Thursday, March 22, 2012

A Quick and Easy Project for a Group

One of my daughters asked me to teach a mini art lesson at a woman's retreat she is helping organize. I needed to come up with an idea that would be pretty simple and inexpensive. It is a Christian women's group, so I wanted to have the project tie in with some expression of spirituality. 

I decided a cruciform format would work perfectly for this group. I started with placing masking tape in small strips to form the cruciform shape. By burnishing the tape with my little bone folder, no liquid would seep underneath, forming clean edges when the tape was removed.

I got the paper thoroughly wet with water, then dropped two colors on with splashing and let it bleed together and dry.

 
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After pulling the tape off, I had many areas to fill with symbols. I used numbers, letters, names that had significance in my life. By doing a number right side up, then upside down, repeating that pattern, you can get an interesting look. Do the same with letters. If I were to do this again, I would put a word in the middle, but I did this in a short amount of time. I'm sure you can think of other "twists" for this project.

 
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If you look carefully, you can see a strip of NEWYORKCITY--the place I went to college, and where I met Mike. 

If you do this project, I'd love to hear how you have expanded the idea and made it your own.
 
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3 comments:

Jo Reimer said...

This is an idea I may copy, Margaret, with your permission. My daughter and granddaughter will bring mother/daughter friends to my studio for an afternoon of art making and this would work great for them.

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! You just gave me a great idea for our church women's retreat this spring. Thanks a MILLION!!!

Linda

Anonymous said...

Very clever and lovely. I would never have seen New YC if you had not pointed it out. Hope Rachel's group loves what they make. P