More Monthly or Daily Challenges Saturday, Aug 1 2009 

Blogging and Books and NaNoWriMo and arts and crafts and cupcakes , tiedyefor 11:02 am

A friend of mine on Facebook just posted that she was about to embark on “30 Days of…” exercise.  I don’t know if she got this idea from The Happiness Project or from somewhere else.  The idea is that, if you do something every day for thirty days, it will become a habit.  In theory, I should be doing that, too (exercise), but first, I will finish this post.

Here is a comment about it from the article posted above – it’s about exercising or doing something 4 days a week instead of every day:

“If I try to do something four days a week, I spend a lot of time arguing with myself about whether today is the day, or tomorrow, or the next day; did the week start on Sunday or Monday; etc.”

How TRUE that is!  I do that all the time!  Even now, I am thinking about writing my friend (who is feeling bad and doesn’t feel motivated to exercise today) to tell her that August has 31 days, so she has one day lee-way.  I’m such a good friend…  Or am I the DEVIL?

I have had a pretty good run doing the NaBloPoMo – I only missed one day after I knew about the challenge, and that’s only because I didn’t have access to the internet.  Now, am I going to continue to write in my blog every day?  Maybe, but probably not.  I am about to start school, and I may not have time every day.  But I am going to make a list of things that I still want to add to my blog and keep it handy for when I can’t think of something.

Here are some more ways to challenge yourself:

Thing a Day is during the month of February (apparently you must sign up between Jan. 26 and before midnight on Jan. 31 – the website says that there are no late sign-ups.)  Everyone is invited to sign up before February 1st and commit to make one new thing (project, sketch, exercise) per day and share it on this group blog.   They are pretty loose about what you can do, but they did state that all work should be from that month only – no recycled work.

Everyday by Tom Judd was a project that this British artist did for two years straight. “Everyday was a self-set project intended to keep me drawing on a regular basis. Each page represents a day of my life and was scanned and uploaded to my site. I completed 2 years of drawing Everyday.” If you go to his website, he has all of his 741 works up for you to browse.  Amazing!

A little bit closer to my heart (only because I have seen him play two times with Paul and Storm) is Jonathan Coulton.  He did something he called Thing a Week – Here is the description from Wikipedia:

“Thing a Week” is the name that Coulton gave to a creative experiment which ran from 16 September 2005 to 30 September 2006. In this project, Coulton undertook to record 52 musical pieces in the course of a year, one each week. This target was achieved.

Here is a link to the first entry of his Thing a Week challenge and here is the final entry for the challenge.  This is all part of his blog, of course, so there are also blog posts about other topics.  The Thing a Week project got him some press, and you can even buy CDs of his work during that time at Amazon.com.  Just search Thing a Week – and that link is only for Part ONE.

Can’t commit to a whole project or thing a day.  How about a Sentence A day?  Here is a link to the How to and Reasoning behind Gretchen Ruben’s One Sentence Journal.  It is not a blog, she hand-writes it on paper.

I decided to search for Haiku Blogs – talk about the art of keeping it simple!  Interestingly enough, both of the ones I found don’t have any recent entries.  One Haiku Every Day ended on February 11, 2009.  Haiku A Day had it’s last entry on December 23, 2008.  Of course, there are all sorts of haiku fan sites, too.

Here is the Cupcake a Day blog.  I had to look that up because, secretly, I wanted to do that one… This blog includes not only the author’s recipes, but links to other great recipes and I think I even saw a cupcake bakery featured.  I love it!

Now, with the movie Julie & Julia coming out, I could not NOT mention Julie Powell’s blog.  I first found this blog but I supposed the rest of the entries were used for her book (?).  I then found another, more recent-looking blog here.  Hey, she got a book and a movie out of her blog – what an inspiration!  Here’s an interview with Julie – and an blog entry I found about Julia Child’s opinion of the Julie/Julia Project.

Here’s another month-long project:  November is Art Every Day Month!  (Wow, what is it about November?)  Here is an explanation from the founder:

“I keep the rules for AEDM really simple and very loose. I encourage people to make something every day, but my goal is to foster more creativity, so if you make just one piece of art per week or just one for the whole month, that’s fine with me. The idea is to bring more creativity into your life, not to make you feel overwhelmed, pressured or guilt-stricken. Art is also loosely defined here. I mean art in the sense of anything creative, whether that be painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, cooking, decorating, writing, photography, clay, jewelry-making or whatever!”

