Recession Proof Crafting
I am so excited to share my crafting travels with you today. As everyone knows, we are going through a bit of a tight squeeze due to the current economic climate of our nation. Many of us are using the gas prices as a gauge to determine how we spend our money and time. Well, I have found the perfect recession buster....FREE!!!!! You read it right, FREE. Since I have three kids, it gets a little hard on the pockets when you are attempting to find avenues of entertainment so I set out on a mission to find as many free adventures for my family as humanly possible. I'm always shuttling my family on "excursions" , as my husband calls them.
Enough of the intros. Let's get to it. So, while at a birthday party at a bowling alley, I stopped at the front desk to peruse the information table. I'm always picking up fliers and magazines like Metrokids and Parents. They have great free and low cost event listings. I happened across a flyer from the Family Arts Academy. Every Sunday from January through May, they have a family workshop series that runs from 2:00 pm to 3:30pm. Each class teaches a different form of art and the kids get an opportunity to create the craft and take it home.
The day that we went, the class was based on African Adinkre Prints. (Adinkre are visual symbols created by the Ashante people of West Africa to denote specific concepts like prudence or greatness.) I was very impressed with the organization of the event. After signing in, we were led into an auditorium where they served cheese and bread...Classy. After brief introductions on the purpose of the event, a young lady read a book about African prints entitled, The Spider Weaver by Margaret Musgrove. It was a fascinating tale of a man that was inspired to create a print based on the designs of a spider web he encountered.
From there, we were led into the project room. At first, I was a bit nervous because there was alot of kids there and I didn't know if there would be enough room for everyone. However, they had two studios set up which I thought was really good. There was enough materials and space for everyone. I even saw some parents making their own prints.
Using a pencil, the kids drew whatever symbol or design they wanted on a piece of foam, similar to the packaging tray of frozen chicken. They had to press hard so that it would make an imprint on the foam
Next, they had to pick a piece of colored paper and ink color. Using a brayer, ink was rolled onto the foam piece until it was completely covered.
My baby girl is really getting into this project. Look at her face...Priceless...Once inked up, the foam was placed on top of the paper and firm pressure was added. We had to peak a couple of times to make sure that the ink was being transferred to the paper
And finally.....The GREAT REVEAL!!!! The girls were very excited to see how the print that they designed came out.
As the children completed their prints. the instructor had the kids ink up their foam again so that their prints would be added to a large piece of fabric.
I enjoy taking the kids to these types of events because it gives them the opportunity to use their hands and be creative. It also gives them a sense of accomplishment. Once again, I thank you for taking the time out to read my blog and I hope that you took something from it. So, the next time you are in the house on a rainy or moneyless day, just cook up some chicken and use the foam to create fun prints that can be used to make an aray of fine crafts like shirts, bookbags....The possibilities are endless.
If you would like more information on the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, visit their website at www.pafa.org/faa.
