How to make rocks beautiful

Rocks that Rock
Originally published in April 4, 2009 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

I was recently seduced by a rock. This was no ordinary rock mind you—it was poppy jasper, a miraculous combination of ringed, blood-orange blossoms against a vibrant gold background. It can be found only one place in the world—Morgan Hill, California—about 15 miles east of Santa Cruz, as the crow flies. This stone had been shaped into an oval—a double-sided cabochon in lapidary lingo—with a surface as shiny as glass by my new friend, rockhound Carla Fairey.

It haunted me over the next few weeks, and I finally decided I had to have it (and that’s saying a lot for someone who didn’t even want a wedding ring when she got married). When I called Carla, she invited me over to see her workshop. And I got not only an exquisite $75 pendant, but a mini-lesson in geology. I was fascinated by her breadth of knowledge about rocks, including mineral composition and geologic history. But she also has a lot of practical knowledge such as how to recognize “a keeper,” even when, to my eye, it looks like a ragged chunk of concrete.

What is a Rock?

Basically, rockhounds are looking for any material—rock, mineral, shell, fossil, petrified wood, volcanic glass, whale bone—that’s beautiful, durable and rare. Rocks are generally a combination of minerals and organic matter. Granite, for instance, is made up of quartz, feldspar, mica, and sometimes tourmaline, epidote, and more. Rocks may contain tiny microscopic grains of minerals or organic substances, or coarse agglomerates of different minerals, where the individual minerals are easily discernible. The kinds of rocks that attract lapidarians are ones with good color, exceptional pattern, translucency or other special optical qualities. A skilled lapidarian can cut and polish a stone to enhance these qualities.

Cuttability is also a factor. Each mineral is assigned a hardness on the Mohs scale, which rates talc as 1 and diamond as 10. Minerals that are too soft do not hold a polish well. Minerals that are harder, will take much longer to polish than a softer material. And those in the 8 ½ to 9 range may to too difficult to polish with standard equipment.

Where do you find rocks?

Carla and her husband, Rusty, have searched out rocks all over the western U.S. and even down into Baja, Mexico. Each state or region has its own unique collection of rocks. “The harder it is to get, the more it’s worth it,” says Carla. But some collectors prefer to finding rocks closer to home. Although California deserts are often the richest mineral sources, desirable rocks can be found locally along beaches, and in creeks and quarries. Mike Humenik, a long-time member of the Santa Cruz Mineral and Gem Society says he doesn’t go hiking with his wife any more because “we can’t go more than 12 feet without her poking around.”

Some collectors specialize in a certain kind or even size of rocks. For instance, Mike has recently started collecting microscopic minerals, which he mounts on tiny pedestals in one-inch square black boxes. He hands you a magnifying loop so that you can actually see these tiny specimens. Carla’s favorites are ones that make eye-catching pendants, such as poppy jasper, fossil rocks, banded onyx and blue shattuckite.
Popular guidebooks to help you get started include Rockhounding California and Gem Trails. Members of the Santa Cruz Mineral and Gem Society (SCMGS) (www.scmgs.org/newsite/index.html) are also willing to point you in the right direction. They have monthly meetings, occasional field trips, and make their lapidary workshop available on Saturday mornings for a small fee. (Also see Mike Humenik’s great article on Local Rockhounding—where to go and how to do it legally--at www.salinasrockandgem.com/feb2009.html.)

How do you make a rock shiny?

Once you’ve found, traded for, or purchased a rock with possibilities, you have to work to get it to that brilliant, polished state. Rocks can be polished by tumbling or by cutting and grinding.
Tumbling involves placing rocks of like hardness and size into a rubber-lined barrel (a rotary tumbler) with abrasive grit and water. The barrel is then placed on slowly rotating rails so that, like rocks in a stream bed, they get smoother and smoother as they tumble over each other. The basic procedure is to tumble the rocks with progressively finer grits and polishes until the desired shape and shine is achieved. It may take 4 to 6 weeks to finish a batch. (See http://rocktumblingsupplies.com/faq.phtml for one rockhound’s tumbling recipes and timetables.)

If you want a rock with a specific shape for jewelry—a cabochon (“bald head” in French)—you don’t need to tumble it. A large rock may first need to be cut into wedges with a slab saw. Then, those wedges can be cut down to size and surplus removed with a trim saw. All lapidary equipment—saws and grinding wheels—is specially designed for cutting rocks, with a constant infusion of water to keep things cool. “If the rock gets too hot, it will fracture,” says Carla. “The water also helps keep the dust particles down.”

The cut stone is then shaped further on a succession of grinding and polishing wheels, to create the highly polished, domed top. (A flat rock cannot be made nearly as shiny as a convex one.) Depending on the hardness of the stone, the grinding and polishing can take anywhere from ½ hour to several hours. (See http://www.inlandcraft.com/howto/cabbing/cabbing.htm for one rockhound’s step-by-step process, including safety precautions.)

How do you get started?

