A Hands-On Class

I had the chance this week to teach a custom art class for a group of Reiki practitioners and clients! Since Reiki healing uses the hands, I wanted to do a very grounding, "hands-on" class. The group was game, so we dove into Touch Drawing . . . here's a student rolling out the ink.


And here are students beginning to make drawings, using their hands to press the paper into the ink . . .




We spent about an hour just making drawings . . . wiggles and squiggles and natural loops . . .

All those shapes our hands just naturally want to make!

Then, we combined those images with collage . . . and of course, I forgot to get pictures of the finished "products," but it is just kind of a reminder that the process is really the most important thing . . .

And the organizer, Michelle, brought me these lovely flowers! Wow! I wonder if I should offer a discount to students who bring me flowers . . .

Signs O' The Times

I know the economy is really starting to tank . . . because someone stole the word magnets off my truck last week while I was parked out in front of the Goodwill!! Yes, Goodwill. So now one side of my truck is naked (the Blank Canvas is really blank), meaning my credibility as a member in good standing of the Portland Poetry Posse is now in question . . .


But my status as a member of a democracy isn't! I just posted this Nikki McClure poster in my window . . . I got it for FREE from buyolympia.com . . . it looks like they've sold out again already, but you can sign up to be notified when they get more in, and they've still got a t-shirt for $14.95 and a bumper sticker version for only 99 cents!

I know, I feel like one of those mythical housewives from the 1950's telling my grown children to vote because grown children in other countries don't get to . . . but I gotta say I think it's important - no matter where you stand on the issues, it's important to make your voice heard, even in what may seem like a small way.

And I'm glad that here in Oregon we have vote by mail and the voter's pamphlets pour in a few weeks before the ballots . . . we all have the chance to sip coffee and fill out our ballots at leisure . . . why, when I was a youngun, we had to stand in line for hours just to vote . . . and walk uphill both ways in cardboard shoes . . .

Happy Voting!

Art and Soul: Day Four

First of all, if you're my Mom, back away from the blog. Go to another place. Why? Christmas spoiler ahead . . . if you're not my Mom (and frankly, this is more likely) please! Come on in!

My last class of Art and Soul was a No-Sew Sudoku Quilt . . . . now, I don't want to give away the whole class here because instructor Martha Sparks went to a lot of work developing this one!! (And besides, Ms. Crafty Manners knows giving away another teacher's class is a no-no). Martha had an amazing array of fabrics and ribbons and other embellishments for us to work with, and did a great job preparing everything. The pattern we used to organize the fabric was a completed sudoku puzzle (a number logic puzzle thingie that leaves me feeling a bit intimidated - thank heavens she gave us correctly completed ones!)


And instead of sewing, we pressed the fabric into dense foam . . . I brought the flowers, and the fabric with the little doggies . . all the other fabrics were hers!


Mom loves dogs, enjoys quilts, and likes happy colors, blues and yellows.


The butterfly fabric kind of brought it together (I think it kind of looks like the dogs are chasing the butterflies and vice versa). So, the plan is to make some 3-D butterflies and scatter them among the flowers! I'll let you know how that turns out . . . Mom really liked the embroidery I did for her birthday (at least, it was hanging in the guest bathroom when I went to visit last month) so I've got high hopes!

Art & Soul: Day Three

I had the chance to take another jewelry-making class, this one working with Precious Metal Clay . . . it's a clay-like binder mixed with fine silver . . . you can shape it, stamp it, texture it, mold it, do all kinds of loveliness with it . . . then fire it and polish it, and you have jewelry that's 99% pure silver. Quite lovely, and more pure than even sterling silver. Our instructor, Lisa M. Call, was delightfully enthusiastic, and you can see some of what's possible with PMC by checking out her website, or by reading the book The Art of Metal Clay by Sherri Haab. If you're local to Portland, you can also pick up PMC and supplies for working with it at Simon Golub and Sons jewelry supply at 2820 SE 8th just north of Powell.

Here are the pieces I made . . . I still need to drill the one on the left so that I can make it a pendant . . .the one on the right I just need to hook into some chain . . .


And speaking of chain . . . this particular class included making Byzantine chain with Scott David Plumlee. Now, making chain is not exactly my cup of tea . . . I find it a bit tea-di-ous. But the class was fun, and I actually succeeded in finishing this bracelet! Scott's even got a full tutorial on making the chain on his website, here.

Shiny!!

Dia De Los Muertos: Sugar Skulls

I'm starting to get excited about Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) - I'll be going down to the city of Oaxaca in Mexico this year for the celebration. Oaxaca is really well known for its art and craft. Things like wood carving, silver work, fabrics, and yes, even sugar skulls. Cathy of BossaNovaBaby taught a class last week at DIY Lounge in making sugar skulls, and I had to take it. The little ones up above are only a few inches high!


These are quite a bit bigger, maybe five, six, seven inches high! They're decorated with foil, sequins, plastic rhinestones, googly eyes, icing, silk flowers . . . just about anything I could get my hands on.

Kathy even had a Virgin of Guadalupe mold for us to play with! I had a lot of fun attempting it, though I'm not real crazy about the way it turned out . . . but I love the way the light is reflecting off of the star on the top . . .

And here's all the skulls together so you can kind of see how the sizes compare . . . If you think this is cool, Cathy's teaching another class starting October 23rd at the Alberta location. If you're not local, check out www.mexicansugarskull.com for supplies and instructions. Locally, the Decorette Shop is currently out of molds for sugar skulls, but they have ingredients for the icing and a huge variety of piping tips.