Happy Thanksgiving! And since today, I’m assuming, won’t be a big crafting day (at least here in the U.S.), I thought I’d post a link to a really cool website I found recently. The artist is Jen Stark and I love her paper sculpture. Click here to flip through her gallery. What I find so stunning about this art is that it is quite simple but looks extremely complex.
Also, you could create your own colorful, 3D paper art (like this piece) with just a pair of scissors, some glue, and craft paper. Cut your top sheet of paper into a strange shape. Cut the next sheet into a similar shape that is slightly larger. Continue with as many sheets as you’d like to use—five, ten, twenty-five.
If you want a shape to stick out of the center, you’ll have to do some measuring, but the basic idea is that the shape you cut in the top sheet should be the largest and each shape below should get progressively smaller. Make sure to leave one side of the shape attached or you won’t be able to fold it up. A craft knife would make this step easier but you’ll need an adult to help you.
When you’ve finished all the cutting, line up the papers so they look the way you want, then use a glue stick to attach the sheets to each other.
Voila!
If you try this project, leave me a comment about your experience or send me an email with a photo of your creation and I’ll post it here.
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NaNoWriMo Word Count:
Check yesterday’s meter; I didn’t write a single word today. I have extremely high hopes for the long weekend, though.
Tune in tomorrow for an excerpt!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Create Your Own Thanksgiving Placemat
Today’s Thanksgiving table usually holds a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, maybe some corn on the cob, a pumpkin pie, but most of these things were not present at the first thanksgiving. Potatoes were not common at the time, and by November corn had been removed from the cob and dried to last through the winter. Turkey only existed in the wild and had to be hunted so they pilgrims may have had turkey but more likely they ate seafood. Pumpkin pie didn’t exist yet, though they may have enjoyed pumpkin stew, and the pilgrims didn’t have sugar so cranberry sauce was out of the question. They probably at fruits such as grapes and berries, and nuts.
Decorating placemats for thanksgiving is a great way to start a conversation about what the pilgrims ate at the first thanksgiving and how that compares to what your family enjoys. And you can wow everyone with your knowledge of the pilgrims’ menu. It’s also your chance to help create a festive dinner table.
Supplies Needed:
Vinyl Placemat
Fabric Paint
Styrofoam plates
Foods for stamping (corn on the cob, potato, nuts)
Lay out newspaper to protect your work space. Clean your placemat. Squeeze a bit of paint onto each Styrofoam plate, one color on each plate.
Decide what you’d like to use for stamps. I recommend rolling corn on the cob in the paint and then across the place mat. It leaves an interesting pattern. Potatoes are good for stamping, too, because you can cut any shape out of them that you want. (Have an adult help you with this step.) You could use potatoes to stamp turkeys or cornucopias onto the placemat. Use anything you can think of, but be sure you have permission to use the supplies.
When your placemat is perfect, let it dry. If you do this today, it will be ready to decorate your Thanksgiving table tomorrow.
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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
33415 / 50000 words. 67% done!
Decorating placemats for thanksgiving is a great way to start a conversation about what the pilgrims ate at the first thanksgiving and how that compares to what your family enjoys. And you can wow everyone with your knowledge of the pilgrims’ menu. It’s also your chance to help create a festive dinner table.
Supplies Needed:
Vinyl Placemat
Fabric Paint
Styrofoam plates
Foods for stamping (corn on the cob, potato, nuts)
Lay out newspaper to protect your work space. Clean your placemat. Squeeze a bit of paint onto each Styrofoam plate, one color on each plate.
Decide what you’d like to use for stamps. I recommend rolling corn on the cob in the paint and then across the place mat. It leaves an interesting pattern. Potatoes are good for stamping, too, because you can cut any shape out of them that you want. (Have an adult help you with this step.) You could use potatoes to stamp turkeys or cornucopias onto the placemat. Use anything you can think of, but be sure you have permission to use the supplies.
When your placemat is perfect, let it dry. If you do this today, it will be ready to decorate your Thanksgiving table tomorrow.
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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Create Your Own Pinecone Turkey Place Cards
Decorate each place at your Thanksgiving table with these pinecone turkey place cards.
Supplies Needed (for each place setting):
Pinecone
Construction Paper (red, yellow, orange, brown)
Pom (brown)
Googly eyes
Glue
Marker
Pipe Cleaner (orange) –optional
You will need help from an adult for this first step: place the pinecone(s) on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees F for about 40 minutes to kill and bugs or germs that might be living in there. Let the pinecone cool before you touch it.
First, cut out all your pieces. Cut one feather shape for each letter of the name you want to put on the turkey. For example, if I were making a place card for myself I would cut out seven feathers because Jessica has seven letters in it. Cut out a yellow beak and a red gobble.
Write the letters on the construction paper feathers. Alternate colors. Lay the pinecone on its side and glue the feathers in order to the back end of the pinecone.
Glue the brown pom to the front end of the turkey. This is the head. Glue the eyes, beak, and gobble to the pom so the turkey has a face.
If you want to add a special touch, add orange pipe cleaner legs. Twist the pipe cleaners into three-pronged feet and then glue the feet to the bottom of the pinecone. The back of the pinecone will rest on the table and the feet will support the front end.
Repeat for each guest at your Thanksgiving dinner.
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Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
31742 / 50000 words. 63% done!
Supplies Needed (for each place setting):
Pinecone
Construction Paper (red, yellow, orange, brown)
Pom (brown)
Googly eyes
Glue
Marker
Pipe Cleaner (orange) –optional
You will need help from an adult for this first step: place the pinecone(s) on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees F for about 40 minutes to kill and bugs or germs that might be living in there. Let the pinecone cool before you touch it.
