Spool Knitting, Tie Dyed Halter Tops, Braided Bracelets & Felt on Soap with Children

Teaching in Bermuda has been a fabulous time and experience for me and the class evaluations have been terrific! I have probably learned more than the children and, I feel they've learned alot!
So here is my last official Term Class report... But no worries, I have other plans for future reports for you to enjoy! I will be continuing to work on children's projects for the foreseeable future.

First of all there are some projects that we finished up that I want to tell you about, beginning with the Button Picture Frames that the 5 yr & 6 yr old class children stitched. I held their button work back so that I could prepare a parting gift for them. KAF had some wooden picture frames that I used to hot glue their button stitchery onto. I have taken lots of photos of the children during my classes so found photos of each student and matched it up to their work as a parting gift for them. They  came out great and the children were very proud and anxious to show their mom's their work and their photos! I so loved this project....


The next items to finish up included the 10 yr olds tie dyed halter tops. One student had a simpler embelishment design and finished hers last time but wore it to class for me to see and pohotograph. The others finished theirs this week and anxiously tried them on and gave the KAF office a mini fashion show! What fun! I was so proud of their accomplishments. For new stitchers they did a terrific job! They named this project their favorite because they had liscense to create the embellishing designs on their own and loved that they could wear their very own creations. I remember wearing the first piece of clothing that I ever made for myself and the self esteem and confidence that comes with that is priceless. I hope they enjoy wearing their pieces all summer long and remember them forever!

Our new project of the week for both the 5 yr olds and 6 yr olds was spool knitting. This age old art encourages hand eye coordination and repetition which I feel helps give a sense of achievement and accomplishment. When the tails of their work began to show form the bottom of their spools they squeeled with delight and were motivated by measuring their progress in inches. Even the younger chidren who often get bored or tired kept at it to simply be able to see their progress! They were so proud of themselves :-)

Such concentration and pride show up in the photos at left :-)

The spools were made from toilet paper rolls and lollipop sticks that you can buy in a candy section of your local craft store. I chose a chenile yarn that we had a bunch of becasue of it's soft texture and appearance of bulk. It created a nice fat and soft tube. Of course they asked what they would do with this tube so I put it right back at them and gave a few suggestions after which they were coming up with ideas of their own.
It was interesting to see how even the littlest ones caught on to the idea of turning their work round and round, repeating the same process over and over again. It seemed to give them a great sense of accomplisment since it seemed so complicated to them at first. When they got it, it was a big deal and it didn't take too long. I did purposely spend a few minutes with each child demonstrating and tutoring them as they completed the first stitches and went back to each child as they needed assistance.
I pre- assembled the knitters for the 5 yr olds but the 6 yr olds were able to make them themselves. I like to be able to show them that they don't need anything fancy for their tools; that often we can make them ourselves by recycling.
Each of the children left with their knitters in hand and very proud of the tails they had created :-)

The 10 yr olds melted my heart with their completed Tie Dyed Halter tops. The one student who had finished last time wore it to class and it looked so cute on her I couldn't believe it! Her mom looked just as proud as she did :-) And the backs are just as cute as the fronts!
This class was a modge podge of things allowing time for finishing remaining projects. One student had missed two classes during the Nuno purse classes and finished her bag with the exception of stitching the straps on. Her mom will help her finish it up at home. Halter tops were completed and we then moved on to a simple felt on soap project; one that this group had never done and wanted to before term was up. This basic felting project is a good way to teach basic felting and allowing them to go home with a nice gift or shower soap for themselves.

We had an additional half hour or so of class time after their fashion show and photo shoot so they migrated to the standing loom and decided to braid friendship bracelets for their final project. What a pleasure to see them enjoy practicing skills that I teach and helping them to learn how to tie off their work to create bracelets.
In the end a good time has been had by all and we will miss each other and our time together. I will hope to see them all in my classes during fall camps and Fiber Fest for one more chance for them to enrich MY life!

The content of my reports will change of course but I hope to keep you informed of my creative journey, especially with children.

So, until next time.................

Fiber Art Projects for Children: Painting on Silk, Painting with Wool and Mixed Media Wind Socks

This week two of my groups finished up incomplete projects.....
The monday class of 5-7 yr olds finished up their Solar System Mobiles  and began the planning and staging process of painting Silk Suncatchers which will be done using Kool Aid and food coloring for their paints. I love these non toxic dyeing options for children! The only draw back is the lack of color intensity that you get with chemical dyes. At this stage, children can learn all of the techniques which they can experiment with at home later, using easy to get supplies! A win/win situation......

They began the class by doing simple drawings. I had asked them to think about their subject as they left class last week. I offered simple creature shapes I have in the classroom for those who needed some inspiration and soon they were quickly putting them on paper. Of course some children have more aptitude for drawing than others but this is the norm. By the end of class, each child had done a drawing. They then traced them on the blank silk circles with washable gel glue which will act as a resist or dam. This resist will allow them to color in various parts of their creatures using different colors and prevent the colors from running into one another. Blank silk circles are available from Dharma Trading Co. on line.

