Fashion Club, January 2018

The catwalk is calling our Fashion Club for the fourth year in a row.  As you may recall, this Fashion Club designs an outfit made from recycled materials.  Students collaborate on the design and work together to construct the entire ensemble.  With the help of our master fashion designer, Tat Buchholz, our model always steals some hearts on the runway.

Suffrage Safety Gear, 2015

We started this group in 2015 in hopes of having a model walk in the Recycled Runway Fashion Show.  That fashion show is an annual fundraiser for The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.  By participating in this fashion show, students get a real-world view of entering an art competition.

Age of Reason, 2016

This art competition requires a design to be submitted for a juried decision for acceptance into the show.  Anyone who wants to pursue a fashion or art career must become familiar with this process and learn steps involved in a successful effort.

Glitter Ghost, 2017

The work that is produced on our fashion club is similar to what you might see on Project Runway, but with young artists.  Tat keeps everyone going with enthusiasm.  Students love learning new folding techniques and processes of construction they might not learn in school or until much later in life.

The "Palette"

Our "palette" of materials consists of punched paper packing materials, which were donated by an enthusiastic patron.  Scraps from the 3-D printing process will be used as colorful embellishments on the surface of the design.

Hot Glue

What would we do without hot glue?!?  It seems to be the most versitile adhesive for this group.  We love how quickly production goes when the hot glue does it's job correctly and is our hero.  It's upsetting when we burn our fingers and see hot glue as the enemy!

Will we Wing it?

The structures created in this first session have so much potential.  Will they be a corset?  Will they be wings?  Only time will tell, but I will keep you guessing over the next few posts.  The final design will be revealed after the Fashion Show on May 5, 2018.  Stay tuned!

Fashion Club with Tat

Our next class meets during Wintet Break.  Two afternoons in one week of design and embellishment.  Oh Joy!

See you next time,

Erica

Make & Bake Gifts 2k16

Each year in December, we combine First Friday Art Club and Teen Cooking Club into one BIG CRAFTING EVENT called Make and Bake Gifts.  This is the chance to cook and create handmade gifts for the holiday season.  There are no fees for participants.  Pre-registered attendees encounter a variety of crafts to make then take away.

Fabric Covered Coaster Tiles

The first station for creating was Fabric Covered Tile Coasters.  This was an easy project that could be quick or intricate, depending upon the details put into it.  Painting Mod-Podge glue onto a ceramic tile, then adding a square of fabric cut slightly smaller than the tile and burnishing that fabric onto the tile is the main process of this craft.  Coating the fabric covered tile in more Mod-Podge to seal in the fabric finishes off the coaster.  To save table surfaces, it is recommended to glue felt onto the bottom of the ceramic tile.  As you can see, these tiles got fancy!  Details were trimmed and secured and each tile had an individual flare.

Detailed adornment

The next project was soda can basket weaving, led by Kimberly Canale.  This video tutorial is extremely helpful and recommended to anyone who wants to make one at home.  This video is part 1 of a 3 video series.

Kimberly showed the First Friday Art Club how to make these in August, but that class focused on soda can flowers.  This event allowed students the time to focus on the weaving process.  It turns out the soda cans are gnarly when cut.  Students really liked learning to weave, but kept getting caught on the soda can, which limited their enjoyment.

Gnarly snags are no fun.  WEAVING IS AMAZING!

With a little bit of patience and focus, each person created an adorable woven can.

Woven Soda Can Baskets

This fun Snowman pin craft kept people busy and intent for a long time.  Putting tiny beads in a specific order on safety pins is a test of eye sight and patience.

"These pins take patience!"

This project was donated by a generous community partner.  There were dozens made for family members.  I was even able to donate more to a Homeschool Arts & Crafts group.

Frosty!

