[warm-up, creative parenting]

Did you play this game as a child? It bears repeating and is a great thing to do with your own kids. It’s non-competitive, free, interactive and instructive, for adults as well as children. Plus, if you bring a creative slant to it, it can be an experience that teaches about the close relationship between smell, memory and creativity.

THE GAME:

Place a series of smells under the noses of blindfolded people and ask them to name them.

Best played in the kitchen.

That’s it.

However, it’s not as easy as it would seem to be. Sometimes the smell is as familiar as your own name but the word for it will not come. This is probably because in order to do this we have to utilize two separate parts of the brain. The part that identifies smells as familiar and known—and the part that puts a word to that familiar and known smell, ordinarily with the assistance of sight.

It would be a great game to play at a Halloween party since this holiday is already so much about masks and the senses. Make it part of your “Haunted House” and have the kids identify a few ‘bad’ smells along with the good or neutral.

If you’re just playing this at home, talk to your kids about the brain and memory. Sit down with them and do a quick free-writing exercise just to see what the non-verbal sense of smell has aroused in your c-minds. If your children are too young to write, let them dictate their stories.

You can also use some of your game smells as the basis for art work. After you’ve played the Smell Game, tell your kids they can make art with the ingredients. Explain that this art work may not be as lasting as if you were using paint. It might be a good time to teach them words like “transient,” “ephemeral,” and “fleeting” and to talk about art and artists who make art that is intentionally so.

Smell Art Ideas:

Sprinkle jello on a paper and let them use their fingers to make art (this is a great sensory-rich way to help them learn to write their letters and numbers, but save that for another more structured time ) Enhance the smell factor by letting them dip their fingers in lemon juice first!

Dip paper in strong tea, coffee, fruit juice.

Use berries to make dyes, paint with them!

Finger paint with (a little) peanut butter. (Maybe even jelly, too?)

Put glue on the paper and use aromatic spices as you would glitter.

Take one item—how about a lemon?—and do a whole picture out using all parts of the lemon.

And, this is a whole other article, but don’t forget: edible art! Pancakes with food colouring, popcorn ball people, rice cake worlds.

LINKS

Here’s a lovely website
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110299/html/index.php made by three young people about the brain and the mind, including pages on creativity (take the How Creative are you? quiz), the senses and memory.

The Ephemeral Arts - check this one out. it’s all about ephemeral arts on the Indian sub-continent; here’s another link to the same site, one that gives examples of these kinds of art. Use them with your kids!

Stayed tuned for my own Ephemeral Arts article. Coming soon!

Have fun and never forget that anything you can do with kids and creativity, you should be doing for yourself anyway. Tapping into our childhood well, keeps creativity flowing strong!

[-warm-up, drawing-]

Here’s a creative warm-up exercise that uses categories.

Choose a category each day to draw in your journal. Divide your paper into 8 - 12 small sections. Decide on the length of time you want to devote to this. My suggestion is to start with no more than ten minutes. Quicker sketches will loosen you up. Later on, you may want to devote more time to the sketches.

Draw a version of your chosen category in each of the sections.

The idea is to warm-up your creative brain by doing quick, non-threatening, simple drawings. Doing a lot of drawings of one thing helps you explore your visual knowledge of that category. You will find that you’re going to learn a lot about yourself, your visual memory, your ability to express a simple thing quickly and you’ll find yourself being more observant of that category once you’ve done the exercise.

Here’s my “Fruit” category page:
As you see, this isn’t great art. They are quick simple, even iconic sketches. And yet, I found out a lot from doing them.

I found out quickly that to distinguish between a drawing of an apple, a peach, a plum and even a lemon is tricky, but can be done. I found out that though I have removed plenty of them, I couldn’t, when I started, remember what the stem of a pineapple looks like. I found out that in order to make a peach look like a peach, you have to turn your pencil on its side to get a softer edge. I remembered that the skin of a lemon is pitted and that’s a bit of a different pencil mark that the tiny seeds of a strawberry. I found out that in order to sketch a bunch of grapes, it’s easier (and more fun) to sketch the dark, negative spaces that just draw the overlapping grapes. I found that sometimes a fruit is best depicted by the drippy, wetness that ends up on the surface below it. I found out that it was hard for me to come up with twelve fruits and that I didn’t seem to have a clue what shape a fig is.

