Starlight Wishes

Cinco de Mayo flitted by in the wink of an eye. Recycled Runway Fashion Show, a fundraiser to benefit the ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, hit the stage on May 5, 2018 at the Corning Museum of Glass and it dazzled the audience like never before.

Sapphire themed Tablescapes

There was a sapphire theme to celebrate the 45th anniversary of The ARTS Council.  Everyone was asked to wear sapphire in solidarity. 

Even the tables were decorated accordingly.

Painted Love by Jennifer Sekella

While the theater was being transformed, there was a flurry of makeup and hair styling backstage.  Two salons sponsored hair and makeup services.  BellaCapelli and Lotus Lounge provided magical details to compliment each fashion design.  Painted Love by Jennifer Sekella offered her face and body painting services to give models a bold appearance.  Here you see our model, Roni, getting the superstar treatment.

Final Countdown

There are two rehearsals during the day to get each models' walk to their music as precise as their designer envisioned it.  I have the lucky placement at the head of the line to grant each model entrance to the runway to work their magic with the crowd.  

This scene was the final countdown before we set the stage.

Nerves start to Override

From my vantage point, I see nerves start to override confidence.  It's my job to boost that confidence to the stars.  I have a magical wand that provides all the power.  

Roni surprisingly owned this role of a star child with grace of a queen.  

This is her last moment before the big reveal to the public.

Enter "Starlight Wishes"

Starlight

Star bright

First star I see tonight

I wish I may

I wish I might

Have the wish

I wish tonight.

There's no doubt "Starlight Wishes" stole the hearts of our audience.  She certainly shined!

This year was my favorite design created in the Southeast Steuben County Library Fashion Club.  The smaller design group kept everyone on task and focused.  

The results are fabulous!

Thanks for following this story of trash-formation.

Check back soon for more adventures in Library Land!

xo,

Erica

ABC's of Bicycle Maintenance

Who needs to know "fill in the blank"?  This is the question I ask when developing programs.  For a very good reason, bicycle maintenance popped in my brain as the obvious answer for May.  Having great friends who are bicycle advocates, this program was easy to pull off.  The turn out of attendees made this one of my best-ever-program-efforts!

Too crowded Room

Weather was against us for this outdoorsy program, so we tried to host it inside a community room.  No Dice!  The amount of bikes you see above nearly doubled in 10 minutes. 

Outside is the best side

The answer was obvious to move outside and the rain held off for most of this 3 hour session.  Tara Escudero from Elmira Bikes and John van Otterloo from Corning Bikes led participants through the ABC's of Bicycle Maintenance.

The A of ABC's stands for Air.  John van Otterloo shows these twins the proper way to pump air into bike tires.  There are several learners and one statuesque gawker.

The B of ABC's stands for Brakes.  We each learned a few important lessons on brake maintenance.  This empowerment is gratifying.

The C of ABC's stands for Chain.  Tara showed our group how to check the quality of the chain.  "Avoid water puddles, they lead to rust!"

Tara shows a simple chain cleaning trick using a towel and a buddy to turn the pedals.  We purchased a chain cleaner that can be used by any biker riding through town.  Remember during those hot summer days, the library is a designated cooling station.  Stop in to cool down and spruce up your ride while you're here.

This was our Saturday scene at the Southeast Steuben County Library.  I love to see this community building  and wide age range of learners.  Each person helped one another to get their bikes ready to roll.  Teamwork makes the dream work!

When we work and learn together, we grow together.  This little test in community proved successful.  There were more adults than teens, but we are always nursing that inner child.
If you have a program suggestion, post your ideas in the comments section.  If you have a skill you wish to share, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Cinco de Mayo-Recycled

The Fashion Club's recycled design is ready to hit the runway this Cinco de Mayo.  Today is your last day to purchase tickets online at https://artscouncil.ticketspice.com/2018-recycled-runway  Remember, we are celebrating the 45th anniversary of The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes and should wear sapphire in solidarity.