Next week they will paint the dyes onto their silk. I can't wait to see the end results!

The five year olds also finished up this week. The Wind Sock projects needed to have their fabric glued on and hangers attached. A few still had to complete the "cow hitch knots" of yarn around the bottoms. Since I was busy with the hot glue gun, those who had finished first, helped the others by guiding them through the knotting process. I think they may have done some of the work for them but they loved being the helpers and the benefactors were appreciative:-)
This is my roudy group as I have mentioned before. I had an epiphany last week regarding this group though. One child indicated that he has a hard time focusing since it gets so noisy. He becomes distracted. I had no idea he was having an issue and thought it awesome that he would know this about himself at such a young age and tell me about it. I felt the need to address this in the classroom so I rearranged our seating so that they are seated in small groups and purposely assigned seats to specific groups of children. It seemed to work well! I will know better as we move to a project that they don't need me to participate in so much but I'm thankful to have learned this now while I can at least attempt to address it and have impact. I am told by this child's mom that she has noticed improvement in his focus since coming to my class. So, even if he is slow to complete a project, apparently the experience of working in a noisy and sometimes chaotic space has helped him to learn to deal with it better and what he does do, he does well! Bravo! I may have never known this and I'm so glad to know it now..... My mentor and education director at KAF has also given me some things to try to help rein in the mustangs when necessary. Hopefully a combination of things will bring greater sucess for us all!
They were all pleased with their work! They always are easy to please anyway. When they get to take something home that they made, regardless of how big or small or how well it is accomplished, it is an accomplishment and they beam because of it.... so do I :-)...............

My older group of girls is coming along so well! They love everything we do in class and this week one of them asked if the class could be extended from 2  to 3 hours! If all teachers could have this problem!

This weeks challenge was to come up with a Christmas season image for a drawing. This drawing is being Painted on wool pre felt with the needle felting technique and, using wool as the paints. KAF  was looking for holiday artwork that can be photographed and used as  holiday greeting cards by corporations who make a donation into the Holiday greeting card program. Our children produce the artwork, the corporation makes a donation and gets exclusive use of a photograph of children's Holiday art that they will use for their corporate greeting cards. The children of course keep their artwork but might have the honor of having one of their pieces selected by a KAF donor to be used as their holiday greeting card and sent to their many clients and business associates! How fun!
Drawings were completed and the paintings begun.... They are looking great and I can't wait to see the final products!

So, progress at KAF continues in the Fiber Arts!

Until next time..........

Weaving, Felting & Nuno with Children!

This week has been a mixed bag. A little bit of everything! I often like to have children doing related projects but it hasn't been going that way lately....

The 5-7 yr old children are still working on their Solar System mobiles. Although I am feeling a little anxious about how long it has taken to complete them, they don't seem to mind and are having a good time. They especially are concious of the proportional relationship of size for their planets and worry about it much more than I do! I keep reminding them that it's ok if they aren't exactly correct :-)
We did make great progress this week and the only child who has not completed all planets just began class with us this week. He made great strides though and completed three planets. Great job for a first time felter! He may get most of them done while the others are stringing theirs together in the next class. I am including a picture of the class sample for you to see. It is not perfect... but it is perfection :-)

My 5 yr old group continues to be a very active bunch. 5 boys and 2 girls make this a roudy group! I sometimes feel like I have a group of wild mustangs that I am trying to rein in! I'm sure our class can sometimes be heard throughout the building :-) The good news is that we are having fun!

This week I prepared some burlap strips that they turned into bookmarks. Last weeks' class was a practice for the stitching/weaving used in this little project. I was unsure how successful they would be since the stitching was completed with mixed results. I worried that the small strips of burlap would be difficult for them to handle. But, they did a GREAT job! I was so pleased. Their only task was to weave their chosen yarn through the cloth from top to bottom so that the ends could be tied in a knot to hold them in place.

It was interesting how each child worked the piece. Several chose to use very small, evenly spaced stitches. This of course allowed them to only weave in one or two threads BUT, their work was very good; straight, even and very good quality as a result. It looked more like adult stitching! I'm sorry I missed a photo op for a sample of one of these but the child was still working on it when I took the pics.

The remaining children were at pretty much the same level. They completed three to four threads duirng our class time with varying degrees of eveness. I really was not worrying about how even it was or straight, I was more interested in them getting the concept of weaving in and out and having them complete the work. I believe that last weeks' practice had impact on this weeks results.
You will note from the photos that the shiny threads were of most interest and chosen most often over a large selection of various colors. They loved the bling! Don't we all.....