Try it. It’s fun and you’ll be amazed how much it will stretch you.

Here’s a list to get you going:

I threw in the last three to remind you that these don’t have to be solid objects. But stick with the simpler ones at first. See what happens. After doing these for a while, revisit a category so you can see how the first sketches compare with ones you do after sensitizing yourself to this process and to thinking visually.

And, let us know what you learned by doing this exercise!

[-crackles!-]

Today is the second full moon of June if you live in the Eastern Hemisphere. For those of us in the Western Hemisphere, it was May 31, 2007. Since I seem to have missed it last month, I’m celebrating it with those of you in the other half of the world. Either way, we both get a full moon [just barely] in June [except Aukland and thereabouts!].

The second full moon in a month is called a Blue Moon.

Blue Moons come around every 2.7 years or 41 times a century.

Even rarer is a year with a double Blue Moon. Those only occur 4.5 times a century or every 19 years or so.

The last Blue Moon was in July 2004.

The next Blue Moon will be December 2009.

Blue Moons have nothing to do with the look of the moon, though on a gorgeous summer night in June we might be excused if we imagined a special hue. Moons do spur people to be creative:

Movies:

Moonstruck
Joe Versus the Volcano
Paper Moon
Apollo 13
Man on the Moon
Walk on the Moon

Songs:

Blue Moon
Moon Over Miami
Moon River
Moondance
Moonlight in Vermont
Dancing in the Moonlight
Moonshadow
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Moonage Daydream
There’s a Moon in the Sky
Dark Side of the Moon
Bad Side of the Moon
It’s Only a Paper Moon
Harvest Moon
Song about the Moon
Ticket to the Moon
Heading to the Moon

Open your curtains as you sleep tonight and let the light shine down upon you. Maybe you’ll feel more creative because of it!

My Blue Moon photosandwich above was made with the help of hypergenesb who allows his photos to be used under a creative commons license. Thank you! I had a fun time playing with your beautiful photo. On his flickr page, hypergenesb has fully annotated his moon. Click the image to see it and his other photos!

[-craft, tutorial-]

Making handmade paper is an artform. In the hands of an experienced artist, the paper can be thin and smooth, molded to wonderful shapes or scenes and made into elaborate sculptures and vessels.

However, the good news is that making paper is just as rewarding for a beginner.

Last summer, I finally—after many years of saying I wanted to—made paper. My first attempts were so fun that I soon organized another day, inviting my friend, Sherry, her two kids–Mark and Emily, and neice, Meggan to come along. I’m including some of the many photographs of the two sessions here.

Papermaking is messy and time-consuming. Some internet sites tell you that it can be done in two hours. This is optimistic to say the least. My advice for your first time: set aside most of a day.

I also recommend that you do it outside or in a garage (unless you’re lucky enough to have a large waterproof studio). It can be done inside but then you have a bigger mess to clean up so add that time into your planning. Also, because your hands are in water or are wet most of the time, it needs to be hot weather.

Beginners should probably stick to making paper from paper. Below are some links for making paper out of plant materials but the process is much more elaborate.

There is also preparation to be done before the big day. Below is a list of materials to be gathered.

MATERIALS

Paper torn into small pieces
White or neutral paper -
- computer paper with no or little print
- napkins and paper towels
- cardboard boxes (must be unwaxed and pre-soaked)
- paper egg cartons
- paper rolls
- greeting cards (may also need to be pre-soaked)
- magazines, newspapers
(note: the more ink on the paper, the darker and grayer/browner your finished product will be)

Colored paper
- construction paper
- tissue paper

Mold and deckle

If you read different sets of instructions, these terms get confusing.

The mold is usually a wooden frame with screen stapled or tacked to it, though it can be anything that you can attach a screen to. If you have no wood or construction skills (though tacking four pieces of wood together really doesn’t take much skill—you can do it!) you can use a sturdy wooden picture frame. If you are doing this with others, you’ll need a mold for each person.

