Magazine Crafting at the Library

February is turning out to be a very creative month for me. First I made a glass pendant, then I wove a basket, now I decided to try a magazine craft. I saw that Neenah Public Library was hosting a magazine craft event and I was free. Danielle said she was interested too and came along.

When we arrived at the library, we were shown the various crafts we could do but neither us made it past the Chevron collage. This is what was shown as an example on the event page on Facebook and this is what I came to do.

Even though it sounds rather simple, the chevron collage was more time consuming than I initially thought. I almost immediately decided I wanted to do a dessert themed collage to put in the kitchen and started hunting for pictures of colorful desserts in magazines. That was a bit of a problem because a lot of the desserts had a brown hue to them. I did manage to find some colorful pictures to break up the monotonous browns. Someone even gave me a picture of rolling pins.

Once I collected enough pictures it was time to cut them in strips to make the chevrons. I can’t cut a straight line to save my life so this proved interesting. I should have used the paper cutter but instead cut one strip as a template and traced it on the other magazine pages. It was too FAT and I ended up free-hand trimming most of the strips.

Then it was time to attach the strips to the canvas using modge-podge. Apparently I have no clue what a chevron looks like because instead of a nice “W” pattern, I got more of a “L” pattern. I made it my own. It actually turned out very cool. The best part was being able to slather the whole thing with modge-podge to seal in my work.

The library facilitator asked if we would be interested in more craft nights and we all said we would. We may have to bring our own supplies but if they provide the materials, I will be all about being crafty. I kept joking they need to have 4 more of these so I can finish my set of collages in the kitchen…. in the mean time I will be looking for pictures of cheese, pasta/pizza, meat, and fruits/vegetables to complete my set.

#812. Weave a basket

Basket weaving was one of those things that ended up on the bucket list more as a joke than anything else because as a college kid “underwater basket weaving” is an easy A. So when I wrote the bucket list in college weaving a basket just made sense to put on the bucket list. I didn’t realize that it was one of those things that required some effort to do. I think it was on the list more for show than anything else. However, thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I actually got to weave a basket.

Last year, I saw a Facebook event for basket weaving on the Oneida Reservation but I saw it too late to make any plans. So this year I was trying to see if they had another event coming up and stumbled upon Woven Blessings Basketry which offers basket making classes. Most of the classes are $35-$40 which for the size of basket you were making seem reasonable but not really in my budget. I saw they were having a basket class for $5 thanks to a grant by Thrivant. Now I find arts and crafts more enjoyable with a group of people so I went on the hunt to find someone available to come along. Luckily for me Tara was free and we signed up.

Whoever came up with Underwater Basket Weaving as a fluff class must have never wove a basket. It’s not as easy as the joke goes but it actually pretty easy once you get started. I actually found it to be much easier than knitting. The worst part was the first row… but more about that later.

Who would have thought we needed all this to make a basket

I actually get the whole underwater part of underwater basket weaving since the first step of the process is to soak your reeds in water. The water helps to make the reeds pliable and not crack. After soaking our reeds in water for about a minute, we had to find the center of each reed… by making tear drops and eyeballing it. I don’t think all my centers were perfectly centered but they were close enough and it worked.

After we marked center, we had to lay out the bottom of our basket. All it really was laying 5 reeds vertical and then weaving 5 horizontal making sure the centers were in the center. We left gaps between our reeds to make a bigger basket (I think) but to have a solid bottom, I would imagine you would use more reeds and make sure they were snug against each out. I would have liked to have a solid bottom but for the price I’m not complaining.

My bottom

Then came the horribly tricky part of starting the first row. After bending the reeds up, we started to weave the rows using clothespins to secure it the reeds. This proved a lot more difficult than first imagined because you had to make sure you ended the same way you started. Who would have though “over under over under” was such a difficult concept.

Attempting to weave the first row

After messing up twice, our instructors help us put a “binding row” at the bottom to help keep the sides upright and make it easier to do the first row.

Once I got the first row done it was pretty much smooth sailing. I did mess up a few times but since you only do 1 row at a time your mistake usually isn’t that hard to correct.

