The valentines are still up in our house.
I keep thinking I should get out the boxes and pack them up so the palate is clean once again, but.. well... you know how it goes.
As I procrastinate about putting the souvenirs of
Valentine's Day away, I am starting to plan the next
round of workshops I want to host. More collaging,
a new needle felting project, and perhaps something more.
Running kid workshops are such a different beast than
their adult cousins.
Most of the time adults are more likely to need gentle
encouragement, childen know they've got the creative
goods. Also, the kids know they're going to have fun
and feel better for the play, adult sometimes have to
be reminded.
Adults worry more about using up supplies, or using the
Whole Sheet, the children are more aware of someone
else getting the "Good Stuff". Everybody surprises me
with what they create. Everybody. It's part of the joy.
Last week, at the children's workshop, one of the girls
(this is her second time creating with me), made a
lovely Valentine, and said "I made my Valentine." with
a tone of finality edged with a bit of hope. It reminded
me a bit of "I ate my veggies, and now could I have some
dessert, please?"
"Would you like to do another?" I asked her.
"Um, well. Sure."
"Is there something else you'd prefer to do?" I prompted.
"Well, you don't have that out." she answered very, very
softly.
"Oh... did you want to needle felt?" I say as the penny drops.
Her eyes lit up in that way that is special to very
quiet girls. "But you don't have that out...."
"But I can. Just give me a minute and we'll be set up."
All of those hours I spent between Christmas and New
Years organizing my art space? An excellent investment
that paid for itself in a single moment.The right bins
were easily at hand without any time for my student to
feel awkward or to second guess herself for asking.
It makes me wonder if an adult would have asked.
I do hope so. You should always ask.
Next time she comes, no matter what we're meant to
be doing, I'll have the felting ready for her. A girl
should have access to her medium.
The Valentine workshops are going well. There have
been three days full of paper and goodies so far (two
adult, one child). It's such a treat to see what people
make from the bits and bobs I've collected.
Isn't this lovely? The background is a napkin that's been
modpodged to a piece of matt board. The diagram of
the moon is from my antique Cyclopedia of Knowledge.
And this one. This old Christening photo pairs so nicely
and the vocabulary card fits the image so well.
This one has another image from the Cyclopedia in it.
The yard arm with it's sailors upon it is such a delightful
thing, I'm glad it's out where it can be admired.
There is one more day of collage making planned
before Valentine's Day. Such fun.
The supplies have been organized,
paper has been ordered, new bottles of glues are on hand,
and I have new toys to share... it's time for Valentines!
This year I'm holding at least two Valentine making
workshops, one for kids and one for adults.
I'm so excited.
I'm also holding a Shibori style silk scarf dyeing class.
I have three different techniques to share, and I'm
hoping to have time to make a couple more scarves
before Valentine's Day for my own Valentines.
If you click on the flyer it will expand.
For Miss Little e's children's party, we had mini cupcakes,
and fun papers. She asked for a collage party with 6 of her friends.
At our local art supply store, I found matt board bundles
(it's the scrap left over when a matting frame is cut)
which we used as a background for the collages.
The scrap was inexpensive, and had a lovely bevel.
As an added bonus it didn't warp with the glue.
It was a good party, and one of the few kid parties
that didn't leave me feeling like I'd been in a bouncy house afterward.
Here's another image from my Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge.
(Click to enlarge)
I love how the hand appears to be reaching for something.
This is a scan of the original page about phrenology from my Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge. I've left the image pretty large, so it could be downloaded and used. Enjoy!
Click to enlarge.
Okay, this is my sad story. This is another collage I
made on our Collage Day during spring break.
The background is a page from an old copy of Goethe
that uses the old fashioned script of German.
I layered half circles of rice paper and stitched over the
curves.
The little head illustration is from the Cyclopedia.
It's a diagram of the regions of the brain used for
phrenology (the study of a person's personality using the bumps on their heads).
I scanned the original illustration into the computer,
reduced the size, and then printed it out on photo paper
in a contact sheet.
Now, take a finished collage, add a kitten (known as
Mr Fuzzypants), and a vase of tulips. In the time that it
took me to walk ten paces and turn, he tipped the
tremendously heavy vase over and drenched the table in water.
Oh yes, there were words, and tears, and a pile of
stuff that went into the garbage. Utter ruination.
The good news is that the original page from the
Cyclopedia was safely put away, and I can reuse the
scan as much as I want.
This is another collage by Sweet G. I really appreciate
the way she used the textures of the papers she used.
This is a collage I made. I was really slow in creating
anything this time. But really, it's been AGES since I've
done any collages beyond valentines. Obviously,
I need to this more often.
This collage, I was really pleased with. The background
is a page from the Cyclopedia, and I loved the page
heading at the top. The word puzzle card is another
piece of ephemera I've picked up this month. It's a
vocabulary card that is part of thousand+ card set,
in its original box, no less.
Another fabulous deal that followed us home from
the Expo Antique show was a giant (GIANT) bag of
postage stamps. It was a bargain.
During Spring Break we had a collage day with Grand M,
Auntie O, Sweetheart G, and myself.
Grand M made these wonderful collages with some of
the stamps. I love the textures created in the repetitions.
This is a collage Auntie O made. I loved the way she
cut the stamps to fit the contours of the map.
This is a collage Sweetheart G made. The fern
is an illustration from the Cyclopedia, and sushi grass;
I'm such a sucker for sushi grass.
This is another collage by Sweet G. I love her uses of
color here. That bluegreen stamp with the orange
just sings in the original.
It was a great day. So relaxing. So fun.