The edible portion of this event hit a rough spot.  The intended recipe was Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Reindeer.  It is sad to note that I burned the chocolate for this recipe.  Ugh!!!  The smell of scorched chocolate wafted through the Union Hall within moments of placing the melting wafers in the electric skillet.  This melted chocolate thing is still a learning curve for me, especially when I'm multi-tasking. My intention was to have a pot of melted chocolate ready to dip, so there were less steps to making these cute creatures. In hindsight,  I suggest melting chocolate in the microwave, like the recipe states, or using a crock pot to maintain a low temperature for the chocolate to temper, providing a smooth appearance and dry solid on the marshmallow.

Rudolph's nose is falling off!

Since the chocolate was scorched, the cocoa butter crystallized and it would not harden.  The facial details could not stick, and the whole project was becomming a mess.  Luckily, these kids are quick to create a work-around.  Albino reindeer, snowmen, and even tarantulas were designed at this station.

Tarantula, Olaf, White Deer

Snowlady, Red-Nosed Puppymallow

The final cooking craft was a treat to most of the group.  Funfetti Shortbread Bites  are a quick and plentiful recipe, creating dozens of treats in one 13 x 9" pan.  I had older teen volunteers set up the recipe and prepare the ingredients.  When another teen finished their projects, they were welcome to help this group finish the recipe for everyone to enjoy.  These bites were packaged in a holiday box and taken away quicker than I had a chance to taste test.

Funfetti is always FUN!

This wraps up another fantastic teen Make and Bake Gifts for Southeast Steuben County Library.  Our teens had a busy year with school and library programs.  Just one more crafting session is held this week.  Join us for Fabric Holiday Cards on December 9, 2016.  Our favorite fashionista, Tetyana Buchholz will lead the group on sewing and appliqueing fabric cards for the holiday season.

Last teen craft for 2016

If you miss the program, stop back for a recap of the event.

Thanks for visiting.

I'll check ya on the flip side!

xo, erica

Garden of Fire

The Rockwell Museum invited the Southeast Steuben County Library to host an activity at the annual Garden of Fire Festival at Care First in Painted Post, N.Y.  This is the third year of the Garden of Fire and the event just keeps growing, because it is a well cultivated community project.

Director of Education of the Rockwell Museum Gigi Alvare speaks at the opening of the annual Garden of Fire Festival for area summer programs at Carefirst in Coopers Plains. Eric Wensel/The Leader

Several area organizations participate in the festival.  There are science and art projects, as well as health and nutrition lessons.  With "Water" as the festival theme, Squirt Gun Painting seemed like a fun activity to bring to the event.

Squirt Gun Painting samples

The samples I made attempted the method of "resist," which uses objects and elements to block paint from the page or "resist" the color.  Wax and glue usually make great resists for painting effects.  I used glue sticks and was not pleased by the results.  As you will see in the following photo, the glue resist was not very effective, but the paper letters and foam squares I used to resist the paint were really great elements to remain in the composition.

"2016" is barely visible after painting

 I expected 250 kids in 6 hours, so the project had to be made within 5 minutes for all kids involved to create a masterpiece.  Since the glue stick resist was a minor failure, we used paper letters and foam squares to decorate the pages before hitting them with squirt gun paint.

My sample, doused in paint

I used water color paper, tempera paint and Nerf Super Soaker Zipfire squirt guns to "paint" each color in a Jackson Pollock drip and splatter style.  Super Soakers are quality squirt guns that held up to the masses and did not clog!  It's easy to get carried away and add too much paint, leaving a muddy puddle on the page.  Therefore, the kids were instructed to squirt 2-3 shots of each color, 4 colors total, before picking up the page and making the paint run abstract lines across the page.

Paint, then turn the page to let the colors run together

This project was fun, fast and mildly messy.  Luckily, we were outdoors and the heat was so oppressive, any contact with water was a GOOD THING!  This kids loved working paint in this method.  Many parents commented on the ease and feasibility of this craft for birthday parties and picnics.  Wet paintings hung on clothes lines to dry, which added a wall of color "flags" flapping in the breeze.  A beautiful day in the Garden of Fire!