I got this!

Photo Courtesy of Woven Blessing Facebook 

I just wish I didn’t make it so tall but to have it the pattern be even I had to add the last couple of rows.

A work in progress. 3 more rows to go

Once we finished weaving our basket, it was time to put on the rim. This was a bit more difficult. It involved shaving reeds and lashing. Because my reed was too dry it cracked and I had to have 2 beginnings. I almost had to have 3 but I just started over with another new piece. After we finished our baskets, we chose a “glaze” and we all chose a clear coating.

The Finished Baskets

I don’t know why basket weaving gets such a bad rap. It is fun and relatively easy. I have to say it was the best $5 I spent all weekend and I may consider spending the $35 or $40 to make a bigger basket in the future. Now that I learned the basics of basket weaving, maybe it’s time to tackle something a bit harder like hieroglyphics.

Moonlight Hiking

Every winter I say I am going to go a moonlight hike and every winter the weather is too cold, the hubby is has a basketball game I want to see, or I have one excuse or another. This year, the weather looked favorable and I didn’t mind missing basketball so I called and reversed my spot for the hike at 1000 Islands.

The weather was just right for a night hike except that it was partly cloudy. You could still see the snow moon at times so it wasn’t completely dark. However, the temperatures have been above freezing for several days this past week so there was a lack of snow for snowshoeing. I was disappointed by the lack of snow since I’ve not been able to use my snowshoes at all this winter yet.

About 20 people joined me for the hike including one guy from work and his wife. Besides being a moonlight hike, it was an educational experience as well. We stopped a few times to learn about night animals in winter and winter sounds. At one point our guide stopped by the river and was going to do a night vision experiment but she gave us the option of going on ahead which I did.

The worse part of the hike was the condition of the trail and boardwalks. Because of the warm weather, the snow melted and refroze causing the paths to be icy. I struggled up my favorite part of the trail because of the icy incline. Between walking off the trail in the snow and dirt and using the fencing as a safety rail, I made it to the look out. Instead of trying to kill myself on the way down, I opted to follow the road back to Nature Center. I wasn’t the only one.

Hopefully the weather and schedules work out in the future because this is one hike I would like to go on again especially in snowshoes. It is fun and educational, free family event. I got me outside and enjoying nature when I would have normally been parked on the couch watching a movie. Next time I will wear boots though.

Making Art at the Museum of Glass

The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass offered a make your own heart pendant or keychain Activity Day last Saturday. I looked into it and decided it was more than I was willing to spend to make a piece of jewelry ($15). However, when I stopped at the Menasha library to check out what FAN passes were available this month, they had a FAN Pass to make the pendants. Initially I thought it was only for 1 person but they gave you four admissions. Luckily Danielle, Gavin, and Heather were available and willing to come along.

The Activity Day ran from 10-1 and it was a drop in kind of event. We all met at the museum at 10. After registering and picking up our plate, we headed downstairs to make our project. Heather, Danielle, and I chose to do a pendant and Gavin chose a keychain. We all picked out a base piece of glass and 2 hearts to lie on top of the base piece.

Once we had our base piece and hearts, we got to work designing our pieces. Besides the hearts and base pieces, we could use broken glass, beads, and tubes to design our piece.

We glued our design in place and handed it off to be fired in the kiln. Then we waited a week to see the finish pieces.

After we made our pieces, Heather and I explored the museum while Danielle and Gavin made Valentine Cards. From what I understand there is always another take and make craft on Activity Day usually somewhere in the museum. And no trip to any museum is complete without a stop in the gift shop… of course I was the only one that didn’t buy anything.

I came back on today to pick up our pieces because the hubby was afraid to break them if he picked them. They all turned out really cool. Now I just have to figure out how to wear it.

I was slightly disappointed that we couldn’t take our pieces home the same day. It required an extra trip the museum. It is nice that the museum offers Activity Days and you can make your own glass creations. Hopefully I will be able to partake in future Activity Days as the budget and schedule allows.