Kids’ Painted Mousepad Project

I was asked to teach a craft class at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh as part of a memorial gift in the name of my dear friend, Nancy Kevin.  Previous experience has illustrated that no one has any fun when I’m in charge of children,* but since this was for Nancy, I agreed to do it.  I took my camera to the class, but was too frazzled to get any pictures of the kids’ completed projects.   Here, though, are the directions in case some other intrepid soul is better suited to working with children.

I ordered some inexpensive blank mousepads from eBay and played around with different dyes and paints to see what would work on the mousepad surface.  I decided I liked Dye-na-Flo’s colors and the way it reacted with salt for this project.  It’s also fairly economical (unless you have an out-of-control nine-year-old boy in your class).   Note well:  Being a dye, it’s also a stain-maker, so if someone has sent their darling daughter to crafts class in her best summer sun dress and not sent a smock, be prepared for trouble. 

1. Fold a square of freezer paper snowflake style and cut designs into it to make a stencil.  Don’t let the children’s designs get too complicated.  Use a little bit of glue from a glue stick to hold the stencil in place on the mousepad. 

2. Apply the color with a fairly dry sponge, being careful to hold the stencil in place.  If the sponge is too wet, the color will seep under the stencil.

3. Sprinkle kosher salt over the dye areas while still fairly wet.  Carefully lift off the stencil. 

4. Wait a few minutes to let the salt settle and do its magic.  Have big plastic bags available for children to take their projects home, because you certainly don’t want to wait around for their parents to remember to pick them up.

As you can see, even if the stencil isn’t held in place, the results are still satisfying.  Thank goodness.

(And thank goodness I know that Nancy has a sense of humor, watching me from above. )

* I once dragged a noisy child into the supply closet with me to have a private religious education class when my husband was trying to teach the rest of the class.  Don’t even ask about the shrieking Girl Scouts on the weekend camping trip.  “Of course there are bugs:  we’re in the woods, girls.”  

Pure, Strong Color

The talented women of the Wear It Out Market inspire one great outfit after another with their versatility! Pin the chartreuse corsage on the cobalt trenchcoat and add a bright green scarflette for good strong color, then accessorize with a green cuff on one wrist and a green bangle on the other. Pull the whole thing together with a fabulous leather bag, and head out!

Felted Cobalt Trenchcoat by Vigilante Labs 
Feather Light Chartreuse Corsage by Kerreraskye
I Want to Believe Cuff by thebeadedlily 
The Artist Satchel, Leaf, by Que Jimenez
Kumah Bangle by thebeadedlily 
Patricia Scarflette by UrArtist

Shirley Temple Contest, ~1934, Chicago

Layering Colors and Patterns

You can add depth to fabric with layers of surface design techniques. For this pastel silk crepe scarf,  I made a dye paste by mixing professional procion silk dyes with alginate to make the dye a good consistency for silk screening. I cut some simple shapes from craft paper and silk screened them onto the fabric, decided that wasn’t enough, and started to play with stamps. I had some moldable foam (from Dharmatrading.com) that I heated and pressed against screen mesh and dried reeds to make the geometric shapes of the second layer.

Once I steam set those colors into the silk, I painted the thickened dye paste onto some rubber stamps I’d made and scattered leaves across the background.  I added a few scattered dots from leaf to leaf with a pencil eraser and voila, a subtle pastel leaf scarf.

You can get more information and see different views of this scarf at my 1000 Markets shop. 

This just in . . .

Found this surfing the net . . . it’s my grandmother.

Grandmother in Police Gazette

Good Greens from Wear It Out Market

Hmmm, good greens can be hard to find, but this grouping is right on the money!

Kate Wristlet in Black & White by Chic Boutique
Maya Green Leaf Earrings by Stonehouse Studio
Atomic Lace Top by Dye Diana Dye
O Green World Necklace by Amy Lee Jewelry
Silk Wrap by Althea Peregrine

Art to make one Smile

I love a sense of humor in anyone, but I really appreciate it in artists.  There’s so  much that’s precious and pedantic in art and the study of art history that it’s a relief to come across an artist with his/her tongue quietly in his/her cheek.

Steampunk is fertile ground for clever humor, with its combination of Victorian imagery with techno sensibility.  The SteamSmith has a really interesting shop on 1000Markets.  This airship is one of my favorite of his pieces, but be sure to also have a look at his Time Traveling Moose.  The craftsmanship is wonderful, even if the idea is whimsical.

I’ve been a fan of Madelyn Smoak since seeing her crown collection at the Durham Art Guild a year or so ago.  I am always mesmerized by her flawless craftsmanship and her intelligent humor. Madelyn’s a great one for seeing ironic possibilities in her fine jewelry work, as in this cuff called Man’s Time Awry.

  

Sometimes my friend Brett of Van Fleet Street Design cracks me up with the titles she gives her drawings and paintings.   I Go out Walkin, After Midnight is a print in her series honoring El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.   Somehow I get this image of this beautiful skeleton doing the Texas two-step with Patsy Cline. 

Reflections on Parenting

I came across a 20-year-old sketch book.  These were in it.

If only children had pause buttons, I would be a better parent.  

When there are toddlers in the house, tools take field trips.

Wear it Out

Great outfits can fit together like puzzle pieces . . . at first you think there’s no way certain pieces will fit together, but when they do — voila!  It looks terrific!

cork bag from Cork and Cotton
batik shirt from Susan Itkin Batik
bracelet from Tamaran Designs
summer version attitude hat by DreamWoven
pink chalcedony earrings by Elysium

Kirsten takes stranded baby seal home in her little boat