The screen should be rust-proof (plastic or fiberglass) and should be stretched tightly over the wood so that it won’t sag when the pulp is on it. The mold/deckle will limit the size of paper you can make, but don’t get too ambitious the first time out. I suggest no larger than 9 x 11 and 5 X 7 is large enough to try and see how you like it.

Most of the time, the deckle is referred to as a separate frame that is placed over the mold to shape the edges of the paper. It is not necessary to have a separate deckle but if you are making molds anyway, try it. Make a separate frame, slightly smaller than the mold. The deckle does not have screen on it. Molds can be built with a little more sophistication.

Dishpan or tub
this needs to be considerably larger than your mold/deckle as you will be immersing the frame into the tub. It must give you room for the mold, your hands on either side and some room to maneuver the mold back and forth.

Blender -
preferably NOT one you want to use later that day to make Margaritas. You’ll be tired. Go out and pay someone else make the Margaritas.

Absorbent materials - after putting the pulp on the mold, you will need something to absorb the excess water
- sponges
- flannel or felt
- paper towels - the raw material for more paper!

Pressing materials - to flatten, smooth and press out the excess water
- Formica
- plexiglass
- screen

Embellishments
- threads, ribbons
- decorative paper
- leaves, seeds, grasses
- glitter
- magazine words
- drawings
- food colouring

Optional
- gelatin or liquid starch
This is helpful if you will be using your paper for inks that might otherwise run.

PROCESS
This is a craft you have to get into in order to find your own way. I found it confusing to read all the different instructions, but once I began, I was able to proceed by *educated trial and error* and I got results that were satisfying.

1. Tear up paper, soak for a while depending on its thickness/sturdiness

2. Put it in a blender with three times as much water as paper bits; blend until it is mushy. Don’t worry about the amount of water to paper as this can be adjusted at any time. This base is called slurry.

3. Blend up enough to put in your dishpan or tub

4. Add coloured paper (tissue paper works great for bright colours) or food colouring for quicker bright colours.

5. Add bits of embellishments to the slurry if you like (for less randomness, these can be placed on the mold later before you press the paper)

6. Dip the mold into the slurry. If you’re using a deckle frame, simply hold it on top of the mold. It’s purpose is to give a more exact shape and finished edge to the paper. Slide the mold/deckle side-to-side to get an even covering over the screen.

7. Lift it out.
I used two pieces of wood resting on the dishpan to catch the excess water.



In the picture above, you can see the deckle frame (the one with no screen) resting on top of the mold (the one that the slurry sits on when you lift it out). Once the mold is covered with paper pulp and out of the water, you can remove and set aside the deckle.

8. Press the paper to flatten and remove the water. I found that a separate piece of screen worked best, but this does leave the paper with the criss-cross surface design which you might not like. The trick is to find something that will take out the water but not lift up the paper. Paper towels, sponges, rags, cloth diapers, flannel, and felt can be used.

9. Once the excess water is out, gently lift off the screen (if that is what you’re using), turn the mold over and flatten the paper onto a fabric, Formica or paper material. I ended up using paper towels because I needed it to dry quickly. The thinner the paper you’ve made, the more delicate the operation to get it off the mold’s screen in one piece. You’ll have to find your own way but it helps to have as much water as possible absorbed. I found flicking the back of the mold’s screen with my fingernail was a good way to loosen it without tearing it up. With the thickness of the paper illustrated here, we had no problems getting it off in one piece.

10. Wait for it to dry (can be stacked between paper towel or absorbent fabric when almost dry).

11. Use, as you like!

Here are some of the fun things we made:



Nancy’s with grass embellishment



Sherry’s with rice paper bits and mixed slurry colours



Meggan’s with rick-rack and magazine words



Emily’s with magazine cut-outs and ribbon



Mark’s with pretty much everything



a day’s work



lovely deckled edges



mark, meggan and emily at the end of a creative day

See our Paper Artists article for three paper-making artists who’ve mastered the art.

