Category Archives: Creativity/Spirituality

Musings/thoughts/questions about creativity and spirituality

What We’re Making: Paper Plate Owls

November 25, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makinggroup art project, group craft, group craft project, owl, paper craft, paper plate

We made owls out of paper plates the other day, and look how fun and fall-like they turned out!

Some tips from Kaye:

Tracing the fold lines on the plate’s back helped our folks with the logistics of the process.
I sorted the eyes, eye pupils, beaks, and talons (we provided a choice of color in all) into egg-carton sections for transport.
A stapler helped hold the folds in place for easier coloring.
In a room with a blank wall, it would be fun to craft a huge tree from brown wrapping paper and set the owls to roost.

Here’s the full how-to!

Draw the following fold-lines on the paper plates:

In the center of the plate draw rows of scalloped lines to be the owls chest feathers:

Fold in the sides along the lines.

Color the wing feathers:

Fold down the top part of the plate. This will be the owl’s head. Staple it to keep it in place.

Color the owl’s head. You could make it match the wing feathers, or make it stand out.

Make a pair of eyes for your owl by gluing small circles inside large ones.

Glue the eyes onto the owl’s head. Also glue on a beak.

Give your owl some talons.

And you’re finished! What is your owl’s name?

What We’re Making: Finger Puppets

November 25, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makingfinger puppets, group art project, group craft, group craft project, poster board, puppets

Our participants love making anything that transforms them; hats, masks, or these fun finger puppets are always winners.

These are especially great because they are so simple to prepare!

From some poster board, cut out an oval and 2 circles for finger holes–size these holes to the participants’ hands. To cut out the small holes, pierce the poster board with an Exact-o knife, then use fingernail-sized scissors to finish the job. (This step may be best to do ahead, as the small scissors can be a little hard to maneuver.)

Then have the participants draw on their finger puppet to bring it to life!

You can also add other poster board decorations to the edges of the oval for a different effect. For that you may want to provide templates for additions that might be challenging to draw (hats, wings, etc.), that way, participants have the option of tracing and cutting, or going rogue and doing whatever makes them grin.

Didn’t they make some neat puppets!?

Here’s to transformative art!

Young Artists Club: Alexander Calder

October 30, 2016Creativity/SpiritualityCalder, circus, group art project, group craft, group craft project, sculpture, wire

Alexander Calder might have been a lesser known name among our club members, but what a body of work to explore! Mobiles and wire sculptures and the circus, oh my!

Though we discussed many of the various mediums in which Calder worked, we primarily focused our hands-on time making wire sculptures, stabiles*, and collaborating on a wire circus of our own! Check them out:

(This wire sculpture got a little out of focus, oops!)

If you’re interested in learning more about Calder, I found this site particularly good as an overview of his life and work, and this site has a nice photobiography section to look through.

The circus our club members created will be on display during Gifted2Give on November 13th here in Austin! Come see it in person, and make some holiday gifts while you’re there!

*Which was an art term I myself had never heard of! It was used to describe a period when Calder was making stationary sculptures, as opposed to his period of making mobiles. It was neat to learn this alongside our club members!

What We’re Making: Fish in Motion

October 23, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makingfish, group art project, group craft, group craft project, paper, paper craft

Don’t these moving fish look neat!?

Kaye found the instructions for these here, just follow the link for their excellent walk-through! There’s a definite origami feel to the first few steps (folding the paper to make it a square, making further folds and then unfolding). Once you get to cutting you may need to assist participants with not cutting too far into the paper. Kaye said she also provided templates for the lower jaw, back fin, and side fins for those who wanted to use them.

This was a really fun papercraft, taking something solid and making it move.

I think these would be really cool to hang on the wall next to some watercolor jellyfish!

Happy creating, all!

What We’re Making: Silly Faces Books

October 16, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makingcartoon, cartooning, draw, drawing, group art project, group craft, group craft project

Did you have one of those “Learn to Draw Cartoons” books growing up? I remember my brother had one and loved it. (Incidentally, he works as an artist for video games now!)

Earlier this month Kaye pre-made these wonderful Silly Faces books for our participants to draw in and on. It was just a simple front cover of posterboard, three internal pages cut horizontally into thirds, and a back cover of posterboard. She said they would really work best if you have a binding machine; we used binder rings, which worked well enough, but the pages dangled a bit.

Kaye put examples of different cartoon eyes, noses, and mouths out on the tables for participants to reference. Then she instructed them to open their books, and draw what ever eyes, nose, and mouth they wanted on their first page. Then they all turned those strips to the next page and drew another set of eyes, nose, and mouth. Finally they drew more features on the last page of their books.

Of course the point of cutting the pages horizontally is to mix and match the faces around in fun ways! Our participants loved changing up the faces, as well as learning simple cartooning techniques.

This is one of those nice activities, too, that participants can really add to after our initial art period. They could decorate the covers, or add more face pages!

Have you ever tried drawing cartoon faces? A book like this would be a fun way to start, or even to practice your skills!

