happy samhain, all hallow's eve, dia de los muertes, harvest!

butch haiku #1

ah barbershop buzz
he says "make you beautiful";
clippers my eyebrows

October Craftorama

Coming off a brutal few weeks of work, I suddenly had a four day weekend and some breathing space ahead.  Relaxation was definitely in order, but it occured to me I didn't want to just fritter the time away completely, but focus myself onto something fun and creative.  And so October Craftorama was born, a self-imposed project of ten days - ten crafts.  I decided each day to make something and photograph it, starting on a friday and running to the next sunday.

Day 1 - small needlefelted pumpkin.  This turned out gorgeous and has given me a renewed itch for trying 3d felted projects.  Thanks to Alison for starting me on dry needlefelting a few years ago.  This involves using roving (wool before it's yarn), and poking it with barbed needles so the wool fibres bind together.  Holding and poking it into shapes is the real trick.  Off to a brilliant start if I do say so myself.

Day 2 - 'quilling' autumn tree.  So glad I thought of this craft, though I've only tried it once before, and that was years and years ago.  Rolling thin strips of paper, pinching them into shapes, and gluing them to form a picture.  The tree was a simple and effective choice.  This one garnered great reviews from friends and I ended up gifting it to Jackie.  Again, I'm thinking I'll do more of this later.

Day 3 - paper mache skulls. Ugly plastic skulls from the dollar store, flour and water paste, torn up newspaper, paint.  I love mexican day of the dead (dia de los muertes) designs and tried for that look.  Remembered too late that I hate the goopy feel of the paste.  Memories of elementary school and making friends do that part in exchange for artistic design and painting.  Still, paper mache does look cool and really transforms an object.  The flour and water paste which becomes cement is lovely magic.  Wish I had taken more time and care to do more detailed painting, but overall they are fun and have the right spirit.

Day 4 - stencilled butch hankies.  Used mylar (clear plastic) to try and make a stencil and it was too thick.  In the absence of thinner plastic I used paper, which worked ok but only works once.  Forgot to protect inside layers against paint seepage.  Sigh.  I was most pleased with the designs, and hope to do something like this with silkscreen in the future.

Day 5 - recycled paper rolls pot.  I've seen this done beautifully with smaller strips of recycled magazines made into bowls and other objects.  I made too many folds so it was a bit clunky but a good first try and fun way to use up magazines, definitely a good watching tv craft.  As always, more patience would produce a better result. 

Day 6 - halloween lights.  Simple and fun, sheets of mylar with faces and tissue paper glued in, rolled up, set over lights.  Good for a day with less time for the challenge.  These made their way to my honourary nieces and nephew at the Mamberlains family friday before halloween.

Day 7 - simple origami paper wallets.  Another butch craft, I used a transit guide, a map, and a star chart.  Covered one side of the paper with packing tape for durability.  The tape crinkled up but otherwise I like these and when I further reduce what I carry around I would use them.  Picking the papers was the most fun.

Day 8 - robot stitchery.  Ok, no skill on display here, my first attempt at embroidery/stitchery ever, looks like it was done by a clever 5 year old.  Still, I love the robot and I liked trying this.  Bought a book of with a playful approach to stitching for inspiration and future projects.  In the end, this was my personal favourite, it's not beautiful but it is full of joy and is so very very me.
Day 9 - decorative mirrors.  Needed an excuse to go to the hardware store and break out the serious glue.  The one with metal miscellany turned out great, the others so so.  Although confetti of tiny beads is super bright and fun, taking more care with the glue would have been wise.
Butch make craft with hardware and silicone glue!

Day 10 - monprints. For the big finale I broke out my long neglected monoprint supplies.  Paint with watercolours onto sanded plexiglass, let dry, layer paint, dry, soak paper in water, pat paper dry, press onto plate, (cover with plastic and rub with the back of a wooden spoon for a good press by hand), lift paper and voila!  These didn't photograph well but look nice in person and the skull made of splattered colours was a nice return to dios de los muertes.  The crow is painted on the print afterwards.

I did it!  It was hard to think up all new mediums, and to do each project start to finish in one day.  I had many other craft ideas (making soap for example, yarn art, linocut, and many more).  Some required more time to research and learn, others would have taken more time to complete, or more space than I have.  Basically I do everything on my coffee table.
Craftorama was definitely fun and had the desired result of making me feel creative and productive and getting me to experiment.  Revved up and inspired for more craft projects ahead.  Well, after a week or two off :)