First, cut out all your pieces. Cut one feather shape for each letter of the name you want to put on the turkey. For example, if I were making a place card for myself I would cut out seven feathers because Jessica has seven letters in it. Cut out a yellow beak and a red gobble.
Write the letters on the construction paper feathers. Alternate colors. Lay the pinecone on its side and glue the feathers in order to the back end of the pinecone.
Glue the brown pom to the front end of the turkey. This is the head. Glue the eyes, beak, and gobble to the pom so the turkey has a face.
If you want to add a special touch, add orange pipe cleaner legs. Twist the pipe cleaners into three-pronged feet and then glue the feet to the bottom of the pinecone. The back of the pinecone will rest on the table and the feet will support the front end.
Repeat for each guest at your Thanksgiving dinner.
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Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
Monday, November 19, 2007
The First Thanksgiving
Jennie A. Brownscombe’s The First Thanksgiving, painted in 1914, appeared in Life Magazine and became the poster image of the first Thanksgiving. It shows the pilgrims and the Native Americans dining together, as friends, at one table. The priest is thanking God for the harvest and the good fortune of the Native Americans who taught them to grown corn, beans, and squash, and how to hunt.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 to celebrate the pilgrims’ first successful harvest. The celebration lasted several days and included indoor and outdoor feasts. Sometimes the pilgrims and Native Americans ate together, as shown in Brownscombe’s painting, and sometimes they ate separately.
The pilgrims had managed to build themselves a few crude homes and the Native Americans built temporary housing for themselves while they attended the festivities. The log cabin in the background of the painting is a historical inaccuracy.
Click for paintings of the Signing of the Mayflower Compact and the Pilgrims’ Landing.
_____________
Please notice that I have begun a links list on the right side of the page. You should check out Peter’s blog about Paris which includes beautiful photographs of the city, including its art. If you have a blog or website that you think relates to this one and would like me to link to you, please leave a comment or email at artsmarts4kids AT yahoo.com.
Return to main page.
My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
30030 / 50000 words. 60% done!
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 to celebrate the pilgrims’ first successful harvest. The celebration lasted several days and included indoor and outdoor feasts. Sometimes the pilgrims and Native Americans ate together, as shown in Brownscombe’s painting, and sometimes they ate separately.The pilgrims had managed to build themselves a few crude homes and the Native Americans built temporary housing for themselves while they attended the festivities. The log cabin in the background of the painting is a historical inaccuracy.
Click for paintings of the Signing of the Mayflower Compact and the Pilgrims’ Landing.
_____________
Please notice that I have begun a links list on the right side of the page. You should check out Peter’s blog about Paris which includes beautiful photographs of the city, including its art. If you have a blog or website that you think relates to this one and would like me to link to you, please leave a comment or email at artsmarts4kids AT yahoo.com.
Return to main page.
My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
I’m on track again!!!!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Landing of the Pilgrims
Before the pilgrims went to shore near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they signed the Mayflower Compact as you saw yesterday in Edward Percy Moran’s Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower. Today I’ll show you two paintings that show the pilgrim’s landing.
The first is William Forsby Halsall’s The Mayflower on her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor. Halsall has chosen the Mayflower as the main subject of his painting with the first group of pilgrims rowing to shore to begin their new lives. Halsall was born in 1841 in England and studied art in Boston. He specialized in fresco painting until he joined the Navy during the Civil War and fell in love with painting seascapes. This painting was completed in 1881.
In Henry A. Bacon’s Landing of the Pilgrims you can see the Mayflower in the distance as a few of its passengers unload from a lifeboat onto Plymouth Rock. Bacon was born in 1840 in Massachusetts and fought for the north in the Civil War. He studied art in Paris and went on to produce many paintings designed to tell a story, like this one painted in 1877. Notice the girl who is preparing to step from the boat. She is 15 year old Mary Chilton, said to have been the first pilgrim to set foot in the Massachusetts.
These two seem to be very accurate paintings of this historical event but there are others which do not follow the accounts we have of the landing. Henry Sargent’s Landing of the Pilgrims is one such painting. Here you see the Native Americans greeting (or confronting) the pilgrims as they land. This did not happen. It was about three months after the pilgrims landed when the Native Americans approached them for the first time.
Next week: paintings of the first Thanksgiving, plus Thanksgiving craft projects!
Return to main page.
My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
24421 / 50000 words. 49% done!
The first is William Forsby Halsall’s The Mayflower on her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor. Halsall has chosen the Mayflower as the main subject of his painting with the first group of pilgrims rowing to shore to begin their new lives. Halsall was born in 1841 in England and studied art in Boston. He specialized in fresco painting until he joined the Navy during the Civil War and fell in love with painting seascapes. This painting was completed in 1881.
In Henry A. Bacon’s Landing of the Pilgrims you can see the Mayflower in the distance as a few of its passengers unload from a lifeboat onto Plymouth Rock. Bacon was born in 1840 in Massachusetts and fought for the north in the Civil War. He studied art in Paris and went on to produce many paintings designed to tell a story, like this one painted in 1877. Notice the girl who is preparing to step from the boat. She is 15 year old Mary Chilton, said to have been the first pilgrim to set foot in the Massachusetts.These two seem to be very accurate paintings of this historical event but there are others which do not follow the accounts we have of the landing. Henry Sargent’s Landing of the Pilgrims is one such painting. Here you see the Native Americans greeting (or confronting) the pilgrims as they land. This did not happen. It was about three months after the pilgrims landed when the Native Americans approached them for the first time.Next week: paintings of the first Thanksgiving, plus Thanksgiving craft projects!Return to main page.
My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:
So close to being caught up!
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