Samples hanging in the sun

Eric Wensel, a photographer from our local news paper, The Leader, took great shots of the event.  This is the only image I have seen from the busy, hot, water-filled day!  

Kids make squirt gun paint art. Eric Wensel/The Leader

Gratitude goes to The Rockwell Museum and Chelsea Ambrose from Care First for organizing this rewarding festival.  The SSC Library is pleased to be part of the effort.

Check back in a few weeks to see how our Theatre Workshop Camp goes.  It was so much fun last year, it's back!

There is still plenty of time to register!

 

Fashion Club...continued

Fashion Club is steadily designing with trash.  This is the second design group from the Southeast Steuben County Library to participate in the annual Recycled Runway Fashion Show, a benefit for The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.  Each fourth Friday, from January through May 2016, the group will finalize their juried design to perfection until it is exposed on the catwalk.

Mess o' Materials

The trouble with reporting the fun we're having in the program is the desire to show off our progress, while keeping you all intrigued and interested enough to support every designers' efforts and purchase a ticket to the show.  Remember: the fashion show is a benefit fundraiser for our local ARTS Council.  Although we are training young ladies and gents to think and work creatively, we are also participating in a much larger effort, so please--support our local ARTS scene.

Gimme Your Water Bottles!

The main elements of our design are the clear plastic water bottles used to hydrate our patrons during movies and other programs.  These get recycled every month after Family and Adult movies.  There is a 5 cent deposit on these containers, which makes them more valuable than most trash in our state, but they are so plentiful in supply, we needed to re-purpose them for our design.  

Curly hair?

"The Age of Reason" is the title of our design.  We are going BIG!   Big hair and big dress.  Curls, height volume--we need it ALL!

BIG Hair

There are many directions to go, but teases are the only direction I will take you...until the catwalk. 

Yarn circle elements

Yarn and cardboard circles are the other elements in our design.  Yarn is always donated to the library, so we have an over abundance.  The cardboard circles are also a donation that is scrap from a local production company.

Here we go 'round in circles

It feels like we are working around a Mulberry Bush, 'round and 'round we go.  Strong staples and dedicated hands get this job done.

Bit o' Bottle

These bottles have grown into a tower and the piece is not even complete.  I just love the way these beauties seem to suspend in mid air.

Our designers are having a great time working together toward our goal.  The program series is past the halfway mark and the Fashion Show is just over 2 months away!  

This means I better get working on my own piece.  That's right, I have my own Trashcan Fashion piece in development.  Make sure you get a ticket to the show...I'll look for you in the crowd.

Check back next month for more snippets of our design and remarkable pieces from last year.

Friday Fashion Club

 

We are at it again-- taking our trash and creating fashion forward art!  Fourth Fridays at the Southeast Steuben County Library are dedicated to  Last year we participated in the Recycled Runway Fashion Show, a benefit for The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes and it was a smashing success!  Here is a recap of last year:  Catch Us on the Runway.

Our design is TOP SECRET, so you will have to purchase your ticket and get a front row seat to the show.  To tease and excite you, here is some bait to whet your appetite.  Enjoy!

Busy Fashion House

Mini Masterpieces

REpurposed Plastic

Layout Sample

Recycled Runway Fashion Show will be held in the auditorium of the Corning Museum of Glass on June 4, 2016.  Check back for sneak peeks at our progress in the coming months, but better yet, come out and support this fantastic fundraiser!

Make & Bake Gifts 2015

Make & Bake Gifts is our annual gift making session where First Friday Art Club and Teen Cooking Club combine for an extended creation event, just in time for the holiday season.

Union Hall tree, all dressed up

This popular event was held in the USW Local 1000 Union Hall, just behind the SSC Library (<<<>>>ooh! check out our new website!!!).  You can read about last year's event here.

