At Home with the Artist: Wall Decor

There's this area in our hallway that I've been dying to fill with something! 

I knew that I wanted to put my Harry Potter embroidery in this area from a loooonnngg time ago. Check it out at this post. But I also wanted to add some hanging planters (with fake plants of course since I am a known planter killer)

So I created these adorable mini hanging planters with some clay, white paint and modge podge to finish them off. I poked holes in the back before the clay was fired for them to hang. I got them all set up and hung and guess what!?! They kept slipping off the nails!!

So I had to get creative! I used some leftover leather cording that I had and constructed some holders for the hangers so that the wouldn't fall and scare us half to death in the middle of the night. ( I swear to you, it sounded just like a gun shot!) Here's the final product!

What's Going on in the Classroom: Dyeing Fabric

As a last exciting project of the year, we're doing some fabric dyeing. Essentially it's tie dye, but we do delve into the world of traditional Japanese Shibori dyeing to start off. We learn all about the history and traditional folding etc. Then student either bring in a piece of cloth that they would like to use or they use a piece of muslin that I provide. Students have to choose (or make up!) their folding method.
We spend a day soaking the fabric in large buckets of dye and then we seal them in Ziploc bags overnight. The next day, the fun begins! Outside, I have several tables set up for soaking the cloth in a salt bath, then taking of all rubber bands and other items, and then rinsing in a clean water and wringing out. We had some pretty cool results this year! I think students will probably do some embroidery on their pieces as well. Here's to the end of the year!