecing together the “heart” with painted canvas, hand-dyed fabric, vintage jewelry, and a snippet of text cut from a vintage 1950s ladies’ magazine advertisement. It reads: Where did you come from and where will you go from here? Have you lived before? Are you afraid to die? (Don’t see a lot of Cosmo ad campaigns that question the very nature of life these days. :) I suspended the heart inside the breast of the dress form and then started work on the outside.

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As with most women, this piece is made of lots of layers, some of which aren’t visible from the outside. First is pale pink Asian rice paper, followed by layered strips of hand-dyed fabric, then more handmade papers, ribbons, and beaded flowers. I stuck with traditional feminine colors and shapes made from materials that supply lots of texture.

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For me, this piece of artwork has special significance. It speaks to the recurring challenge of being both fragile and strong. When you look up “tender” in the thesaurus, its suggested synonyms are “soft” and “weak.” I think it’s just the opposite: being vulnerable, choosing to live and love, takes the most strength of all.

Mobile Art

13 Sunday Nov 2011

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I am a lifelong, card-carrying member of the Cut-and-Paste Club (Platinum Kindergartner level — and, yes, I made the card myself). I was sold from the moment the five-year-old me unfolded a little wedge of paper and discovered that all those pleats and snips had created a big, beautiful snowflake.

So you can imagine my excitement at discovering Mobile Art: Papers, Designs, and Instructions for Twenty Stunning Mobiles. So far I’ve made a charming Matryoshka doll mobile (picture above from the book), and it was surprisingly quick and simple. If you’ve got twenty minutes, a pair of sharp scissors, glue, and twine, then you’ve got a piece of art. Some of the mobiles are whimsical, some seasonally-themed, and some distinctly Calder in design. Simple shapes and colors reign, but the subjects range from cupcakes, to abstract mod shapes, to peas in a pod.

As a paper-crafting geek, I actually have opinions about adhesives and cutting tools. (Just smile and nod.) For the projects in this book, I love EKTools Honey Bee Scissors: they’re small, sharp, and have non-stick coated blades so you can cut tape and stickers with impunity. My adhesive of choice for these mobiles is Weldbond, a thick, white glue that will stick anything to anything — and believe me, I’ve tried. Mosaic tiles to the top of a dishwasher, floral napkins to desk shelves, glass beads to a Gibson guitar, wire limbs to a tree made from books… sticking twine to paper is a gimme for this stuff.

I’d love to see a link to your favorite cut-and-paste project in the comments section. Next on my list is a mobile shaped like a tree limb, with birds and leaves suspended from it. I think it will look great brightening up a corner of our homeschool classroom. :)