She also has a blog and a Creative Every Day Year-long Challenge:

“Creativity is meant in the broadest sense, so it doesn’t have to be something art related. Your creative acts could be in cooking, taking pictures, knitting, doodling, writing, dancing, decorating, singing, playing with your kids, brainstorming ideas, gardening, or making art in the form of collage, paint, or clay…or whatever!”

Finally, I found Every Day Art – I think it started out as a college class assignment.  There are no participants at the moment, but all of the assignments are there for inspiration!

 

Loteria Artesania, Part 3 Friday, Jul 31 2009 

Loteria and arts and crafts , , tiedyefor 2:01 pm

Okay, here is the rest of what I found up until now.  I had a really good time looking at all of the cool sites on Mexican Folk Art.  La Fuente Imports was my favorite!

34 El soldado – This tin soldier, although it may not count because it was manufactured as part of a set on the Mexican and American War… but this paper mache soldier is hand-made.

35 La estrella – This star lamp was the first one I found on my Lomini - 023teria journey.

36 El cazo – Now, some people translate it as “the bean pot” and others as “the ladle”: this miniature copper pot looks like the picture, so it will do!

37 El mundo (The World) – they have all sorts of suns, moons, and stars, but I haven’t found this yet!

38 El apache (The Apache) – I don’t understand why it’s an Apache – I may substitute with an Aztec warrior.

39 El nel alacran huichol beadedopal -  Here is a tin mirror and a painted tin ornament.

40 El alacrán – I looked around a lot, and found this beaded Huichol egg (ornament?)

41 La rosa – Check out this Tehuana embroidery – this is called a huipil. Here is another one.  I was also finally able to find some paper roses.

42 La calavera – I really loved this groovy skull tile, but here’s one in paper mache that’s pretty traditional.

43 La campana – Here is a little bell – it’s a tin ornament.la campana tin orn

44 El cantarito – This is a gorgeous blown glass pitcher.

45 El venado – So many to choose from – here is a Oaxacan carved alebrije.  Here is a Huichol yarn painting of an ordinary gray deer, and here is my favorite – the magical blue deer in a yarn painting.

46 El sol – Finding a sun figure was not difficult at all – it was narrowing it down that was difficult!  Here is a paper mache sun and here is one in Talavera.

47 La corona – I found this – it’s used to “crown” saints statues in churches.  Maybe this one is more el sol talavera 1 large“crown-like.”

48 La chalupa – I haven’t found many options.  I may replace it with  la muneca.

49 El pino – Here’s a Christmas tree tin ornament.

50 El pescado – Here’s another coconut creation (it’s not really a mask) and a Oaxacan carving.

51 La palma – Yet another tin ornament.  Next project:  the tin ornament loteria!

52 La maceta – Here’s a Talavera pottery flower pot.la rana pmache

53 El arpa (The Harp) – coming soon!

54 La rana – Finally:  the frog in paper mache.

Now I may spend some time on another project – but this was fun.  Later, I will talk about the riddles that come with the loteria and how you can write your own (also an excellent classroom activity!).

 

Loteria Artesania, Part 2 Thursday, Jul 30 2009 

Blogging and Loteria and Mexico and arts and crafts , , tiedyefor 7:15 pm

Sorry I missed a day – I thought I would be able to access the internet at Callaway Gardens, but I could not.  Still, I have had a pretty good run at NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).

Here is the next group of Loteria images I found.  As you will see, even after so many hours of searching images (I’m embarrassed to tell you how many), I have some missing.  That means substitutions.  Let me explain:  the idea behind this Loteria exercise was to come up with a traditional number of cards – that would be 54.

