It's that time of year when it starts to get cold out and it seems someone always has the sniffles.
I tend to get inspired to "clean out" the toy closets and set up shop for a long winter inside with the kids.
This year I made my children ( ages seven and four) a dedicated craft desk and as always i found endless doodads and pieces and parts of different objects as i was cleaning out the closets- you know: the tiny itsey bitsy parts of nothing that can't find a home- and so I decided that it might be a fun challenge to use these pieces throughout the winter in little art projects. Into glass jars they went so they can sit on our desk for inspiration.
It was decided that the first project would be fairy houses made of clay and then baked painted and conceived using little bits and pieces of my find.
It was an amazingly fun exercise and I HIGHLY recommend it- in fact we loved the outcome so much that we are going to give them as gifts to my nieces ages 6 and 8 years for Christmas.
Some highlights: An old earring became and fairy lantern, a broken peal bracelet became a mushroom top adornment and a perfect pathway. A marble became a lawn ornament, and several shells that were hanging around the house became architectural elements.
Here is an idea for materials- but try to stay open minded as an old little piece hanging around could be just the thing you need for your fairy house design!
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- Sculpy Clay - comes in colors or non color - can be painted. This clay is nice because it stays moldable until you bake it.
- Tin Foil - if you want to use your recycled foil another way you can use it as a way to "shape" your home ( we used it for our mushroom top and only used an outside layer of clay. It's a wonderful way to get structure into your piece without using a ton of clay!
- Paint (water based acrylic is great)
- Brushes, rolling pin, shaping tools, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, wire, feathers, and almost anything and a good glue for clay, ceramic, etc.
- Glaze or decoupage - something to brush on the entire thing at the end to make it look vibrant and shiny.
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Our steps were to make a base, form a house, bake it, paint it, de- dazzle it and voila!
Have fun, and if you do one I'd LOVE To see a photo. Please email my daughter and I at rodgers107@cox.net
For more on Monica, visit EarthSavers.typepad.com