"Glitter Ghost" Haunting Market Street

Do you remember the "Glitter Ghost" we created for Recycled Runway 2017?  The Gaffer District in Corning, New York was kind enough to help promote this year's event by displaying several ensembles in store front windows.  "Candy Wrapper's Delight" by Hiedi L. Allison stands beside the ghost and represent a bit of the talent that goes into these fashion shows.

Final Details

Last week, our school district closed for spring break, so the Fashion Club met twice to complete "Starlight Wishes."  Our lovely model and her mother stayed late one night creating some of the final details.  These shoes were decorated with 3-D printed scraps and cardboard tabs, which were glued and glittered.

They devised a purse, which will hold the wishes we make when we see that first star of the night.  She will grant those wishes at the end of the catwalk with a glittered slingshot.  The grace of this model will win the hearts of the audience--no doubt!

Sneaky Peeky

This is your last sneak peek of the details of this dress before it hits the runway on Saturday.  We hope you venture out to celebrate our accomplishments.  There are over 10 hours of dedicated work put into this ensemble alone.  That does not reflect the amount of hands working on it.  There are 34 models set to walk this runway, each working over 40 hours each on their own pieces.  We promise this is a show you do not want to miss.

One note of respect:  

Recycled Runway is not connected to (but is applauded by) Recycle Runway.

In preparation for the seventh installment of Recycled Runway Fashion Show, we discovered an artist using (and owning) a very similar name.  Nancy Judd is an established designer with copyright protection to her business.  From her website:  Artist and environmental educator Nancy Judd of Recycle Runway creates couture fashion from trash as an innovative way to provide education about conservation.

With respect to Nancy Judd and protection of artist's rights, the name of this event will be changed in 2019 to Runway Reboot.  It's an exciting moment for change.  Time for a REBOOT!

Spider Mums to Celebrate 45 Years!

I'll leave you with some sapphire Spider Mums that I crafted in the Creation Station, the Southeast Steuben County Library's Maker Space.  There are 2 Cricut Machines that cut the paper needed to establish a mum shaped flower.  Mums and sapphires are traditional gifts for a 45th anniversary, so we plan to celebrate in style. 

Cinco de Mayo-Recycled!

Check back in a few weeks to see the final "Starlight Wishes" ensemble on stage.

xo,

Erica

Starlight Wishes

We settled on a title for the ensemble from Friday Fashion Club with Tat.  This recycled wearable art piece will be known to the world as "Starlight Wishes."

Roni is getting Ready for the Runway

This is the biggest sneak peek you will get before May 5, 2018.  Have you purchased a ticket to the show?  What are you waiting for?!  Get your tickets today for the most excited Fashion Show in Corning, New York.

https://artscouncil.ticketspice.com/2018-recycled-runway

The Fashion Club crew finally determined a title for their work.  The outfit will be called "Starlight Wishes."  We felt the look of this design resembled a starry sky.  Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight...

Celestial Cap

The cosmic theme of this design lead to the creation of this Celestial Cap.  Using stringers from 3-D printing projects, this cap resembles shooting stars and asteroids.  What was to be "Booked for the Ball" has transformed as the Queen of the Solar System.

With only 2 more design classes left, we have a LOT of work to accomplish before we call this piece complete.  Check back at the end of April to see the continued progress.

xo,

Erica

2018 Fashion Club Continues

Fashion Club with Tat met twice in February to continue working on their Recycled Runway Fashion Show design.  Winter Break meant no school for students, but we enlisted them in fashion design lessons.

Boys Busted out the Work

Tat's sons roamed the library during our class, but we needed more hands to complete tasks.  They wrangled friends and transformed a huge box of cardboard tabs in just ten minutes.  A stopwatch timed their session.  We strictly got ten free minutes, then had to pay them....  Sheesh!

Chop-Chop

Amelia was busy chopping up 3-D printing scraps into tiny mosaic sized pieces.  I was her helper and believe we killed a few pairs of scissors.

A little Help from our Friends

We even secured a little help from our friends....ok, it's Amelia's brother.

Jina is a Glue Gun Master

Jina continued gluing cardboard tabs to our skirt base.

Nestrelda Put her Gluing skills to Use

Whatever would we do without hot glue?!