So, while I could have approached it several ways, I was trying to stick with images as close to the names of the cards that I could.  And – they needed to be some form of Mexican Folk Art.la guitarra toy

17 El bandolón – I couldn’t find a sitar (or mandolin?), so I used la guitarra instead.

18 El violoncello (The Cello) – still looking.

19 La garza – I found this Oaxacan wood carving (alebrije).la mano nicho

20 El pájaro – I like this Otomi embroidery swatch, or this Talavera bird.

21 La mano – This milagro (but it’s not large) and this hand nicho – I like it because it’s unique.

22 La bota – It wasn’t easy, but I found these Virgin of Guadalupe boots.

23 La luna – I love this paper mache moon.el borracho pap mache

24 El cotorro – Here is a paper mache parrot.

25 El borracho – Here is a drunk man made from paper mache.

26 El negrito – Here is a traditional wooden carved and painted mask called El Negrito.

27 El corazón – I have soooooo many kinds of hearts, but I like this one in wood with milagros.

28 La sandía – a lovely coconut shell mask with a watermelon on it.

el tambor huichol29 El tambor – a Huichol yarn picture.

30 El camarón – haven’t found one yet.  I may replace it with this elefante (Oaxacan carving).  I have already asked for it for my birthday.

31 Las jaras (The Arrows) – Not yet.

32 El músico – a painted tin ornament of a musician.

33 La araña (The Spider) – Nothing yet.

More later!

 

Loteria Artesania, Part One Tuesday, Jul 28 2009 

Loteria and Mexico and arts and crafts , , tiedyefor 9:37 pm

Yes, summer’s ending, and what am I doing?  Creating loteria decks in my head.  Here’s the deal.  What I do when I am bored is to, well, uh, instead of counting sheep… I look for rhyming words.

I can see your confused looks – It’s very simple.  I choose a phonetic ending, let’s say “-ait”.  Then, I go through the alphabet, looking for words that are spelled with that ending, or that sound (you know: -ate, -eight,…).  That would be ate, bait, crate, date, eight, fate, freight, gate, gait, great, etc.  What can I say – it keeps my mind occupied.

I don’t think I have OCD – I can stop whenever I want.

That has sort of transferred to the whole Loteria thing.  I have already started one post on “Making Your Own Loteria Deck“.  So, this is the logical next step.

I chose the theme of Mexican Folk Art – Here is Part One:

1 El gallo – I found three possibilities:  a Oaxacan carving,  a painted clay rooster,  and a painted tin rooster.el gallo clay

2 El diablito -  a coco mask

3 La dama -  a huichol mask or  a clay miniature.

4 El catrín -  a clay figure of a smoking man.

5 El paraguas -  these oilcloth dishwashing gloves (to keep the water off your hands – I know it’s a stretch… or this clay day of the dead beach figurine.

6 La sirena – a painted tin mirror

7 La escalera – these primitive ladders or this Aztec temple tin ornament (it has stairs).

8 La botella – a set of Cuervo bottle tin ornaments.

9 El barriel arbol de vida 2l – this balero toy is shaped like a barrel.

10 El árbol – either this arbol de la vida or this one.

11 El melón – this one’s a long shot: a paper mache pumpkin.

12 El valiente – this tin ornament.

13 El gorrito – no bonnets – I had to go with this sombrero or this sombrero pinata.

14 La muerte – this clay figurine.la pera laque

15 La pera – this silver leaf gourd.

16 La bandera – this popotillo plate with the eagle on a cactus, like the Mexican flag, or this papel picado which is like little flags, or this tin soldier holding a Mexican flag.

That’s it for part one.  Yes, I don’t have much to do right now.  More tomorrow!

 

A Little More About Huichol Art Friday, Jul 17 2009 

Mexico and School and arts and crafts and teaching , tiedyefor 8:57 pm

After my post the other day, I immediately received a message from Stephen Cantrell from the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM.  He said that the museum will be holding a major exhibition of Huichol works from the museum’s holdings (more than 650 pieces!) opening in April of 2010.  I can hardly wait!  My husband and I were tentatively planning a trip out west this summer, but have put it off again.  Maybe now, we can plan for 2010.  I hope that the exhibit will run through the summer!  If not, we may have to make it a Spring Break trip!

I also heard from Susana Valadez, who is the driving force behind the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, which does fantastic things for the Huichol people.  I just spent the last couple of hours at the Huichol Centers site (or sites?  They must be in transition.)  Actually I had visited that site earlier this year, but did not have it noted in my files.  They have SOOOOOO much to offer – you MUST visit the site!