Every rockhound has their own particular collecting style—whether they find or buy their rocks, and what they choose to do with them. Much of what they know comes from trial and error, after years of working with rocks. Fel di Geronimo, 92, another SCMGS member, says he’s been collecting and grinding stones since he was 12 years old. But these days he’s just happy to pass on what he’s learned over 80 years of collecting on Saturday mornings with Mike at the SCMGS lapidary shop. He’ll also be sitting near the entrance at the upcoming SCMGS Annual Show, Saturday & Sunday, April 25-26, from 10 am - 5 pm at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium—identifying rocks, answering questions, giving free rocks to kids, and introducing neophytes to the seductive powers of rocks.

Words and Art

What are words worth?
Published March 7, 2009 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

It’s a rap race, with a fast pace
Concrete words, abstract words
Crazy words and lying words
Hazy words and dying words
Words of faith and tell me straight
Rare words and swear words
Good words and bad words
What are words worth?
What are words worth? - words

--lyrics from “Wordy Rappinghood” by Tom Tom Club

Forgive me for overstating the obvious, but words, when combined with images, can make a powerful statement. The controversial and recently litigated red-white-and-blue “HOPE” poster depicting a visionary Barack Obama, which was distributed grassroots-style on buttons, stickers and Websites during last year’s presidential election, is a good example. AP photographer Mannie Garcia’s photo (used by street artist Shepard Fairey without his or the AP’s permission) was transformed into a potent piece of propaganda, which spread like wildfire across American. The photograph—shot at a routine press conference—took on new life and meaning, chiefly because of the addition of one charismatic word--HOPE.

As a former press photographer myself, the advantages of combining words with images is not a new notion—although news photographers try to stick to the facts and avoid subjective commentary in their captions. Words can provide context and information that the photo, all by itself, might not provide.

There’s a great new coffee table-sized book, Scrapbooks: An American History by Jessica Helfand, which traces the history of scrapbooking from Victorian times to the present, with you-can-almost-smell-the-mildew presentation and insightful commentary. As an art critic, Helfand examines specific scrapbooks and looks for the stories each one tells about ordinary and extraordinary lives within the larger context of social change in America.

One vintage scrapbook she examines, kept by a theater manager from Philadelphia, chronicles a grand tour he took with his wife in 1909 from Western Europe to Egypt and Greece. Helfand is disappointed to find that the scrapbook—several pages of which are featured in her book—lacks any personal details, such as handwriting, captions, or personal observations of any kind. She says “it testifies to…the degree to which a beautiful scrapbook, if only made of scraps, ultimately rendered one’s extravagant experience devoid of any overt emotionality”—(which I am quite guilty of in my own scrapbooking efforts). Personal observations can transform an impersonal travelogue into something one-of-a kind and historically significant.

Art museum pieces are typically identified by words--a title typed on a small rectangle of cardboard, adhered to an adjacent wall or platform. An artwork’s title, even though it may be physically separated, might actually be an integral part of the piece. Jerry Ross Barrish--whose found object assemblages can be seen at The Museum of Art & History (MAH) through April 5—uses “…the lowest caste in the hierarchy of debris”—plastic scrap—to make empathetic, playful, figurative sculptures. Barrish also creates titles that confirm what you may already have suspected, and make you smile with recognition at his interpretation, such as “Adam and Eve”, “Another Gothic,” “Horse by Committee,” and “Last Supper.”

I’ve always been a bit reluctant to use words in my own art, growing up in an era when “Hang in their baby” kitten-hanging-from-a-clothesline posters were considered chic. But, more recently, I’ve become a big fan of using words and printed matter in art, especially collage. If you still need winning over, start by seeing MAH’s current exhibit, Assemblage + Collage + Construction. For a fun exercise, I revisited the museum last Friday and cataloged the many ways in which words add an extra dimension to many of the pieces in the show:

(clockwise, above)
1. PLAYFULNESS: See Dag Weiser’s “Washer” construction made from cut-up cardboard cartons or Charlotte Kruk’s assemblage “Sees Worker Bee”
2. AMBIGUITY: See William Dole’s “Ways and Means” collage incorporating individual letters and words.
3. IMPORT: See Mark Shoney’s “PRAY Cord” made from used headsets or Elly Simmons mixed media “Humanity at Stake”
4. MYSTERY: See how Joseph Zirkir’s “Graphitification” which features pencil shavings and Chinese cookie fortunes creates ambiguity and mystery

(clockwise, below)
5. ELEGANCE: See Anne Easley’s mixed media “Bordeaux” which features antique quill pen letters in French
6. INTIMACY: See how Luis Guitierrez’s assemblage “Physiology” uses tiny words and phrases to draw you closer.
7. REVERENCE: See Jane Gregorius’s “Gridded Church #12,” which features strung squares cut from prayer books and a Bible
8. FORM: See how Tom Nakashima’s collage, “Stewart’s Sticks” used strips torn from phone books and stock market pages to create texture, shadow and pattern.


As an artist and a writer, I certainly feel more adept at the former than the latter. So my suggestion at this point would be wrap up your Sentinel reading, and head for the MAH or the Pajaro Valley Gallery, and let the powerful combination of images and words speak for itself.

Wonderful Wax

Encaustic Painting
Originally published February 7, 2009 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Have you ever lingered after a quiet, candle-lit dinner, and played with the drips that have accumulated down the sides of the candle? Wax is appealing in many ways, not the least of which is its smooth, tactile quality.

