DIY Folded Paper Pop Art Wall

Supplies Needed: 8 colors of paper - three sheets of each color, a paper cutter (or scissors), foam board, masking tape, hot glue gun, ruler

I'm preparing for Dan's graduation party later this June, and wanted to make some decorative artwork especially for the event.  So, I busted out the construction paper and the paper cutter. I was inspired by a post at Martha Stewart Weddings.  The inspiration work is a pink analogous color scheme whereas I chose a variation on navy and gold to show some UCSD school spirit.

The photos look different than them real life version, but I'm very happy with the results!

The bigger the better in my opinion. I only had just enough of one of the blue shades to get the job done. Next time, I will try to make it even larger!

At the time of this update, the website for the inspiration work was unavailable. The full address is: 

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/301877/folded-paper-wall-backdrop-how

DIY Puppet / Marionette

 For an art class I took this semester, we were each assigned the job of creating a puppet to resemble an historic work of art. For my puppet, I chose Edgar Degas Four Dancers. You can read more about Degas Four Dancers here from the National Gallery of Art. 

   

step one: shape a head, arms with hands, and feet from newspaper and  masking tape. Then, use a few layers of un printed news print followed by a few layers of tissue paper for color. Much later after the making of this puppet, I saw a bag of ground paper made especially for paper mache and alternatively a just add water paper mache compound - both at the artist and craftsman supply store. That woulda saved me a bunch of time and tired fingers! File that one under "If I would've known then what I know now..."

step two: sew a body and legs. this was done by a combination of hand stitching and machine work. I drew a pattern freehand. It wasn't amazing, but it got the job done. I learn a little bit more about sewing each project I try. And this was quite a project for me.

step three: fter the body, the red silky leotard and the tutu still had to be made. There was a lot of sweat and questions involved in how to make a tutu. Many youtube videos and fabric store workers were consulted with. Eventually, I ended up with a workable tutu I was proud of. I think the layers of color look great! Her little head also got hair made of wool that had yet to be spun. I just worked it and twisted it and pinned it till it looked like a little bun on top of her head. 

  step four: there was still a little  bit of work to go to get her ready to present for finals. I sewed a little pearl necklace on her and fixed on some pearl earrings too. She got embroidery floss ribbons for her shoes, along with eyes and finally some watercolor make-up. 

Recover a Chair

We finally recovered the chairs in the dining room! It was a cheap and easy face lift for the kitchen. I bought $10 worth of discount fabric at this place called Discount Fabrics (imagine that ;) it was from the clearance bin and perfectly matched my expectations. 

Supplies Needed: padding, about two yards of fabric, staple gun, a partner to help, optional clamps.

Before on right in blue. I didn't remember in time to take a picture of both chairs before.

and....After! I used the salvage edge as a guideline, but forgot that meant that for one chair it should have been at the bottom and for the other at the top (because of the way I cut the fabric). The result: the pattern is upside down on one of the chairs! Ok, so its not perfect, but I'm not about to rip out all those staples