The first link Mrs. Valadez provided features a wonderful 24 slide presentation of just what her foundation does for the Huichol people in her area.  It’s fascinating and easy reading – it even mentions the Solar Light initiative I mentioned in the previous post.  I was particularly enthralled by the “soy initiative” which provides needed protein and soy milk to these people.  Now, I am not a fan of tofu, but it sure beats a lot of other proposed ideas for feeding the world…

If you go to the “other” site for the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, you will find a well-produced 12 minute video presentation about the work done at the center.  There are also FABULOUS coloring books – one of the Huichol alphabet and one of the counting in Huichol and Spanish – in PDF form to print out.  This is a fantastic resource for school teachers – just go.

I immediately wanted to go down and volunteer both my expertise (teaching English as a Second Language) and my husband’s (computer tech support) and stay for a while.  Maybe later.  For now, I may just order some of their jewelry or cards from the website and make a donation.  Donations are welcome, and they will send a thank you note as proof for the old IRS.  So, you people who are complaining about immigration – here’s a chance to support sustainability on the other side of the border:  put your money over there!

Please continue to add comments as you find other resources – I always welcome feedback!

 

Huichol Indian Art Thursday, Jul 16 2009 

Books and Mexico and School and arts and crafts and teaching , , tiedyefor 1:02 pm

I spent a lot of time last night organizing my notes and links on Huichol huichol_jimenez2Indian art.  It took a lot of time, because of course I got distracted by other fascinating lesson plans and resources on the internet while I was searching for the links and site to use in my post!

I think that there is a lot of potential for using Mexican culture and art to teach Language Arts – not only to ELLs but to mainstream classes (many of which are populated by Latino students…).  But, hey – you don’t have to be Latino to be fascinated by other cultures and interested in art and imagination.  Gosh, I hope not, anyway!

As I was going through my files, the first thing that caught my attention was the excellent set of lesson plans created by Target and Scholastic Magazine in cooperation with the National Museum of Mexican Art.  It is called “Dream in Color” and is an amazing resource for teachers.  There you will find samples of art, a map of Huichol country, a history of the Huichol people, and a three page reference chart of Huichol symbolism.  Outstanding!

I am not going to go into a lot of detail of who the Huichol Indians are, because these resources explain it all.  They live in the hills throughout  northwestern Mexico.  You may have seen yarn paintings and beaded masks and bowls made by them.  They are also the people who brought us ojos de dios (God’s Eyes) – a staple of elementary school crafts programs.  You may have also heard that they consume peyote, a psychedelic cactus, but I think that this can be downplayed and should NOT be a reason to avoid teaching about this culture.

Huichol Ceremonial Rattle

Huichol Ceremonial Rattle

First, here are links to basic lesson plans on Huichol Yarn and Bead Painting. (Dick Blick has many lesson plans to choose from and they are available directly on their site, or in PDF format.)

Here are some links with general information on the Huichol Indians and their history and culture.

Here are some online photo galleries of Huichol Art – awesome examples!

In case you were not aware – most Huichol yarn paintings tell a story.  While it is possible that some of these visions were induces by peyote, it is also valid that these could also be depictions of dreams and tribal stories.  Whenever you purchase a large enough yarn painting, the narrative by the artist is usually attached to the back.

Artes de Mexico is a periodical published in Mexico with beautiful illustrations – the issue on Huichol Art is definitely worth having – I bought mine in Morelia for only $18 and they are sometimes offered on E-Bay.  Here is a link to one you can buy on Amazon.com for $30.

Here is a list of children’s books – ,many are illustrated with Huichol Art:

Finally, a word about design – the Mexican designer team of Pineda-Covalin have included Huichol Art in their length line of fabric and clothing. You will need to go to the site, and look at the flash catalog.  Awesome!

 

Arriving at the John C. Campbell Folk School Sunday, May 31 2009 

Vacation and arts and crafts and travel , , tiedyefor 9:15 pm

So, here I am in my cozy room for 6 – women, that is – sleeping dorm-style.  I have forgotten my toothbrush, but not my toothpaste.  So, I used my finger.  I hope I can sleep – I don’t think it will be a problem.