Honeycomb—that marvel of engineering that bees construct for raising their young and storing honey and pollen--is made from wax, which is secreted by abdominal glands of young worker bees. Foragers must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey. The average forager makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

So wax is fun to touch and essential to honey production. What other ways is wax—and beeswax in particular—of value?
• Well, because it’s nonporous it’s great for preserving and protecting things like cheese, furniture, and skin.
• Because it’s readily pliable and impressionable, it’s been used to record music, shape moustaches, and in the casting metals for jewelry, sculpture or industry.
• Because it contains sweet-smelling pollen oils and melts at a fairly low temperature, it can be used as a fuel to keep candles burning or to give a high sheen when used as polish.
• Because it can bind and adhere, it’s been used for sealing envelopes and in the production of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

For all these reasons, beeswax is also an ideal, archival medium for artists. When beeswax is combined with resin and pigment, it’s called encaustic painting. The resin gives the beeswax a hard, durable finish and the pigment provides a broad array of colors.

Encaustic painting was practiced by Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C. Fayum funeral portraits painted in the 1st through 3rd centuries A.D. by Greek painters in Egypt have survived until today, with their still-fresh colors preserved by the protection of wax.









I recently attended one of the best workshops I’ve ever experienced—a two-day emersion in encaustic painting (info at waxworkswest.blogspot.com). Local instructor/artists Wendy Aikin, Judy Stabile and Daniella Woolf demonstrated numerous processes over the two days and provided all the materials and help needed to practice each one in their well-organized Corralitos studio. Their excitement about the encaustic process was infectious, and by the end I felt so creatively invigorated by the weekend that I went and jogged three miles in the beautiful backroads of Corralitos.

Wax Works also provides “playdays” so you can return to the studio, use their equipment and materials, and continue experimenting safely with encaustic. Having a large, well-ventilated workspace is important when working with materials that require a certain amount of safety considerations. Heated wax emissions can be hazardous without proper ventilation, especially when overheated and hot wax itself can be a fire and burn hazard.

If you want to try an inexpensive way of working with wax at home, open two windows to create a cross-draft and turn on a the canopy hood fan over the stove and/or a floor fan to draw any fumes away from the workspace; or, better yet, work outdoors. Beeswax will melt at 146 degrees, and, when heated, should always be kept at or near this melting point. Here’s a simple wax project to introduce you the process.

What you need:
Beeswax (Beverly Crafts has solid bricks and textured sheets of 100% beeswax)
Wax paper
Empty tuna can
Electric pancake griddle with temperature control, protected with foil
Dedicated paint brush
Dress pattern tissue
Small stretched canvas or piece of sanded plywood and glued-on watercolor paper
Travel iron (smooth bottom with no holes)
Hair dryer
Crayons
Items to collage

What you do:
If you use plywood, coat in Yes Paste and adhere watercolor paper to start with a white surface. (You can also apply watercolor paints to the paper before applying any wax.)

1. Melt small pieces of beeswax in a tin can placed on an electric griddle covered with foil until liquid is heated just to the melting point.

2. Cover your workspace with a piece of wax paper. Apply a thin layer of beeswax to the entire surface of the canvas or board, including the sides, with a paintbrush. (Alternately, you can cover the edges with burnished painter’s tape to keep the edge free from wax, then remove the tape when you’re done.)

3. Cover the warm wax surface with a piece of pattern tissue big enough to cover the sides and press into the wax.

4. Coat the tissue with another layer of wax.

5. Use the travel iron to smooth the dress pattern down to create a flat, smooth surface. Trim off any excess pattern.

6. Add cut out of your focal image and bush over with more wax. A porous paper will bond with the wax better than a shiny paper. I used an image printed onto ink-jet printer paper.

7. Apply more wax and iron flat. The image may slide around, but you should be able to maneuver it back into place.

8. To add color, drip crayons onto the wax by holding the crayon directly to the iron surface. (You can also add color by using oil pastels.) Blend in the color with the iron. Clean the warm iron off with a paper towel.

9. Add small objects, images, fabrics, papers, etc. to the piece, adhering each with wax top and bottom.

10. If you don’t like the look of something you’ve added, you can scrape or melt it off. If you need to resmooth the surface, use the iron or a blow dryer, although the force of the air might also move items around.

11. Try transferring laser-jet images into warm wax by burnishing the back of the paper with a brush handle. Draw lines with a Sharpie. Incise the wax with a sharp tool. Imprint shapes with rubber stamps. Experiment and be open to unexpected results.

12. Two websites with beeswax tutorials arewww.artchixstudio.com and www.skybluepink.com.

There’s a big difference between what you can do at home with crayons and a travel iron, and what you can do in an encaustic studio with torches, heat guns, a hot stylus, high-quality medium and encaustic paints, a bin full of various incising tools, scraping tools, Stabilo wax pencils, India ink, joss paper, stamps, stencils, metal leaf, oil sticks, and all the rest. But either way, the texture, aroma, luminosity and potential of wax, can be as enticing and exhilarating as a candle-lit dinner for two.

Clothing reconstruction

REgift Yourself
Renew a gift by reconstructing and restyling
Originally published January 10, 2009 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel







I’m sure you’ve heard of “regifting”—taking an unwanted gift you’ve received and giving it to somebody else. According to Wikipedia, the term was first used by Elaine on a Seinfeld episode after Jerry receives the same label maker that Elaine gave someone else for Christmas. Of course the practice itself has been around a long time.