What We’re Making: Leis and Surfer Shirts

September 15, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makingleis, necklace, paint, paper craft, surfer shirts, watercolor

Maybe it’s almost fall, but here in Texas, it still feels like summer. And to me, summer means going to the beach! In August we made our own leis and surfer shirts with our groups to really get in the spirit of the season.

The leis were made from construction-paper flowers interspersed with sections of straw. Kaye prepped the flowers and straw pieces ahead of time, and also wrapped one end of the string in tape for easier stringing. Once on site she taped the strings to the table at each participants place, leaving enough room to knot the leis after the participants were done. She said this made tying the final necklace together much easier!

For the surfer shirts, Kaye cut shirt-front shapes from butcher paper. To decorate the shirts, we provided both watercolor markers for drawing, and sponge stampers and ink pads for flower-making.

Then everyone could pin on their surfer shirts and put on their leis and be all set for the beach!

Did you go to the beach this summer? Show us your fun beach attire!

What We’re Making: Happy 4th Stars and Wreaths

June 26, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're MakingFlag Day, Fourth of July, paper, patriotic, wreath

It’s definitely summer here in Central Texas! We’re getting ready for July 4th celebrations with some fun Red, White, and Blue decorations.

Here’s one of our participants showing off what we made: 3D Paper Stars, and Doorknob Wreaths!

We made the 3D Stars using a template (found here: http://www.hopefish.co.uk/how-to/how-to-for-crafts/3-d-three-dimensional-christmas-stars.html) printed onto cardstock and decorated with markers. To make one yourself you’ll also need:

scissors to cut out the initial shape,
a ruler to help crease the fold lines, and
tape to help the final piece hold its shape.

If you’d like to hang up your star for display, you’ll also need a small hole punch and some ribbon.

First, decorate the blank side of the star however you like. (We modeled a Stars and Stripes design, though our participants were encouraged to be creative.)

Then, flip it over to the lined side and crease all of the lines (using the ruler to help keep the creases straight). If you’re going to hang up the star, punch through the holes at the top.

With the lined side facing you, fold along the lines so that the long lines go out and away from you, and the short lines come toward you. The center point will also move out and away from you.

Fold the edge flaps together and tape them. Run a ribbon through the holes and hang up your star for all to see!

The Doorknob Wreaths we made out of snack-sized Styrofoam plates and plastic tablecloths cut into strips. Kaye says she’s used crepe paper for the strips in the past, but that the plastic tablecloth is easier to use for participants with fine-motor difficulties.

Simply cut the center out of the plate and tie the plastic strips around the edge in whatever pattern you like. Very simple but the end result is quite festive!

Of course these could easily be customized for any holiday or celebration, using whatever colors you like. I think they would make a nice garland if you strung a bunch together!

Happy Creating!

What We’re Making: Spring Bouquets

May 28, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makingflowers, paper craft, spring bouquet

A Mother’s Day Spring Bouquet! Earlier this month our participants made flowers for someone special in their life. This paper craft was simple to do and the results just burst with color and life!

Take a piece of green construction paper and draw even lines across the short edge (this may be best to do ahead of time for a large group, as it’s the most time consuming part).

Then fold in half length-wise and cut the down the lines. Make sure they stay connected at the bottom! (But, if not, there’s always tape. :-))

Take a paper candy cup and cut the folded edges in toward the center to create petals. Then color the centers and petals if you wish!

You can cut other flower shapes (like this tulip shape) out of pretty construction paper, or patterned scrapbook paper.

Glue your blooms to the top of your green stems.

Then roll the green piece of paper into a circle and secure with a paperclip. Voila, a lovely bouquet!

You can also tuck a card among the flowers if you’re giving them as a gift.

Here’s some pictures of our participants at work!

Who in your life could use something springy to brighten their day? Why not make them a lovely bouquet!?

Clay Sculptures and Wildflower Prints

May 11, 2016Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Makingbluebonnet, clay, prints, recycled, sculpture, stamps, wildflower

Last week Kaye led another spring-filled day of art here in Austin. 🙂 Here’s what our groups made!

Our participants love the tactile nature of working with clay, and really, who doesn’t? We focused on some classic techniques: pinch pots and coil pots. Participants could also use the clay and texturing tools in whatever way their imagination led them!

We also used recycled materials as stamps to create flower prints. Some of these transformations were:

Cut sponges (those were new :-)) became stems for flowers,

paper towel rolls (reinforced with painters tape so they wouldn’t disintegrate!) became leaves, and

single-size soda bottles became flowers.

The bluebonnet prints were especially fun, as participants got to dab on the blossoms with their fingers. We used purple for blossoms in shadow, blue for blossoms in sunlight, and light blue for highlights.

Kaye said the bluebonnet prints could be hung up to dry, but that the soda bottle flowers were best drying flat so the paint didn’t run.

The drying rack looks like a garden! Here’s to a spring full of creativity!

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A blog about creativity and spirituality

Category Archives: Creativity/Spirituality

What We’re Making: Leis and Surfer Shirts

What We’re Making: Happy 4th Stars and Wreaths

What We’re Making: Spring Bouquets

Clay Sculptures and Wildflower Prints