Sunday, August 5, 2012

Mixed Media art camp=glass mosaics, weaving, collages, and more

 We started the week with Altoids tins and CD cases to decorate using beads, felt, sequins and gems. Some of the campers had done tins before but each one is unique and given the option of 2 surfaces some just like the tins. I just like what they do.
 Glass floral beads are fun to look at and fun to use.We had tubs of the glass beads and bottle caps both metal and plastic to use.  Each camper was instructed to take the caps and beads and create a picture with them on the foam board squares. We used E6000 which works well but smells really bad as our adhesive. It is always better when the project pieces do not fall off due to the glue. Everyone did well spreading the adhesive with sticks.
 Weaving provided a bit of a challenge for many of the campers. I had a giant pile of embroidery hoops to use for this project and lengths of floss and ribbon to serve as the base. We taught the kids how to secure their threads to a center ring and bring them around the hoop but lots of the kids cannot tie knots. With lots of help from the JCs we got them ready to weave fabric strips and yarns then add a feather or two for smashing dream catchers.
 Painting and decorating on jeans pockets was one of the favorite projects this week. The kids had a choice of front, back, full or leg cuts to use and create their designs. we had buttons, gems, cording and other trims to add once the designs were painted. At the end we glued the ends closed on the leg ends and full jeans to make carry bags and added cords. One of the campers decided to construct his own  adding a couple of denim squares to make his project larger.
 For this collage I made  the pressed paper seahorses and starfish in advance. the campers used shades of blue paper to create the impression of water then added charms and the seahorse and starfish. Some added a few confetti for bubbles. The paper pressings were easy to paint with watercolor paints.
Our last project of the week was a doozy. I thought it would be fun to do a mixed media collage and use painted areas combined with decoupaged papers and napkins. We drew geometric designs on our canvas boards then painted parts of the boards. the campers next got to shop for their papers and trims and the group really got into this. Teaching decoupage was interesting as everyone seems afraid to use enough glue and not on top of the project. Once we got going though things really worked. At the end I got out very fine glitter and we added that to the other trims. What a fabulous way to end the week!

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