Thing-A-Day day 3 – office collage
Going off my theme of re-use, I wanted to turn the detritus that’s littering my desktop into something pleasing that would brighten up my space, instead of adding stress and clutter.
This photo is a little washed out, the blues are very pretty hues. The bulky thing on the bottom is built-up/rippled tape. I might add staples tomorrow, for even more texture!
Thing-A-Day day 2 – transplanted ivy
Continuing my theme of RE-USE, I took some cuttings of the English ivy growing in my parents’ backyard, so that I can grow it in a basket hanging by my front door.
Thing-A-Day, Day 1 – recycled newspaper beads
For my day one Thing-A-Day project, I did the prep work for some recycled newspaper beads, based on this great ‘recipe’ by A Storybook Life.
I didn’t have a Crock Pot, only a stove top, so I had to boil and simmer for an additional hour and stir it constantly — making this pulp was like making a risotto!
It took a while for the pulp to cool off enough to touch, but once it wasn’t steaming I started rolling some beads:
Even so, I’m a bit disappointed that I couldn’t complete this from start to finish for Day 1, as the beads take a while to dry. (On the other hand, I did do some sketches/paintings with materials I had lying around the kitchen — ink, carrots, wine and paintbrush.)
Looking forward to tomorrow’s RE-USE-themed project!
4/4/09 edit:
The first beads, painted, sanded and strung.
Sanding these wasn’t easy, but stringing them was rough too — I had to poke a nail through them and they are surprisingly dense. Next time I’ll add holes while they’re still a little soft.
I painted these with three colors: red, pink and cream. For the next batch I’ll either try that in reverse (cream as the base color) or pick more contrasting colors… and will also probably do several layers per color instead of just one.