Apparently there are also 12 rules for regifting without fear of being caught, which include: keep track of who gave it to you first; update the card and wrapping; don’t regift something from a now-defunct company; and don’t regift items that are obviously regifted such as fruitcakes, hand-me-downs, and obsolete appliances like a hot-air popcorn popper. A friend at work told me she has a friend who gives her gifts—like bottles of wine—that she actually intends to be regifted. How thoughtful.

I’m not exactly promoting regifting here—it feels a little deceptive to me, despite its recycling ethic. What I am proposing is a way of turning an unwanted gift into something you really do want to keep. If you received some clothing for Christmas or Hanukkah that you are sure you will never wear because it’s the wrong fabric, size or style, why not turn it into something you will enjoy wearing? Sometimes a pair of scissors, some thread, and a reviewing few episodes of Project Runway, are all that’s needed to get you going.

REassembled Sweater
Wool sweaters are especially good candidates for a make-over. If a wool pullover is scratchy against your skin, turn it into a cardigan that will always be buffered by a shirt or blouse. Wool can be easier to work with than other yarns, because you have the option of felting the fibers together. If you wash a wool sweater in warm soap and water, the fibers will bind together and you can cut up a sweater with no fear of unraveling edges. (Without felting, you’ll need to sew along a cutting line before cutting to prevent unraveling.) Felting will shrink a sweater though, so you’ll probably need 2 or 3 wool sweaters to make a new one that will fit properly.

Felted sweaters can be cut up and refashioned without bulky seams or even a sewing machine. Separate pieces can be overlapped or simply abutted, and then joined with embroidery thread or yarn and decorative stitches.

Websites with examples of restructured sweaters include: www.modtomodern.com and http://readymade.com/article/big_love/ or just Google “cut up sweaters.” For examples and instructions try “Rip It!” By Elissa Meyrich and Altered Couture published by Stampington & Company.


REfabricked Shoes
One of my favorite magazines—Craft—had a great issue this year (Vol. 7) focusing on shoes. (You can see a preview of the article at http://www.craftzine-digital.com/craft/vol07/?folio=49) One project involved taking a pair of Converse All Stars and replacing the original fabric for something more personalized. Instead of Converse All Stars, I purchased an under-$10 pair of OP high-tops and refabricked them with iron-on ink jet fabric (printed with my own design) backed with canvas. Here are the basics:

1. Cut the fabric off the shoe using a craft knife, being careful not to cut the rubber. Try to remove all the fabric, including the tongue, in one piece. Separate the tongue with a seam ripper. Cut the large piece in half at the heel, creating two mirror-image pieces. These three pieces will serve as patterns for the new fabric. Remove the insole and the heel support. (I recommend doing one shoe at a time, so you have the second as a guide.)
2. Print your ink-jet fabric (at least two 8-1/2 x 11 pieces) with any design (photographs, paintings, words, graphics, etc.), then iron it onto canvas or a heavier fabric for stability.
3. Lay the pattern pieces on the new fabric and trace around the edges in pencil or disappearing ink, adding one inch to the bottom so that you’ll have extra fabric to tuck under the insole when gluing. Also add an extra inch to the toe-end of the tongue as well.
4. Cut an additional strip the same size as the one covering the back seam at the heel. Using a sewing machine, sew the two halves together at the heel adding the strip on top. Sew an overlocking stitch along the top edges of the shoe and around the tongue. Add any other desired embellishment.
5. Mark the holes for the laces and cut them large enough to accommodate the eyelets. Hammer or punch eyelets in place.
6. Sew the tongue to the shoe piece using the second shoe as a placement guide.
7. Glue the fabric to the sole and to the top of the toe cap using Shoe Goo in a well-ventilated area (like outdoors). Glue the heel support and the insole in place. Pack the shoe with paper and use clamps to apply pressure while the glue is drying. Allow to dry for 24 to 72 hours before wearing.

REstyled Greeting Card
This project isn’t about a gift I didn’t want to keep, but rather about one (a greeting card) that I wanted to savor a bit longer. The card, created by my friend Kim Roseth, is so lovely, I decided to create a padded frame for it using scrap pieces of fabric, wood, foam core, scrapbooking paper and batting.

Cut and sand the ½-inch thick piece of pine or plywood to the desire size. Cut the foam core and the batting to the same size. Cut the fabric large enough to be folded over and glued to the back of the wood. Using a craft knife, cut a window in the foam core and the batting the size of the card. Carefully cut an X in the fabric, which extends just to the corners of the window cut in the foam core. Using Yes! Paste, glue construction paper to the board so that if the window is any larger than the card, the wood will be covered.

Glue the flaps from the cut X to the inside of foam core, with the batting sandwiched in-between. There should be no foam core or batting showing at the corners of the window. Glue the edges of the fabric to the back of the wood, making a neat fold at each corner. Glue another piece of scrapbooking paper to the back to cover all the fabric edges. Glue the card into place in the window. Add a hook or wire to the back for hanging.

