Discover YOUR INNER ELF! Make things this year for the holidays.
Faux Elves: Diane Cushman, Catherine Kenyon, and Lillian Kennedy making bottle cap earrings by the fire in Vermont.
Assignment: This week invite some friends over and make holiday gifts. Yes, you read that right – you don’t need to make a Big Deal over it: have friends over and put materials in front of them. Remember in grade school when you made cards, Kleenex flowers, hand print turkeys and all the rest – they were appreciated regardless of quality and you improved your eye-hand coordination.
Make cookies together if you want, but do consider something more Elfin. After all, when you think Santa’s little elves cranking out the gifts, you think of them using their hands to cut, glue, hammer, and just plain MAKE THINGS…
Diane models her haute couture re-purposed Beer bottle cap earrings.
It’s just so fun to make things!
Inspired by Abby Sivy’s Art Spa , I invited childhood friends over a few months ago, and we had a blast making earrings from our beer bottle caps. You can talk about anything, but having “something to do with your hands” makes it more relaxing and fun.
Last week I saw Anatsui’s show at the Denver Art Museum. This African artist found a stash of metal tops from liquor bottles. Back in his studio, he began to link them together. His work is so uniquely beautiful, and it makes you realize that a lot more is possible in life than we are aware of on a typical day. Okay – he went a bit further with the materials than we did, but Elves don’t worry about being “Great Artists” – they just concentrate on getting those gifts out!
Anatsui, African artist at the Denver Art Museum. Double click on the image and enlarge.
Anatsui – Detail to show technique.
Yesterday I received an unexpected gift of a handmade scarf from a new student, Gail Denton. Knowing she made it, I want to wear it all the time. It’s included in the last photo along with some Art Spa projects such as a tea tray from a thrift store frame, a painted wine glass, a mosaic trivet, and embellished shoes. 