Friday, October 2, 2009

Refashion/Re-form Friday

I am playing with some different themes on my blog (ie Made IT! Monday and today's theme). I am just trying something new. I have all these ideas in my head and I am trying to make them tangible. This is a Re-Form post.
A family friend, who is the creator of the event HOTOBERFEST here in Atlanta asked that I work with the little ones to make some art out of recycled materials. The art will be sold to benefit the Joseph B. Whitehead Boys and Girls Club. If you are in town this Saturday come check it out. I will be volunteering in one of the booths.
Project #1 - We had some leftover while tiles from a bathroom in our old house. In Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts book she has a project on making coasters and trivots using old tiles and ceramic paint (you "fire" the tiles in the oven after you paint them so the paint sets and is dishwasher safe and heat resistant). My daughter painted these by using non-writing end of a color pencil and toothpicks (the kind where one end is a small circle). I think she did a good job. I helped by filling in some of the empty spaces. I learned that I need to take a back seat in her creative process. I think I gave a little too much direction because she got frustrated fast. We added felt to the bottoms so they won't scratch surfaces.


Project #2 was made from a mirror I found at a thrift store for a buck. I sanded it down and then painted it a solid color. I found some old CD's in the basement (while moving boxes out of water) that we bought awhile ago but never used because they were the wrong type of rewritable discs. The technology is now obsolete due to jump drives. I cut the CD's up (this part should be done by adults only) and then glued them to the mirror. Little people can help with arranging the pieces - though with care and close supervision because some of the pieces can be sharp depending on how you cut them. The end result is kind of cool. One CD was silver and the other was blueish. It was tough to get a good picture because the mirror and CD pieces are reflective. I had to do most of this project because of the sharp pieces involved.

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