Weath-Making

Make a Wreath from Virtually Anything
Originally published December 6, 2008 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Let’s be clear on one thing—you can make a wreath from virtually anything. If you noodle around on the Web you’ll find wreaths made from feathers, candy, Astroturf, buttons, cookie cutters, wine corks, shells, chilis, sheet music, aluminum cans, socks, playing cards, traffic signs, dried fruit, and even (taking “anything” to an regrettable extreme) diapers. As a natural-born hoarder, this no-holds-barred aspect of wreath-making got me thinking about my own personal stashes of stuff. Could beer-bottle caps make an attractive wreath? How about felted sweaters? Or that dried up artichoke flower I found in my vegetable garden yesterday?

Wreaths in history
Traditionally, a wreath is a decorative ring made of flowers, leaves and sometimes fruits that is displayed by hanging on a wall or door or in a window. Wreaths are commonly made from evergreens such as bay laurel, pine, cedar or holly. The early Greeks used small laurel wreaths as victory crowns in their ancient version of today’s Olympic Games. Like a wedding ring, circular wreaths can symbolize immortality or eternity. But, if you’re willing to forego the symbolism for artistry, wreaths can also be square, horseshoe-shaped or even star or heart-shaped.

Live or dried plant wreath
The base of any wreath—what gives the wreath its form and holds it all together—is typically made from a wire frame, grapevines, moss, foam or straw. But you might also be able to simply use cardboard or a coat hanger, depending on your design. For a wreath made from plant materials you may also need floral department supplies such as picks (use to strengthen a stem), pins (used with a foam or straw base), and floral wire or tape.

Natural materials include evergreens, flowers, berries, cones, fruit, nuts, seed heads, and pods. But don’t stop there. Walk around your neighborhood with a shopping bag and some pruning sheers and gather what looks useable. For a fragrant wreath, use pine needles, or rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, or bay leaves. For a colorful wreath (don’t necessary limit yourself to red and green) consider dried flowers, dried pomegranates, dehydrated orange slices, rosehips, berries, dried corn or Chile peppers. For spots of interest add buckeyes, pinecones, wheat or straw, acorns, garlic bulbs, seeds, dried corns husks, or bark,

Without doing a lot of drying or shopping, I made a natural wreath from cedar cones, orange rosehips and rosemary attached to a grapevine base. I used a hot glue gun to attach the cones, and floral picks—which look like fat green toothpicks with a piece of thin wire attached to one end—for attaching the rosehips. The grapevine wreath I bought; the rosemary was from my own backyard; the cedar cones and rosehips I scavenged from the neighborhood.

Live succulent wreath
To make live succulent wreath you’ll need a green wire wreath frame, floral wire, peat moss, potting soil, rooting hormone and lots and lots of cuttings from succulents. Start by collecting a shopping bag full of succulent cuttings a day or two before assembling the wreath so they have some time to callous over. Pack the wreath first with a layer of wet peat moss, then soil, then more peat moss, and then wrap the whole thing with floral wire so it stays together. Poke holes in the moss with a screwdriver before inserting the cuttings dipped in rooting hormone. Soak the wreath occasionally to keep the succulents alive. If the cuttings eventually outgrow the wreath, plant the whole wreath in a pot or take more cuttings and start over.

Aluminum soda can wreath
There’s a book for sale online called “Crafting Aluminum Art” that has instructions for crafting several different wreaths using soda cans. Most of their wreaths use the unprinted silver side of the aluminum along with permanent marker. For my wreath, I looked for soda cans with red or green in the label so I could use the printed side of the can. Beside about 10 cans you’ll need a needle and thread, can opener, wire cutters, scissors, a permanent marker (optional), cardboard, stapler and tape. Cut a 10-inch round base from the cardboard, 1 ½ inches wide. Sew a soda can pull-tab to the top of the wreath for hanging.

Use the can opener to remove the top of the can. Cut through the rim with the wire cutters and then cut the top and bottom off the can with scissor. Cut the can from top to bottom so that you have one flat piece of aluminum about 4 by 8 inches. Cut four leaves from each sheet of aluminum and bend or score down the center and sides to make them look more leaf-like. Color with permanent marker if desired. Attach the leaves to the cardboard with staples, overlapping leaves as you go so that the staples and the cardboard don’t show. Cut thin strips of aluminum, then roll them around a chopstick to create streamers, which are then taped the cardboard at the bottom of the wreath.

Paper wreaths
I found a beautiful pastel wreath online made from reused paper rolled up into about 100 little cone shapes. The edge of each cone was scalloped and the paper came from intriguing sources such as vintage sheet music or second-hand books, or textbook pages dyed in Concord grape solution. For more color the artist added Starbuck’s brochures and Anthropologie catalog pages.

Also online, Paper Source offers two paper wreath kits—a poinsettia and a holly leaf—which could be done, but would take much longer to make without the kit. (The holly leaf wreath kit has 72 die-cut holly leaves.)

Wire wreath
I like the simplicity of the wire wreath and its flatness makes it much easier to store than other wreaths. I made two, one with red and silver wire and sequins, the other fashioned with plastic-coated wire, then wrapped in red wool yarn. These wreaths are smaller and look nice as a table centerpiece with a candle or flowers.