Colorful Mosaic

Those 3-D printing scraps are being formed into a colorful mosaic covering the bodice of our design.  Progress was swift this month, but time is slipping away quickly.

A True "Insider" View

There are only 3 classes left for Fashion Club with Tat.  We're having fun and forcing kids to work in unusual ways.  Now it's time to choose a title for this ensemble.

Is she Booked for the Ball or a Younique Universe?  Give us your vote!

Check back in March to find the results of our Title brainstorm.

Thanks for visiting!

~Erica

Mandala Rock Painting

Our Middle Mondaze events are providing space for mindfulness to anyone older than 13 years.  This program is aimed towards Middle School students, but adults are loving it, too!

Dots all Around

Dictionary.com tells us that a mandala is "a geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism." or "a symbol in a dream, representing the dreamer's search for completeness and self-unity."   Using that definition and this visual tutorial to host the program, each student began their first ever mandala.

Personal Property

According to the tutorial, each rock needed a dark color base, with a border.  Once that layer was down, we were instructed to place a dot in the center of that base.  From there, concentric dots were formed around the original dot.

Taste the Rainbow

Some students painted a base color on their rock before coming to class. This one looked sweet, like a burst of Skittles candies.

Soul Burst

As each rock revealed personality traits of the artist.  These dots are Flo's "Soul Burst."

Protection

We saw themes of protection.  This rock revealed an Evil Eye talisman to it's designer.

We discovered a landscape and sunset on this rock.

Freedom from constraint was revealed in this rock.

Dedication to the process shined through this rock.

And this little rock is headed to New Zealand.

Each artist left with a piece of themselves painted brightly on a chunk of sediment.

Simple processes like these help us all see the light from within and find our HAPPY place!

Stop over here in April to see how our our BuJo efforts have progressed since January.

See you soon,

Erica

Bite the Bullet Journal

Have you tried to BuJo?  BuJo is the shortened tern for Bullet Journaling, an analog system of organizing your life.  Ryder Carroll, the creator of this system has developed a website to further inform the novice Bullet Journaler.  Check out the Bullet Journal website for a lesson.

The Gear

I sourced several blogs and Pinterest pages dedicated to all things BuJo.  Many seemed overwhelming and complicated.  Drawings, tons of color, debates upon which pens MUST be used are all details that had this project on a back burner for over a year.

Once I discovered the simplicity of this system and this starting video created by Ryder Carroll, I knew I hit the jackpot.  Like this video states, start simply and simply start!  The sooner you hit the book, the closer you are to organized.  Get a notebook, anything will do.  Get a pen or pencil, anyone will do.  Avoid the complex blogs of women who agonize over the color pen they used for recording their water intake and just get started!

There are a few books in our library collection regarding journals and just one "Bullet Journal for Beginners," but this and the "Start Here" video gave enough inspiration and clarity to the program attendees that any preparation I did beyond that was unnecessary.  This project becomes very personal, so less is more in beginning your system of organizing.

Aside from the books and video instructions, I found Amanda Rach Lee, BuJo Guru.  You can follow her bullet journal journey on her website, Tiny Ray of Sunshine.  With Amanda, discover how to organize areas in your life other than the day-to-day stuff.  I made sure of getting good quality notebooks (the dotted kind) and Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens to start our bullet journals as a group. After several hours of researching, putting these pens to use proved them to be my favorite!  Try a few pens to know what's best for you.

We put the 3-D printers to work by printing stencils for every participant in the group.  This made it easy for the less-than-artsy folks to create beautifully planned pages with a professional edge.  These files can be found on Thingiverse and are free to use.

These Middle Mondaze are a chance for Middle Schoolers, ages 13+, to set aside some time for Mindfulness.  Bullet Journals help get you organized.  Mandala Painting will surely relax your mind and get you closer the core of your heart.  Join us on Monday, February 19, from 2:30-3:30 for a colorful, calming experience.

If you missed the first round of bullet journaling, join us for Bite the Bullet Journal (take 2) on Monday, April 23.  Your busy life will thank you.