August 2011 – Wood and Shell Assemblages with Bling

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It only took a few moments to decide that “Sand Painting” scheduled for August was a bad idea.  Think of tiny grains of colored sand all mixing together and spilling on the rugs or in the bottoms of the trays turning to that gray-brown color in your gardens. Think of beach sand digging into the carpets and scratching the waxed floors! Never mind the shaky hands trying to pour colored sand into containers, think of the cleanup! 

So the “staff” of EPD were delighted when Ellen brought out boxes of gravel…along with sea shells big, medium and small.  Pink shells, white shells, spotted shells.  Tumbled and shinny glass.  Twigs, sticks and paper bugs.  Ellen is our main supplier having taught in the school system and at art centers for lots of years.  She has stores of goodies and we not only get to play with our projects (er, work out the details), we get homemade soup and great bread!  Ellen, our folk artist, is also a great cook!

Karen supplied the wood surfaces for the “beach sculptures.”  She stopped on the side of the road and hauled a discarded weathered, wooden fence into her car while wearing her nurses uniform and heels! Then she used a small handsaw to cut it into smaller units. We give our all to this program!!

Since we all came up with different looking projects using the bounty and they all looked terrific, we knew we were ready for our first program at Prince of Peace on Wednesday morning.  The project was a great success! By Thursday morning we were running low on wood…

From independent living area in Daytona’s Riviera to Fairgreen in New Smyrna Beach, we went through bags of shells and buckets of shiny glass pieces.  It seemed that each day more people became “bling” addicted and many different designs developed filling the wood panels with glass patterns.  Everyone was able to make two or three wall hangings as we gave them free rein to create their designs.  Folks made beach and garden scenes, scientific displays of shells and wood, patterns of bling and shells, and clusters of things that looked good together.  They were creative in their ideas with no two pieces looking alike.  Because this involved selecting, designing and gluing, most of our members were able to work on their own projects with only a little assistance for tough glue bottles or hot glue guns.  The members were a very happy and satisfied at the end of the classes.

Paper Weavings

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The volunteers thought this would be an easy project though I did warn them it was harder than they thought.  But it is fun and after one evening workshop they were all addicted to it.  However, they  found out that is wasn’t as easy as it looks. In fact, it was easy to get confused!  So we realized we’d have our hands full doing this “simple” workshop. 

The strips require strength for all the pulling, pushing and yanking so we used good watercolor paper that was painted on both sides with acrylics and leftover fabric dyes.  The base form for the mat was cardstock but watercolor paper would have been better for that also.  We cut the watercolor paper into various widths between .5  and 1.5 inches by 15”.  The residents had to cut their own mats and we had many a laugh at all the times we started cutting from the outside instead of from the fold…all of us! 

Because arthritis and strokes have caused so many hands to stop doing things, we have purchased several pairs of Fiskars Easy-Action scissors which are spring-assisted making the cutting easier and the padded open handles are easier on the twisted fingers and big knuckles.  The Pioneer Fiber Arts Guild in Barberville donated the money for several pairs of them.

The activity used cognizance to move in and out in alternating patterns,  the ability to stop cutting before going off the mat and keeping the wefts somewhat even, plus choosing colors that worked together, and patience!  

Some playmates saw what we were doing and left without trying, others dove in and created several weavings including wall hangings and cards.  There was lots of laughter around the tables and all felt well rewarded with the beautiful works that resulted.  A few artists were even able to make three-dimensional weavings!

Bob, who didn’t want to weave, showed us how to fold a dollar bill into a boat (we supplied the flag) and then made newspaper hats for the grandchildren helpers (while school is out, we get extra hands to help us play).  Bob cut holes in the hats for the braids and pig tails so the hats would stay on.  Even Miss American Girl had a good time.