Wreath-making

No-Holds-Barred Wreath-Making
originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, December 6, 2008

Let’s be clear on one thing—you can make a wreath from virtually anything. If you noodle around on the Web you’ll find wreaths made from feathers, candy, Astroturf, buttons, cookie cutters, wine corks, shells, chilis, sheet music, aluminum cans, socks, playing cards, traffic signs, dried fruit, and even (taking “anything” to an regrettable extreme) diapers. As a natural-born hoarder, this no-holds-barred aspect of wreath-making got me thinking about my own personal stashes of stuff. Could beer-bottle caps make an attractive wreath? How about felted sweaters? Or that dried up artichoke flower I found in my vegetable garden yesterday?

Wreaths in history

Traditionally, a wreath is a decorative ring made of flowers, leaves and sometimes fruits that is displayed by hanging on a wall or door or in a window. Wreaths are commonly made from evergreens such as bay laurel, pine, cedar or holly. The early Greeks used small laurel wreaths as victory crowns in their ancient version of today’s Olympic Games. Like a wedding ring, circular wreaths can symbolize immortality or eternity. But, if you’re willing to forego the symbolism for artistry, wreaths can also be square, horseshoe-shaped or even star or heart-shaped.

Live or dried plant wreath

The base of any wreath—what gives the wreath its form and holds it all together—is typically made from a wire frame, grapevines, moss, foam or straw. But you might also be able to simply use cardboard or a coat hanger, depending on your design. For a wreath made from plant materials you may also need floral department supplies such as picks (use to strengthen a stem), pins (used with a foam or straw base), and floral wire or tape.

Natural materials include evergreens, flowers, berries, cones, fruit, nuts, seed heads, and pods. But don’t stop there. Walk around your neighborhood with a shopping bag and some pruning sheers and gather what looks useable. For a fragrant wreath, use pine needles, or rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, or bay leaves. For a colorful wreath (don’t necessary limit yourself to red and green) consider dried flowers, dried pomegranates, dehydrated orange slices, rosehips, berries, dried corn or Chile peppers. For spots of interest add buckeyes, pinecones, wheat or straw, acorns, garlic bulbs, seeds, dried corns husks, or bark,

Without doing a lot of drying or shopping, I made a natural wreath from cedar cones, orange rosehips and rosemary attached to a grapevine base. I used a hot glue gun to attach the cones, and floral picks—which look like fat green toothpicks with a piece of thin wire attached to one end—for attaching the rosehips. The grapevine wreath I bought; the rosemary was from my own backyard; the cedar cones and rosehips I scavenged from the neighborhood.

Live succulent wreath

To make live succulent wreath you’ll need a green wire wreath frame, floral wire, peat moss, potting soil, rooting hormone and lots and lots of cuttings from succulents. Start by collecting a shopping bag full of succulent cuttings a day or two before assembling the wreath so they have some time to callous over. Pack the wreath first with a layer of wet peat moss, then soil, then more peat moss, and then wrap the whole thing with floral wire so it stays together. Poke holes in the moss with a screwdriver before inserting the cuttings dipped in rooting hormone. Soak the wreath occasionally to keep the succulents alive. If the cuttings eventually outgrow the wreath, plant the whole wreath in a pot or take more cuttings and start over.

Aluminum soda can wreath

There’s a book for sale online called “Crafting Aluminum Art” that has instructions for crafting several different wreaths using soda cans. Most of their wreaths use the unprinted silver side of the aluminum along with permanent marker. For my wreath, I looked for soda cans with red or green in the label so I could use the printed side of the can. Beside about 10 cans you’ll need a needle and thread, can opener, wire cutters, scissors, a permanent marker (optional), cardboard, stapler and tape. Cut a 10-inch round base from the cardboard, 1 ½ inches wide. Sew a soda can pull-tab to the top of the wreath for hanging.

Use the can opener to remove the top of the can. Cut through the rim with the wire cutters and then cut the top and bottom off the can with scissor. Cut the can from top to bottom so that you have one flat piece of aluminum about 4 by 8 inches. Cut four leaves from each sheet of aluminum and bend or score down the center and sides to make them look more leaf-like. Color with permanent marker if desired. Attach the leaves to the cardboard with staples, overlapping leaves as you go so that the staples and the cardboard don’t show. Cut thin strips of aluminum, then roll them around a chopstick to create streamers, which are then taped the cardboard at the bottom of the wreath.

Paper wreaths

I found a beautiful pastel wreath online made from reused paper rolled up into about 100 little cone shapes. The edge of each cone was scalloped and the paper came from intriguing sources such as vintage sheet music or second-hand books, or textbook pages dyed in Concord grape solution. For more color the artist added Starbuck’s brochures and Anthropologie catalog pages.

Also online, Paper Source offers two paper wreath kits—a poinsettia and a holly leaf—which could be done, but would take much longer to make without the kit. (The holly leaf wreath kit has 72 die-cut holly leaves.)

Wire wreath

I like the simplicity of the wire wreath and its flatness makes it much easier to store than other wreaths. I made two, one with red and silver wire and sequins, the other fashioned with plastic-coated wire, then wrapped in red wool yarn. These wreaths are smaller and look nice as a table centerpiece with a candle or flowers.

Knit-Free Neckware

Seeking that Spark of Inspiration
(Originally published Nov. 1, 2008 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Last month’s Open Studios Art Tour was abundantly inspiring—I came away from many of the 20 or so studios I toured thinking about how I would incorporate elements of what I saw into my own creative endeavors. The literal meaning of “inspire” is to inhale. For me, breathing in the ideas, techniques and sources of other artists’ inspiration is very exhilarating. I can only guess at what inspires other artists, but here are some possibilities.