I am housed in the main HQ – the Keith House.  That is where all of the social gatherings happen, and where there is wi-fi.  I don’t even have to go downstairs to access it – I can get it in my room.  My classroom is in the basement.  The dining hall is a short walk away.  It is ironic, because the Campbell School campus is pretty large, and I expected to have to walk all over the place to get to class, to eat, and to go to functions.

Now, I don’t have to exert myself at all.  But I will – I have to walk off all of the pecan pie I ate tonight.  I also want to see the place, not just one building.

I got here at about 3:30 PM and checked in.  I lugged my stuff upstairs and picked out a bed.  I was going to choose a window bed, but opted for one nearer the ceiling fan and right across from the bathroom instead.  After cooling down a bit and meeting my new roomies, we had a meeting downstairs.  There are a lot of people here – a full house – all taking various classes in arts, crafts, music, and woodworking.

There is also a large contingent of mostly men who are here to raise a new building.  It will be the new blacksmith shop.  They have come from all around to add to their “timber-raising” experience.

After the meeting, we went to dinner.  In camp tradition, we sang our blessing – “Make New Friends”.  There was a marinated salad, meat loaf, heavy brown bread, and mashed potatoes.  Dessert was the aforementioned pecan pie.  It was all very good.

Our instructors met with us from about 6:30 to 9:00 PM, and we introduced ourselves.  There are 10 students in our class, which will center on printmaking and bookmaking.  We did a little preliminary cutting using an eraser.  I carved my initials, and learned that it is easy to take too much off!  That’s okay – I am just learning and I got a good print before I went crazy with the knife.

Now, I’m going to sign off and get some sleep.

 

Cordel Art of Brazil Tuesday, May 12 2009 

Artists and Brazil and Food and arts and crafts and travel , , , , tiedyefor 9:08 pm

I have recently gone on a Brazilian kick.  I almost bought a ticket to visit there, even.  On Travelocity.com last Friday, I was doing a random check on airfare and found out it was only $525 RT to Sao Paolo!  I have friends who have relatives there, and was waiting to find out if anyone would be home.  (Interestingly enough, that was more important than waiting for the “go ahead” signal from my hubby…).  Alas, by the time I got an answer, the airfare had shot up to $760.  Dang!  You snooze, you lose.

So I have had to satisfy my urges by visiting my local Brazilian grocery.  There, I bought two savory pastries, one called coxinha and the other was a Brazilian kibbeh concoction called quibe.  I loved the former – a lovely chicken croquette with crispy bread crumbs on the outside (Here is a recipe link).  The kibbeh was too salty.  I also bought a square of orange colored cake with a cocoa icing.  I gave that to my Brazilian co-worker because I am supposed to be on a diet.

The main cultural aspect of Brazil that I have been researching is called cordel literature, or literatura de cordel. (from Maria-Brazil.org): “Literatura de cordel” (string literature) are pamphlets or booklets that hang from a piece of string (cordel) in the places where they are sold. These are long, narrative poems with woodcut illustrations on the cover, often done by the poet himself. There are traditional themes (romances, fantastic stories, animal fables, religious traditions) and themes based on current events, famous people, life in the cities, etc.  Cordel literature can be hilarious and very racy, too.”

Links:
Here is an article on electronic cordel literature.

Here are photos of cordel displays in Brazil.

The poetry of d.s. levy, which follows the cordel form.

Article on literature de cordel on Tobetupi.com.

Another piece on cordel literature.

Brazilian Collection and information site on Cordel Literature (in Portuguese).
Acrobat file on native poetry forms of the Americas – first page is on cordel literature.
Arizona State University professor’s article on his cordel collection.

Lesson Plan:  Stories on a String from Saxarts.com

Article on a family day at a San Angelo Texas museum focusing on Brazilian culture.

Another Event: the Green Cordel Festival May 2009

Galleries with Brazilian Woodcuts:
Indigo Arts
A Hopeful Madness
Mariposa Arts
Tesoros Trading Company – You can even buy Cordel Literature by J. Borges

Books about Cordel Literature:
Lampion and his Bandits – English Version of Cordel literature legend, Lampion – a sort of Brazilian Robin Hood.
Stories on a String - by Candace Slater – very important resource.

Jorge Amado: New Critical Essays
Article in Callaloo Journal
The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature by Roberto González Echevarría, Enrique Pupo-Walker

That’s just the beginning.  One of the reasons I am going to the John C. Campbell School is to learn a bit about woodcut printing!