The older group continued to work on their nuno bags. No complaints about the labor intensive process, and they are getting the feel of the wool and how it changes at various stages of the felting process. They are noticing that it gets stronger by how it feels; that it gets thicker as it

shrinks and that it feels less fragile. They are beginning to sess out on their own, how much pressure they can exert without damaging the piece. This was a very nice revelation to experience with them! Though their bags are not quite there yet, they have enough integrity to not have to worry about damaging them between classes. They are well under way in the fulling process and will be able to finish fulling and stitch them together next time. I anticipate being very proud of their work when they are done as I am already! This is a very mature project for them and I hope a piece that they will proudly use...............................................

Until Next Time............

The Wooley Story Hour with 5 yr olds......

This is the first time I have had a group of children who are all five years old! After last week I quickly realized that I can not do all of the projects with them that I do in my 5-7 yr old class. It was interesting to conclude that when a few five year olds are mixed into a group who are up to seven years old, their behavior rises to the level of the older children in class; they take their cue from them. On the other hand, when put together with others of the same age, they have no role models; no one to emulate. Result? A VERY different atmosphere in the class room!
As a result of learning this, I shifted gears and have begun bringing their project levels down a notch or two. Additionally, the 5 yr old class is only one hour long which also is a limiter on the projects we can complete.

Now that I have experienced this learning curve, I am back on track and now know how to proceed with this group! We began with a lovely story book written by Elsa Maartman Beskow called Pelle's New Suit  which tells the story of a little boy, his lamb and how he  uses his lamb to get himself a new suit. After the story I did a brief drop spindle demonstration which always amazes.

The project of the day was for the children to do some wet felting in a baggie. This is an easy project for them to find success with which they all did! I had prepared the usual three layers of fibers in a baggie ahead of classtime and added a bit of soapy warm water to each. I had them work them until they were firm enough to remove from the bag and finish up by rolling them in bumpy shelf gripper.

Next week? Kool - Aid Dyeing. I will have them paint yarns which they will then use in a circle weaving project.

Felting Flowers with Children for Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Children in my 7-9 year old Fiber Art classes at Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation created Felted Hibiscus Flowers for their moms for Mother's Day. Some of the children had felted before but many hadn't. Although they still need more experience for a good quality harder felt, each was very successful at finishing a flower for their mom!

I get so involved with the classes that I often either forget to ask them to allow a group photo of their work or don't allow enough time for documenting their work in photos as parents are ready at the door for pic-up after class to go on with their busy lives. I need to do better at that! I remembered before the last two children left class to take a few pics. Unfortunately I do not have any that show the calyx end of the flower which they all did a great job with but you at least get the idea of what we were trying to accomplish.

I had a blast and the children seemed to as well!

Children's Fiber Art Projects

Aren't these the cutest things?

My Wednesday Fiber Arts students completed several great projects during the last class of our winter term. The one at left offered the students the use of a variety of skills as they created their Easter chick's nests.

The nests we created from a base of about two yards of yarn followed by short pieces of yarn that students dipped into liquid starch. Once a nest base was created the shorter yarns were layed in layers alternating with some natural twigs and dried grasses to form a small nest. Students were careful to leave an indentation in the middle to leave room the the eggs and chick which they felted using merino wool. Their chicks were then embellished with yellow feathers to create a tail and wings, and squiggly eyes and a bead were added for a beak. All components were secured to the nest with hot glue.

The children enjoyed the felting process which they had learned before and all remembered the basics for completing that task. They quickly figured out how to manipulate the felt to create an egg shape instead of the ball shape they had used for making their bracelets in our first class.

These lovely little yarn baskets were a delight and the children were happy to be taking them home. This too was a liquid starch project which were finally ready to take home after remaining in the classroom to dry. The yarns they used included some of their handspun as well as a thick and thin wool that they had kool-aid dyed in a prior class. Using a small bowl as a mold, students layered their starch soaked yarns making sure they cross each other to create a bond and allowed them to dry until next class. The only glitch with this one is you have to be sure that you cover the mold with plastic wrap so the starch does not adhere to the glass. These are fragile and needed to be sured up in a few places with a dab of elmers but they really were lovely little projects that represented several weeks of accomplishments into a final project.

I was proud for the children to be able to say that these pieces had some of their own hand spun, hand dyed yarns in them!

I am hoping that the children enjoyed my class well enough to sign up for the final school term. I am working on ideas for future projects to carry them forward with their fiber arts!

Hand Felted Slippers!

Ok so I had to play!

The Bermuda Fibre Festival inspired me to "play" in felt which I have dabbled in here and there over time. I decided I wanted a new pair of slippers and so here they are! I love them.... I brought out some old creative tools that I hadn't used in years and did some crewel embroidery embelishments and crocheted a flower to add.

I have begun teaching children Fiber Art at Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation and I am trying to instill in them the idea that I am giving them creative "tools" for them to have throughout life in their creative endeavors. Mine are serving me well and I am grateful for my paternal grandmother who taught me how to crochet many years ago and my mother who taught me how to stitch. These skills are a bit like the bicycle concept. Once you learn you always know how though you might be a little rusty.

I hope you all find ways to use your creative "tools" now and again and that you never stop accumulating them!