The natural world has always provided inspiration to artists such as Tina Tucker, who paints elegant rural landscapes of Santa Cruz County. Or to Karen Card, whose raku-fired torsos remind me in a whole new way of the timeless beauty of the human form.

Other artists, like Robert Larson and William Marino, take their inspiration from reusing manmade objects. Larson creates patterns of subtle and infinite variety using the graphic designs of weathered Marlboro cigarette packs. Also a recycler, William Marino unwinds the thin strips of paper that make up flea market dartboards, and then rewinds them into circles, spirals, cones and other shapes that transcend their humble origins.

Still other artists seem to be impelled not so much by their subject matter, but by their methods and use of materials, such as Daniella Woolf, who buries bits of printed paper in layers of colored beeswax and resin to create images of depth and irresistible tactile qualities.

Of course, the whole point of my monthly column is to provide inspiration and the know-how to create. Even if you don’t think the project of the month is for you, my hope is that you may find one small aspect of a project inspiring--whether it be in the subject matter, the techniques, the materials, or even in some deep-seated, visceral response.

First spark—I’ve got to try that!

I recently saw a scarf in a Morgan Hill yarn shop that was made without knitting. It was basically an abstract, lacey combination of colorful yarns and threads. The shop owner described the technique, and I sought out the water-soluble stabilizer that makes the process possible. It’s found by-the-yard in the interfacing section of a fabric store or in various pre-packaged dimensions under the Sulky or Aquabond brand names. Water soluble stabilizer feels and acts just like a medium-weight interfacing until you get it wet—then it just dissolves. (Note: Aquabond has a paper-backed adhesive, which may have saved me a lot of time and trouble, but I didn’t have a chance to try it.)

Trial-and-error take one—Scarf #1

To create a “wash-away” scarf or shawl you can combine any materials that can be sewn and can get wet. Ribbon, yarn, fabrics, felt, thin plastic, are all possibilities. The instructions I found online suggested getting the stabilizer damp, a little at a time, in order to adhere the materials to its sticky (but not wet enough to dissolve) surface. I made a ribbon scarf this way, but I wouldn’t recommend it since the right amount of dampness is difficult to gage, and if the stabilizer gets too wet, it turns into a big gluey mess. A spray bottle may work better than the sponge I tried, but it’s probably best to avoid water altogether.

Second spark—seeking help from a pro

After my first scarf attempt, I visited Open Studio artist Mary Hammond, who makes a wide-ranging variety of beautiful no-knit scarves and shawls, and she gave me a few tips. She said to try a light coating of spray adhesive if I needed the materials to bond to the stabilizer before sewing; use no water until I was ready to dissolve the stabilizer; and wash the finished piece numerous times to remove all the stabilizer residue and soften the materials. (Mary may also be teaching a class in her techniques; for more information, contact her at knitwits@baymoon.com.)

Trial-and-error take two--Scarf #2

Back at my kitchen table, I made my second scarf with several different yarns, ribbons and fabrics. I arranged the materials on top of a piece of stabilizer, then added a second piece on top to create a sandwich. I pinned the sandwich all over to keep the design in place, then randomly quilted it all in a narrow zigzag stitch. Some of the narrow yarns shifted, but basically things stayed in place. The problems with this scarf are multiple: I didn’t really consider the negative spaces—where only the stitching shows to give the scarf that lacey effect; the stitching is in a light-colored thread which doesn’t show up against all the other pastels---again, I missed the whole point; and the sewn-down eyelashes of the eyelash yarn just looks messy. I still felt inspired by Mary Hammond’s scarves, but the learning curve was steep.

Some modest success—Scarf #3

For my third scarf I tried to keep the design simpler, with materials that had some built-in traction and wouldn't slip around. I used some felt cut-outs from a previous project and some crimped yarn. I laid the design down on the stabilizer, then sprayed lightly over the top with a fabric adhesive, before adding the top layer of stabilizer and sewing.

Combining inspirations—Scarf #4

For my final scarf I thought back to Daniella Woolf’s encaustic works featuring vertical patterns of shredded journal pages. I scanned and printed an image—a page from my daughter’s 8^th grade science journal—to fusible ink-jet fabric. I adhered the printed image to cotton fabric and cut it up into strips with a rotary cutter. Instead of using the stabilizer, I sewed the strips together without spaces, and then added yarn. I’m not sure it’s a scarf exactly, but it may be the genesis of another project altogether.

Final thoughts

All the Open Studio artists I’ve mentioned (except Mary Hammond) have great, inspiring websites. You and I may never paint like Tina Tucker, or sculpt like Karen Card, or do collage like Robert Larson, or wind paper like William Marino, or make encaustic images like Daniella Woolf. But their work may lead and inspire you to create something wholly new, with a vision and a voice all your own.

How to make cardboard furniture

Cardboard Chic
(Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Oct. 4, 2008)

Today marks my fifth anniversary writing about crafts for the Sentinel, and I’m glad to say that writing this column has never been a chore for me. It gives me the chance to do what I love most—figure out how to make something I’ve never made before and share it with other.