LINKS to other paper making sites:
- simple, clear instructions on a kid’s site
- fun science gallery gives history and lots of information
- I found these instructions clear and easy to follow
- a grade school project using straw to make paper
- from a commercial paper company
- a good article from exploratorium
- for the more ambitious: using plant pulp to make paper

Please leave a comment if any of you experienced paper makers out there have something to add!

[process, inspiration]

Book box

Originally uploaded by cramzy.

A Good Sunday Morning in May to you all!

The photo to the right is one from The Practically Creative Group on flickr. It’s posted by ‘cramzy,’ a wonderful fibre artist whose work has impressed me continually.

Cramzy, also known as Emmy Schoonbeek, does all kinds of fanciful, beautiful and colourful stitchery, constructions and embellishments. This one caught my eye because of its cross-pollination effect. It’s so many things and includes so many things all at once.

It’s fibre art. It’s collage. It’s construction. It’s functional. It’s art. It’s a box. It’s a book. It’s got words, music, textile, paper, beads and probably lots more that we can’t see. Do click the image to see it in larger form.

I believe that this process of cross-pollination is one of the best ways to be freshly inspired and motivated.

It’s easy to utilize various skills and interests in our work when we’re already FEELING inspired and creative. That’s part of what makes it fun when one good idea or impulse bounces off another to create something new and unique. But it also can work for us when we can’t find that FEELING.

If you are in the doldrums with painting, try writing in your journal. Brainstorm. Do calligraphy until it turns into something else. Play with letters until they are abstract shapes.

If you can’t get started writing, do a quick symbolic collage of your main character. Or put on music that you love but don’t often listen to.

Another trick is to use these alternate parts of ourselves to be creative while taking a break from whatever has depleted our motivation. For example, when I’ve written myself into a corner, I find cooking to be a wonderful activity to immerse myself in. It’s creative and involves the senses but it doesn’t require a lot of mental concentration. This flow of activity allows my mind time to wander in a relaxed way. Without forcing it, I often find a way out of that corner and come back to the writing inspired and motivated—with a good meal under my belt!

Thanks, Emmy, for your inspiration this morning. Be sure to visit cramzy on flickr and at her blog.

[-alterations, art, sculpture-]

by lockwasher

These delightful Robots are all made from gathered bits and pieces in the workshop of Lockwasher.

As you can see, each one is a work of art and has a unique personality. Read the rest of this entry »

[-alteration, crafts, how-to-]

by Nancy Waldman

Here’s a fun little project that grew out of The PCQ’s Alteration Challenge.

It took less than a half an hour to put together. If you have your own tin (they are easy to find at garage sales or online auctions) you can make one of these for well under $10. The ‘clockworks’ can be found at hobby stores.

Just take your drill - you do have one, don’t you? - checking the package to find out what size drill bit you need to use - and drill a hole. Insert the metal piece inside the hole and attach the battery pack to it from the backside of the tin’s lid. From the front and still using the simple directions on the clock works package, put on the spacers and the hands of the clock.

From there you just put in a battery and watch (pun intended 8)) it go!

I used a Sharpie permanent marker to draw in the numbers but you can find press on numbers that would serve the purpose.

I wanted this one to be a counter clock since the word “soap” was written on side; I can even use for storing - yes, that’s it - soap. But the same clockworks can be used to make a hanging clock.

Here’s another idea. This is a photo of a clock I bought. It’s made from a metal tin that is open on the back side. The face of the clock is a piece of paper glued to the front. This brings up endless possibilities. Find a great picture and paste it on or better yet, do a collage. Fabric could also be used. Just be sure that your clockworks are high enough to lift the hands away from the face of the clock, especially if your collage gets a bit thick. They do come in several heights so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Easy. Quick. Fun. Functional. And, what great gifts they would make.

Originally published in the April 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations; edited slightly for republication

[-photography, how-to, art-]

Words and Images by Angela Petsis

Polaroid Transfers are a fun and creative way to elevate your photography to a whole new level. The most important thing to remember when starting out in the world of transfers is to have patience, and be open to experimenting with different transfer methods because what works for one person will not necessarily work for another.

antique store still-life © 06 - 07 all rights reserved angela petsis

Angela says,

This image was taken on a sunny afternoon in St. Augustine Florida. This is a great example of an image I felt would benefit from extra alterations after it was dry. The colors were added using colored pencils, but you could use any type of paints, crayons, even markers – the sky is the limit! Make sure to wait at least 24 hours before making changes because transfers are very delicate when wet.

