Stones in the water?

Well, the Girl Scout Prairie Flower encampment was a huge success. The new projects I came up with for the girls were well received. The shaving cream marbling, which I was most concerned about not working, worked! They turned out fantastic... of course, I forgot to take my camera to prove this! This was a project I tried in a class duringThing-a-Day. We just couldn't figure out a way to keep the colors vivid. Here's the process we found worked for camp.

1. Soak the fabric in soda ash and water. Dry. 

2. Spread cheap (Barbasol type cheap) shaving cream about 1/2" thick on a flat surface. 

3. Drizzle liquid dye over the shaving cream. Using a stick or fork or something like that drag through the dye until you get the affect you want.

4. Lay fabric over top of shaving cream. Smooth slightly over the top....very lightly.

5. Let set 5-10 minutes

6. Peel off and let shaving cream dry on it. Brush off when dry.

7. Iron from the back side to set dye.

8. Rinse.

These were a bigger hit than the tie dye has been in recent years.

So, the encampment is done. Youngest daughter and her husband have moved out of our basement. She graduated with her masters in nonprofit management this past weekend. The party afterwards was at our house..... another thing done. 

Maybe.... just maybe.... I will now have some time to work on some of my art. 

This is an Illustrator mock-up of what my next piece may be.... Once again it will be tissue paper on canvas. Maybe a little more collaging this time..... and more can lids. It kind of reminds me of stones in a creek. At least in my mind...

We'll see.....

Yet another silk screen...

I'm afraid I am not very good at this blogging thing. My intent had been to try and do a thing-a-week vs a thing-a-day (as in February) and post them here. Well, the best laid plans right? 

This is a new screen design for another encampment in the Fall called, obviously (or I hope it's obvious) Western Skies. It's the 25th year of the encampment so we wanted something a little special. There is one other encampment in the Fall that I want to try and do another screen for also.

I did finally give up trying to create the silk screens myself. I am running out of time for the May Girl Scout encampment. A friend of mine has someone that makes them quickly and very inexpensively. Sold! Now I am free to buy the supplies for the new programs we are going to do... not to mention get the instructions together for them too. Another friend has given me some suggestions that might help solve my issues. I'll try playing with the whole silk screen building process some more after the encampment.

Some of the new programs we are going to do are (some of these were Thing-a-Day postings):

Bathtime Indulgences - The girls will make there own bath salts and bath bombs

Simple Books - I'm teaching this and we will make a star book into necklace. We'll also make a book out of envelopes. We may do one more if we have time. (you can only do so much in an hour). I have a book pattern that is a simply a brown paper bag cut apart and folded.... no gluing or stitching. We'll see.

Memory Wire Bracelets, Picture frames with crayons glued on, Bags out of Bandanas.... and more. I'm having fun coming up with new programs for this encampment, but it is only 3 weeks away. Yikes!

Time to get ready for the real world job!

 

Next project -- Silk screens

I have a Girl Scout encampment in May that I am trying to create new silk screens for. It's called--- wait for it---- Prairie Flower! The girls bring t-shirts, bandanas, etc. to camp and can select from 4 or 5 different screens for us to print in one of five colors. We try to swap them out periodically.

The difference this year is that I am actually making the screens rather than designing them and having someone else build them. I've been having problems with the photo emulsion process, but think I may have that finally figured out. Now if I only had time to test that theory!

This long one is about 11 inches long and the one above is 3 inches by 3 inches.

Updated Picture

This is an updated picture of the final tin can lid project, plus a couple of others that I am going to submit for purchase consideration.

Final product.... sort of

Ok. Here is my can lid project. The photo is not real great, but it's the best I can do right now. Hopefully a friend of mine can get a better shot at work tomorrow. There are a couple of touch ups needed, but I should be able to submit it on time for purchase consideration. Yippee!

A previous project completed

So I haven't had time to work on the can lid project. I've been too busy cleaning and getting ready for the book club I hosted Tuesday. I came home today to find that my husband had completed the frame for a project I finished in January. 

This is the same tissue paper and matte medium that I am using on the can lid project.

Hopefully I will have some time to work on the can lids project this weekend. The deadline for possibly submitting it for purchase consideration is April 1. If I don't get it done this weekend I'll have to wait till next year.

Phase 1 of the New Project

My latest project is kind of a "recycled" piece. It's a tissue paper and matte medium painting on a canvas.  Then I am going to add can lids using Shisha or a variation of it. Shisha is Indian mirror embroidery. I did a mock up in Illustrator to see if I was crazy to even try. 

I've got the background on the canvas now, but it's not quite the way I saw it in my head. So.... I have been living with it for a few days. I think tomorrow I will try adding some of the lids. What's the worst that happens??? I can always collage over it!