Sometimes it’s exhausting, rounding up all the materials and working to complete a project in the space of just four weekends. And sometimes it’s stressful worrying about whether the finished project will be newspaper-worthy. But mostly it’s what I look forward to doing at the end of each workweek. And luckily I’ve got an indulgent family, who never complain that the kitchen table is cluttered once again with newspapers and paint and there is no room to eat (like now).

When I first Googled “cardboard furniture,” there was a lot more out there than I suspected. You can make chairs, stools, benches, bookcases, room dividers, tables, lamps—one site even had a cardboard house. One of my favorite designs is an easy chair with ottoman made early in his career by the celebrated architect, Frank O. Gehry, which actually looks like it might be comfortable as well as a great conversation piece. (www.netropolitan.org/gehry/chair2.html)

Another innovative cardboard furniture designer is Giles Miller, who creates beautiful designs on simple compressed cardboard tables and lamps by “fluting” the internal corrugations of recycled cardboard. (www.gilesmiller.com)

If you want to know how to make cardboard furniture, Leo Kempf offers instructions for making his “speech-bubble coffee table” and two other projects on his website. Inspired by the work of Frank Gehry, Kempf’s technique uses laminated single-ply cardboard and plywood spacers, for a very solid construction. www.leokempf.com/cardboard.html

You can also find plans for making children’s furniture from folded cardboard at www.foldschool.com. And on YouTube, Gomi Style’s video www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOa1kHEiIpg shows how to make a legless chair from reused compressed cardboard.

I learned another technique from cardboard furniture maker Eric Guiomar in a step-by-step DVD “Cardboard Furniture.” Guiomar teaches classes and is part of a French collective, the Cartonnistes, who make whimsical pieces in bright colors with curvy shapes you wouldn’t ordinarily see in wood furniture. Instead of using multiple layers of cardboard for strength, the Cartonnistes use a tab and slot construction technique that requires a lot less cardboard, but is still sturdy and durable. (order DVD from www.vinestreetworks.com/cartons.html)

Besides allowing freedom of form, the Cartonnistes’ furniture illustrates other advantages of cardboard furniture over wood: it’s lightweight, inexpensively made from reused materials, and requires only a few hand-held tools. The DVD provides clear instructions for making a cabinet, complete with drawers and a cupboard door. For my first project, however, I opted for a simpler piece—a small coffee table.

What you need:

• Cardboard (I used double-wall sheets for the framework and single-wall for the outer surfaces)
• Hand-held jigsaw
• Metal wood rasp
• Glue gun with glue sticks
• Gummed paper tape (try Wild Rose Artists’ Supplies or Lenz Arts)
• Scissors, sponge, paint brush, box cutter knife, pencil, paper
• Tape measure, ruler, yardstick
• Wallpaper paste or adhesive, wood glue
• Pressboard
• Tissue paper
• Polyurethane, water based
• Acrylic or latex paint

What you do:

1. Sketch the design of the table profile on paper. Don’t create areas that will be too narrow for taping or painting.
2. Transfer the sketch to the cardboard as a full scale drawing, with the corrugation pattern vertical.
3. Trace over the final sketch with black felt pen.
4. Cut cardboard into four rectangular pieces, the size of the scale drawing.
5. Tape edges of cardboard together with design on top
6. Use jigsaw to cut out all four profiles. Retape as you cut to avoid shifting; the profiles should be identical. Use a wood rasp to file irregularities on the edges of the four profiles. Put two profiles aside.
7. Mark notches in pencil across the top and bottom of the other two profile sections about six inches apart; this will determine the location of each strut.
8. Measure the height of the cardboard at each notch and record the measurements in pencil. Mark the center of the measurement and cut slots to the center points, about ¼ inches wide for double-wall cardboard.
9. Determine the depth of the table. Cut each strut to match the depth of the table and the height of the cardboard measurements taken at each notch. Cut slots along the width of each strut at 1/3 and 2/3s of its length, to the center point of its height.
10. Fit the struts into the slots cut into the two center sections of the table profile.
11. With the table on its back, attach the front and back profiles to the struts using the gummed tape, moistened with a sponge. Use a level or yardstick to be sure the four table profiles are aligned perfectly around the perimeter. Use heavy books to weight the top pieces so it stays in place while taping.
12. Cut a long strip of single-wall cardboard, as wide as the depth of the table, and wrap it around a tube so it will bend around the curving parts of the profile. Glue the long edges of the strip to the outer profiles, gluing a little at a time until the table is completely covered. File edges where necessary for neat corners.
13. Cover all exposed edges with the gummed tape, cutting slots to fit nicely around curved edges.
14. Cut a piece of pressboard to fit on the top of the table, and glue down with wood glue, weighted overnight with heavy books.
15. Mix wallpaper adhesive with paint for a translucent effect. Paint a small area of the table, add a piece of tissue paper, then paint over the tissue paper. Don’t over-brush or the tissue paper could tear and bunch up.
16. When the piece is completely covered, allow to dry overnight. Then paint with 2 or 3 coats of water-based polyurethane.

French designer Eric Guiomar began sculpting furniture from discarded corrugated cardboard boxes 15 years ago and became enchanted with the material. He's involved with a group of Parisian designers which calls themselves cartonnistes, after carton, the French word for cardboard.