To begin, a Polaroid transfer is made using specific Polaroid films. These films are instant color film; when you take a picture using this film you wait about 60 seconds, and you get a color picture that’s ready to go into a photo album or scrapbook. The beauty of the Polaroid’s ER line of pack films is that if you disrupt the development process at just the right time –and your photograph can become a whole other work of art. The two most common and least expensive of these ER films are type 669 and 690. They are 3.25 x 4.25 inches. There are larger formats, however these require more elaborate equipment and money.

polaroid daylab copy system

In order to create a Polaroid transfer you must first have a method of exposing the film. You can do this several different ways, the most popular being either a slide printer or a Polaroid Daylab Copy system. The slide printer takes 35mm slides and prints them directly onto the Polaroid film – the great thing about the printer is that everything is handled neatly without a darkroom, and you need very little space to work. When I used a slide printer I worked right off of my kitchen counter. The Copycat system (see photo) uses 4×6 prints instead of slides. So you can take your digital pictures or film, print them out, and copy them right on to Polaroid film for a transfer!

Once you have a method for printing your photographs onto Polaroid pack film, you are ready to start making transfers. Your work area needs to be flat, and accessible to electrical outlets (working in a kitchen or bathroom is probably easiest, so you can have access to hot water as well).

You will need at least two 8×10 photographic trays, a receptor (such as paper) to place your transfer on, tongs, and a drying rack.

Transfers are made by interrupting the development process of the film; instead of waiting 60 seconds to have a fully developed print, you will pull apart your film after 10-15 seconds and throw away the actual print.

By disrupting the development processes, all of the dyes have not had a chance to move over to the print itself – much of the dyes have remained behind on the negative. It is the negative piece that will be placed on top of a new receptor to create a transfer. Experiment with different materials – the most common receptor sheet is hot or cold pressed watercolor paper; but you could also use silk, handmade paper, even papyrus – the choices are endless.

I like to dampen my watercolor paper with hot water before placing the negative on top. This technique is the wet or heat transfer method.

Some people will use a hot plate or blow dryer once the negative is in contact with the receptor sheet, to help the dyes migrate to the paper properly. I like to gently roll my image with a brayer to help insure that the image will be evenly transferred. Leave your negative to develop for about 60 seconds.

This is the time you could place it in a tray of hot water, or on a hot plate, but you can also let it sit until you are ready to peel off the negative. I like to peel my negative off the receptor under warm water as it seems to prevent any of my image from lifting off and helps to avoid any damage to the image.

Once your transfer is complete, let it sit in a tray of gently running water for several minutes, and place on a drying rack in a safe place until completely dry. Never stack your images or place anything on top of them while they are still wet, or they will be damaged.

Once they are completely dry you can use watercolor paints or colored pencils to enhance the look of your image, or use them just as they are. They look wonderful framed or in a scrapbook. Have fun and enjoy!

More Information: Polaroid.com
Essential book:
Polaroid Transfers: A Complete Visual Guide to Creating Image and Emulsion Transfers by Kathleen Thormod Carr

Supplies:
Daylab - a Polaroid company that produces everything for image transfers; the slide printers, copy systems, film - daylab.com

B&H Photo (has the best prices) - bhphotovideo.com
Freestyle Photographic Supplies (Excellent source for those readers on the USA West Coast)- freestylephoto.biz

Dick Blick – they have the best art supplies at the best prices (the only place I use for buying different kinds of papers/receptors) - dickblick.com

Definitely search for supplies on line auctions as well. A slide printer or copy machine (the basic models) is going to cost about $200 new. You can get them off of Ebay for half that price, and every week there are at least 5-6 listed.

all words and images by Angela Petsis - © 2006 - 2007 all rights reserved

See more of Angela’s Polaroid transfer artistry here.
Angela wrote this and took the images for The PCQ. Thanks so much, Angela! We appreciate the great tutorial!