Thinking up gifts that people want to receive is often hard to do, especially considering what teens want to make, are interested in creating, and are willing to save to give as a gift rather than keep for themselves, all while calculating these crafts into a short 2 hour time frame and attempting to keep all attendees busy the entire time.  This is quite the challenge.

"Tie Dye" Tile Coasters

Thanks to the community collaborative power of Pinterest, ideas are aplenty, as long as you consider your audience and budget.  The tutorial for these "Tye Dye" Tile Coasters has been provided directly by Sharpie and was relatively inexpensive.  A box of ceramic tiles cost about $12 for 50 tiles, 2 packs of Sharpie markers, scraps of felt and a bottle of rubbing alcohol are the only necessary materials for this project.  Ok, you need some hot glue to stick the felt on the backs of each tile to protect furniture surfaces, but that is somewhat optional....

Felt protects the furniture.

Recognizing that a Tie Dye look doesn't appeal to everyone, and some designs are much more beautiful left alone, I suggested to use personal judgement whether to use the alcohol to create the Tie Dye effect or not.  Many chose to keep their artistic efforts unscathed...

Tile Samples

Another project, which I thought would cost a lot less, was Crayon Candles.  Having a plethora of crayons collected over the years, I thought this was the trick to eliminating the supply....INCORRECT!  Creating these candles required a candle wax to help them burn at a better rate.  Purchasing soy candle wax, prepared wicks, glass votive holders and prepping the station with two adult helpers proved this project could have been a solo event. The process took a lot longer to create each candle than originally thought.  This is a project I will revisit in the near future, but I am well aware that it is a time thief.

Crayon Candle station

Although these candles were very time consuming, they are quite pretty with multiple layers of color.

"What's that?  CHOCOLATE!?!"

On to the edible segment of our event, we created Dark Chocolate Super Bites using a wide variety of healthful elements for mindful snacking.  Some skilled choppers prepared the station and everyone took turns creating their own heavenly bites.

Do you see a reindeer?

Rather than melting the chocolate in the microwave, we used a small crock pot to maintain a melted temperature.
Using an electric skillet, we kept the white chocolate melted for these adorable Candy Cane Heart Pops...

Too cute to eat

Thanks to my high school volunteer, Kacey, who made these pops possible with her helping hands.  Keeping a close eye on the white chocolate supply was very important.  She rationed the project perfectly.

Another fantastic Make & Bake Gifts event is now in the books.  I know those chocolate bite hit bellies before they left the building, but I hope several gift packages like these are given this holiday season.

Check back in 2016 for more incredible teen projects and events.  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 xoxo, erica

Get Away @ Your Library

Teen Read Week was October 18-24 this year.  We had two great programs for the "Get Away @ Your Library" theme.

Comics!!!

One Page Comic Books was scheduled during our teen Anime' group program.  This allowed for a very mixed age group.  Some kids had never read a comic book before!
Laura Charles lead the group with her comic credentials.  Just a day out of River Road Expo, Laura had the comic scene fresh in her mind.  Here are a few samples of the work created in comic style.

Altered Books was another chance to Get Away @ Your Library.  We had a collection of books that were saved from recycling.---Not all books go on shelves or to good homes, as these kids learned.

Rip 'em, cut 'em, glue 'em

Handing out scissors, utility knives, glues, beads, googly eyes, etc., we all got busy breaking down books into new creations.

"Cutting up books seems WRONG!!!"

This was an interesting process for the group, who L.O.V.E. books!!!  Who cuts books like this?! But soon enough everyone had a vision and method to their madness.

Amelia made a shadow box

This became a dragon emerging from a volcano---lots of work done at home.

These pages became flowers

Ethan built a battle scene

Even the adults in the class got fancy

The heart of the book

And Christopher Columbus got a makeover...

Blacklight reactive Chris

These programs were a fun break away from regular library programs. Altered Books struck some artistic nerves with several students, who will provide their creations for display in the next few weeks--we hope!

Check back again soon for more exciting adventures in the SSC Library and Teen Tones.