Felting and Folding

The kids are more into sports than crafting these day, and I'm not a very crafty person by nature. However, in January I posted about a new (pseudo-crafty) hobby, book-folding!

I folded this for Jenna, who shares my love of reading (and actually likes running) and who turns 40 this month!

Niall and Iver both watched me folding and wanted to get into it, as well, so they both requested that I thrift  long-enough books for them to undertake projects. Niall measured and did the folding for both of these!

Niall also has been learning "felting" (a craft I'd never heard of!) at school, and requested some kits so that he could make creations at home. Basically, it involves poking at wool with a "felting" needle to the point that it becomes more compact in shapes like balls, ears, and animals :) 

While drawing and painting will likely never be my thing, it's neat to hear about *new* crafts that I (and kids) can get behind!

Book folding: a craft I can get behind!

As much as I'd love to be a "crafty" person, I am not.  Even with more time on my horizon, I do not think I'm going to take up artistic hobbies like knitting, sewing, or anything  involving paint. Scrapbooking has been about the best I have done to date.

However, my friend Heather posted some photos earlier this year of some book folding she did in recent months, and I saw that it was offered at the local branch of our library on Friday. I invited Kellie, another friend Karen joined us, and Joanne taught us what is not too difficult!

Basically, templates exist that give you marking points (in cm) from the top edge of the paper, and you fold the upper corner down at an angle, and the bottom part up to meet the line edge.  There's enough instruction-following without artistic license that I feel good about this as an artsy "project," with mostly precise measuring/ engineering involved :).

Karen realized partway into marking and folding our books that the hardbacks we were provided actually didn't have enough pages to finish the "Read" that we were attempting (which supposedly would have taken four hours) but I was pretty happy with my completed “R."  I need to find another discarded or thrifted book for my next project, ensuing that it's a long enough one for what I want to do but I might be hooked on this "craft" (purchasable templates exist on Etsy, and there are few free ones I found online via a brief google search)!  I'd love to do a “Home" or "Family" fold next, while Niall wants me to do "N."  If I can do this, you can, too! 

 

3D Magic

In the last year, Niall has really gotten into 3D printed objects, often spending his ($7/month, $1 per month per year of life) allowance on little doo-dads from markets and the Co-Op (the biggest purchase to date was a ~$30 pink iridescent dragon from an Asian festival in Eureka). 

He has been asking for a 3D printer for a long time (probably since before Chris last year). While we want to encourage their own money management of things that are meaningful for them (and try not to micromanage/weigh in too much so they learn about things including regret/overspending!), we have agreed to ensure parental oversight for large/costly purchases.  Kelvin and I are both pretty thrifty and really tried to talk him out of it (and while Iver is a super hoarder of his allowance, Niall is an eager spender). 

However, N's interest has definitely been persistent (insistent!) over time and we ultimately relented because he felt it would bring him so much joy!  Kelvin did some research and Niall spent almost $300 from his money balance on this new 3D printer (including various ink shades in filament "spools") called the X-Maker Joy. Kelvin helped him set it up.

You can program the machine via an iPhone app and, after several hours, a formed object comes out.  His first creation was a (Minecraft) lantern.

He's already wanting to make something new almost daily, but we've encouraged him to limit use to weekly, so as to not wear out the brand-new machine! He's already scheming about making and "selling" items on demand to his friends (!), but we've encouraged him to only use this gadget as a fun way to create art/gifts for people and for his own enjoyment.  It definitely has been "worth it" for him (no buyers' remorse yet!), and we understand that, while we wouldn't choose to spend our money on the same, some "toys" are absolutely worth the joy! 

Sip 'N Paint

  was stuck at the hospital with high risk inductions for ~48 hours straight this weekend (:().  The kids and Kelvin "did their own thing," (FaceTiming me twice), which included a "Sip and Paint" event at Fieldbrook Winery (which tends to be warmer than the coast) on Sunday.

                                                                

Even the kids got involved in painting on canvas!

(Pizza, not wine, for the kiddos)

The final paintings!

Fieldbrook has canoes and paddle boats

"What could go wrong here with 3 kids in a canoe?" - Marissa

The crew!

On our wall!

Looking forward to free weekends when I can join the fam!

Student Bird Art Contest

A few weeks ago, we got word from Iver's art teacher, Maestra Megan, that his drawing of a Purple Finch won third place for fourth graders at the local (twenty-second) Student Bird Art Contest, co-sponsored by Redwood Region Audubon Society (RRAS) and Friends of the Arcata Marsh (FOAM), in conjunction with the Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival.

Iver won first place in this contest two years ago as a second grader for his drawing of a Sandhill Crane, but we didn't even know he still did or paid attention to art (he's become quite the sporty kid), and the submission/prize was a great surprise!  (We also don't know where he gets it from, as while I've got some musical genes, neither Kelvin nor I have an artistic [as in drawing/painting] bone in our body!). This year, over eight hundred kids participated. We attended the Awards ceremony and checked out the students' drawings at the Arcata Community Center/Godwit days this past weekend. Iver got a certificate and $10.  Our county has some super talented artists!

 

We also tracked down Niall's drawing (at which he apparently lost steam in completing coloring) of a Northern Harrier. 

A booklet featuring all the kids' winning artwork will be available at www.rras.org, www.arcatamarshfriends.org, and www.godwitdays.org  in May, and color copies will be on display at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center in May and June.

Dragon Art

 

How to Train Your Dragon is a book series (Cressida Cowell) and a cute animated movie involving the relationship with Viking villagers of Berk and dragons, which we and the kids watched recently. Niall has loved reading (being read to) the subsequent books in the series (there are many!) and has been inspired to do "dragon art." 

Iver was very interested in drawing using Art for Kids Hub around this age, and his brother has taken after him.

Dragon pop out card!

Light Fury dragon

Niall is also a pro at Origami and made this dragon "Toothless," complete with stuck-on colored eyes! 

I love when these kids are inspired to create, which is something at which I don't think I've ever been good!  And it is the year of the Dragon, after all! 

Body Art & Bubbles

The kids are pretty good at entertaining themselves these days, which is a huge blessing (sometimes, when dragged down by the incessant demands of small children, you forget that they don't stay needy toddlers...). 

Niall found a couple of sleeves of (temporary) tattoos, which I think were in the kids' Christmas stockings last year (but were entirely abandoned until this week!) and proceeded to spend many minutes to hours tattooing pretty much his whole body (My favorite was bacon on his foot. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of him).  Iver also got into it, and, while I'm ink-free and am not a general fan of tattoos, could get behind this one that Niall helped him put on his neck (they fade within a day or two with bathing)!

Niall developed either a bad conjunctivitis (pink-eye, which is almost always viral) or pre-septal cellulitis (redness on the skin around the eye and eyelid) on Wednesday and we kept him out of school Thursday because of how contagious pink-eye (even the viral version) can be and because we're pretty sure the school would have freaked out if we'd sent him.

I was flexible in the afternoon and he really enjoyed a Little Passports kit (thanks, Mom and Dad!) making bubble solution and various bubble activities. 

Here's him making the biggest bubbles he has ever seen out of solution, plastic "straws" and yarn:

Whoa!

Bubble foam maker (he got pretty grossed out by inhaling some bubble solution!)

We hope his eye is better to be able to go back to school soon, even though he'd rather be home doing body art and bubbles :) 

Paper-making with Joanne

I am a frequent flier at the local library (the librarian, Joanne, knowing me by face/name). Back in January, I saw paper-making evening sessions (with limited space!) advertised at my local branch. I've been trying to do more social and/or "fun" activities with my life and asked Iver if he'd want to join me (I feel like this is an activity I may have done at summer camp when I was not much older than he is). However, he declined and so I invited my friend Kellie along instead (she was a bit leery signing up so early but agreed!). The (free!) evening was yesterday. 

Joanne, who has done dozen of the workshops, not only sent us a reminder email but also provided all of the supplies for us, including shredded paper (recycled library hours brochures) of various colors, flowers for decorating, the framed screens, sponges, paper towels, roller pins, blender, and water.

The steps (full recipe below because I think the kids would be into this!) included blending water with the shredded paper and flowers, then putting the pulp into a basin. The screen then "collects" the pulp, you squeeze out water and tease off the sheet, then let dry overnight and iron. 

Mine are on the left (light lavender) and Kellie's are on the right-- they turned out really well!  

Joanne's formula for making paper

3 cups of water in a blender

1 1/2 cups of shredded paper

Any flowers you choose to add

In a large plastic (rectangular) bin add 9-10 cups of water

1. Blend water/paper/flower to pulp

2. Pour pulp blend into the bin with water, swirl gently

3. Dip and "shimmy" screen into bin to collect pulp, and pull straight up

4. Dry bottom of the screen with a sponge to remove excess water

5. Place screen (paper side up) on a towel, and dry again with microfiber towel by pressing down

6. Flip screen over onto a piece of cloth/felt and dry corners from behind, which teases the sheet away from screen so that it falls away flat (DO NOT TOUCH THE PULPY SHEET!)

7. Cover with textured towel and roll with rolling pin (if additional texture is desired)

8. Repeat 2-3 more times if enough pulp (subsequent paper sheets become thinner).

9. Dry sheet(s) overnight and iron flat (optional)

This is a great project (even for not-really-crafty people/moms) to try at home-- Happy Paper-making!