About the author/artist:
Angela is an artist/photographer who has recently relocated from Florida to Washington state. Please feel free to direct your Polaroid transfer questions to Angela at venusthemuseatyahoo.com. Her beautiful new website: angelapetsis.com

Originally published in the April 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations

[-practically mperfect, alterations-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

I missed a day (or was it two?) of posts. Some days I just don’t have *it*, you know? I’m busy shovelling out my workspace as it has gotten overwhelmed in the last two months.

When I get inspired, I start pulling materials out of the closets and can’t even think about putting any of it back because I might need it! Since my work room was such a mess, I started working in the tv room and several other rooms of the house. Whoa. Creative energy has a way of spreading, sometimes taking over not only our minds but whole rooms. *grins*

Anyway, it’s time to get things under control again. So that’s what I’ve been doing… as well as working on several small projects - all over the house!

Emma’s robot

Originally uploaded by Lockwasher.

Today’s image is charming, isn’t it? Lockwasher does these great sculptures out of found objects and metal do-dads. Each one has such personality and the craftmanship seems meticulous. I’m very impressed.

I chose this one because it’s made from a fancy tin. And, well, yeah, maybe because this one has a heart. Click on the image to see more of Lockwasher’s bots and rockets. They’re simply wonderful (and inspiring).

Must go work on my space.
Happy Sunday, all and thanks, Lockwasher!

Here are more wonderful robots that lockwasher has created.
See all our Practically Mperfect articles
Here’s a wonderful article on the process of creativity and how clutter enters into it: Mind Space
See all our Alterations articles
See our New Again, an Alterations Challenge
Here’s an article on our human need to GATHER things
(with links to the fun results of our Collectors Survey)

First published on March 5, 2006 in the original Practically Creative blog;
Re-published as written as an informal Practically Mperfect article

[-process, journaling, found poetry-]

by Nancy Shepard Metzger Waldman

In the course of researching Altered Books for the January 2006 issue of The PCQ, I couldn’t resist tackling my first altered book. Here is the journal and some photos I made of the process and progress so far.

Take heart other beginners, from the lumpy pages and [way]less than professional results.
It’s a beginning!

ALTERED BOOK PROJECT

First Question—How can I mess with a book?
Tomes are SACRED, aren’t they?

So, I found a book in a give-away bag…Country Walks in Connecticut.

Since I live in Nova Scotia now, I’m unlikely to use it ever again. Plus, it’s well-used already. Dog-earred and warped, it also has a very ugly stain on the cover and through the first 7 pages or so.

It’ll do. It has some lovely maps and black and white photos.

MAKING IT MANAGEABLE

1st step - glue pages together … eeek… it’s not easy for me to get over the feeling that I shouldn’t be doing this. I have to think of it as recycling, renewing, making art out of what has become a book no one wants.

It takes me a couple of hours to glue the pages. I used white craft glue diluted with water. It’s lumpy … but it worked!

NOW WHAT?

Since the book is about trails through the woods, I decide to make the art about a trail through the book….

I jot down words from the page that I like or that seem to relate to each other. The last word on the page is “connects.” This makes me smile!

JASPER JOHNS: “Do something…. do something to that…”

I color the words I want to HIGHLIGHT in CRAYON (goldenrod)… I try covering up the words I don’t want. First I use some brown ink that I’ve had forever. I like that I’m using what’s here … it looks nice on the page but the print shows through. ENTER: “Acrylic Colored Gesso, Unbleached Titanium” That should cover up anything…

I took digital photos of the book so far… then began modifying the photo of the photo on the righthand page. Put in loads of color - played with Hue & Saturation, Brightness & Contrast, Tone Adjustments, and Negative.

Tried to print out on TRANSPARENCIES but my printer objected. Had to make do with card stock.
NEXT I …

until …. VOILA! here are the first two pages:

The found poem on the right hand page is:

It was fun but I haven’t gotten back to it since. I love looking at other artist’s altered books but it may just not be ‘my thing.’ How about you?

Have fun!

Here’s lots more articles on artistic Alterations.

Originally published in the January 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations