Growing Up Creative

Craft and play - how to make a ball from plastic bags

In the process of making the 'Beads' art installaiton we were making lots of balls made of used plastic bags that we strung together into necklaces. The technique is very simple, stuffing used plastic bags into one another, creating a shape of a ball. those balls/ beads very quickly became footballs and flying balls. craft and play 

I found this tutorial on vimeo that demonstrates how to make plastic bags footballs, apparently very common in Africa (there are 2 tutorials, I recommend the second one starting on 03:30).  

Remember this tutorial next time you are in need of a ball.

How to make a Plastic Bag Football from Send a Cow on Vimeo.

 

 

Beads - public art installation

I am currently working on a community art installation in a local shopping mall together with Noa Mer, with whom I collaborated on The Tent art installation, making this our second project together. The entire installation is made of used plastic bags. 

There are three main objectives behind this project:
1. To raise awareness to the amount of plastic bags we use, offering an alternative multi-use shopping bags to everyone participating in the installation.
2. To offer the alternative experience of making in an environment that is all about consuming.
3. To make something beautiful out of waste.

It took a while to convince the ‘mall’ to have an ongoing project in their premises, since by its very essence the process of making this art installation contradicts everything a shopping center represents:

• Shopping malls are all about immediate gratifications while we offer an art installation that is an ongoing process of 2 months work.

• The people taking part in the making of this installation don't take their work home but have to depart from their ‘beads’ for the benefit of the project. They go home with the knowledge of this new technique and with the feeling that they have contributed to something bigger.

• The end result is unknown. At the beginning of the process we offered a sketch that we hoped to achieve, but like any community art installation the public participating greatly affects the final outcome..

Moving forward with this project shows great vision on the part of the mall. The mall sees itself as such that can influence and change our everyday habits, by raising awareness to our excessive use of plastic bags, taking upon itself a part in the local community and in trying to bring about a positive change.

A little about the technique:
We have developed a method of sculpting with plastic bags which is very simple. We used this method to make ‘beads’ that are stranded together into necklaces that forms an installation that looks somewhat like a pendant necklace.

This is how:

1. Stuff plastic bags into one another,

2. Squeeze all the air out to make a tight and firm ball (great for taking all aggressions out) . Make a knot at the end.

3. Connect a few balls using a bigger bag, forming what may look like a caterpillar.

4. Connect a few caterpillars with an overlapping plastic bag.

5. Decorate the strands with ribbons cut out of plastic bags.

And that is it. (almost)

here is a LINK to lots of process pictures. Don't have final pics yet, since we have 2 more weeks to the end of the project. I will post them as soon as we are done.
  please say no to plastic bags 

tali

This is how we plan our summer

Our dining table is located at the center of the house,and everything happens there - food, art projects, sewing, etc. Behind the table there is a wall, that Zoe and I decided to paint with chalkboard paint.

It all happened when Zoe and I stayed home together, just us, something that doesn't happen too often. After spending a good portion of our day arguing (10 is the new 16) we decided that what we need is a central place where we can arrange all of our summer plans (to minimise arguing).

So there we were, painting, talking, having a good time.  

The result was a wall in the most central place of our house that we now often change. On birthdays it becomes a greeting wall, while in between birthdays  (we all have summer birthdays) it is the perfect planning board for our daily summer activities. This wall opens up new channels for creativity, because there’s nothing like drawing on a really big wall with your entire arm. 

Yes, I definitely recommend having one in your house. Make sure you choose the right wall for this (if it is not centruly located you will probably end up not using it), and follow the paint instructions.

We bought a ready chalkboard paint that only comes in a dark green, very old-school, but you can mix your own chalkboard paint in any color, here is the recipe from martha and her instructions for a fancy planner.

Go get paint...Let me know how it went.

Have a fun summer...

tali