No picture this time.
Don't know if there will ever be a picture of this, whatever "this" is.
Lemme start at the beginning. KIFA (Kent Island Federation of Arts) is having an art show for Earth Day on Saturday. It was suggested to me by someone close to me that I enter something. After giving it alot of thought, I decided to make a necklace. The rules for this art show are that the entries have to consist of 80% recycled materials. I saw some of the entries that are already on display. There is a dress made entirely of Capri-Sun bags and a fish mosaic made of soda can pop tops.
I was stumped as to what to do. Then, I got inspired when I remembered that my friend Tammy, (whose crafting site is listed at a link above this blog) has made handbags and wallets by crocheting strips of plastic grocery bag. I remember loving this idea when I first saw pictures of her work. So I decided to modify that idea for myself. I took strips of grocery bag and braided them together into long braids intending to make a necklace and pendant. The necklace was going to be a long strip of bright blue plastic with brown wooden beads strung periodically. The pendant was going to be a flower created from intricate loops of white and red braided plastic. The blue portion of this project turned out fine. The pendant is where the wheels fell off the wagon. I just cannot make it turn out the way I want. I have tried many different methods of working with the materials and finally went to my old standby: crazy glue.
So, here I lay. It's 11pm and my fingers are covered with a fine layer of crazy glue. The pendant still looks like crap and the piece is due tomorrow morning. I am hoping a good night's sleep will provide me with the inspiration that I need, but I am afraid I have now totally psyched myself out. You see, once I had the fleeting thought of calling KIFA and telling my friend Carol that I wasn't going to be able to drop anything off after all, my mind just gave up. A total psych-out.
So, good night and sweet dreams. I really hope I can pull this out. I would like to be able to announce that I am entering the show after all. Maybe I will dream a solution to my problem. You never can tell.
HA! That is cool that you are trying to work with the plastic bags. I never said it was an easy thing to do. What problems are you having with the plastic? Could you use yarn or something braided with it to make it more flexible and to lay the way you want it to? I have used yarn with the plastic and it works. Just an idea that is of course a day late and a dollar short. Sorry. I should have read my blog yesterday! Hope it turns out and good luck. You have to at least send me a picture to see the finished project after all I am the you how gave you the idea right????? LoL
ReplyDeleteIt actually turned out okay, but I missed the deadline to show it, I guess I will just try better next year. I debated using yarn with the plastic, but the rules for the show stated that the piece had to be at least 80% recycled materials, so I didn't want to try it in case it disqualified me.
ReplyDeleteI will post pics tomorrow. My main problem was that I just didn't have a clear concise picture of what I wanted to do, only a vague one. But what I ended up with turned out better than I thought it would. You'll see tomorrow. . .
I am considering taking a page from "Eco-Heidi's" book and trying to use recycled materials more in my work. I need to play around and see.
That's cool. Yeah Mike and I do alot with recycled stuff here. Have a few new projects in the works. Can't wait to see the pictures.
ReplyDelete