 

I’m going back to camp! Monday, May 11 2009 

Vacation and arts and crafts and mixed media and travel tiedyefor 8:17 am

I just signed up for a class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Georgia! Yay! I had been thinking hard about whether or not I should go, and now, I am going! My mother and aunt have gone in the past – it is not that far from Atlanta.

The class I am taking (unless they contact me and tell me it’s full…) is called Print It! Book It! and it is taught by Gay Bryant and Bob Meadows. Here is the class description:

“Enjoy working in related disciplines, learning the art of block printing, and then incorporating the prints in several handmade books to showcase them. Explore how to create images, transfer them to blocks, carve them, and pull prints. Then it’s on to binding the prints into books designed to preserve them. Want more? Create boxes to hold and protect the books. It’s layers upon layers of art! All levels welcome.”

Doesn’t that sound fun? The class, I think is only for five days, but I will arrive on Sunday and leave the following Saturday. I have chosen to live “dorm” style, in a room with 4 to 6 beds – it was the least expensive option. All meals are included. I am waiting for the supply list – that will probably be extra.
Here is what a typical week looks like, according to the website:

Arrival:  On Sunday afternoon you will register, settle into your room and then attend an orientation meeting to learn everything you need to know for a joyful and enlivening Folk School experience; after a welcome dinner, you’ll meet your instructor and classmates for a short session in the studio.

Class Day:  Coffee (make that Diet Coke for me!)  and the morning papers are available in Keith House starting at 6:30 a.m. You can choose to join a guided morning walk or explore the Folk School trail system on your own; attend Morningsong, a Danish custom of music, singing and storytelling led by a different performer each morning; or wait to start your day with a hearty breakfast at 8:15 (oh, yes, on second thought, that probably will be me!).

Class sessions are held from 9:00 to 12:00 and after lunch from 1:30 to 4:30. For most classes there is also optional studio time in the evening. Classes are usually limited to 12 students or less, and are designed by the instructor to include a combination of demonstrations, individual instruction and time to work at your own pace in a non-competitive environment.

Meals:  Three delicious meals are served family style each day in the Olive Dame Campbell Dining Hall and offer a substantial menu, including homemade breads and produce from the Folk School’s gardens. There is always a vegetarian selection and special diets can be accommodated. Fresh fruit, bread and peanut butter are available throughout the day.

Activities:  Optional activities are scheduled each day in the late afternoon and after dinner, giving you a range of choices. Learn to contra dance, attend a concert, poetry reading or blacksmithing demonstration, or visit a local artist’s studio. Take a break from class and get a chair massage or participate in a yoga session. Each week’s activity schedule is a little different, but there’s no doubt you’ll find many options to your liking.

You are also free to explore our beautiful 300-acre campus in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, visit other studios, shop in the Craft Shop, relax with a book in the Library, visit the History Center to learn more about the school’s fascinating story, Appalachian culture and folklore, or, just sit awhile on a porch rocker or in a swing.

Ending the Week:  Friday marks the end of the class week with a student exhibition and closing ceremony in Keith House. During this informal presentation, you can admire the work of each class displayed on tables and the stage in Keith House, sample creations from the cooking class and listen to melodies played by members of the music class. Departure is Friday afternoon for five-night weeks and Saturday morning for six-night weeks.

I will certainly miss my husband and dog, but I am looking forward to focusing on myself and on my art for a week!  No more pencils, no more books, no more students’ dirty looks!  Ha!

 

Wacky Idea Number Two: Gang Belt Lawn Chairs Friday, Apr 17 2009 

arts and crafts tiedyefor 11:24 am

Even though our school system has adopted a “unified dress code”, fashion statements continue to be an issue.  The thing that most attracts 5-color-web-beltsmy attention is anything gang-related.

It is the tradition in most Latino gangs to wear a military-style webbing belt that coordinates with the colors of the gangs.  Usually, those belts are either navy blue or black and have silver nickel or chrome flip buckles.  The other characteristic is that the buckle should have a letter stamped into it.  The letters are always in Old English Gothic lettering, but the initial often does not match the first or last name of the wearer.  Usually, the initial stands for the person’s gang nickname. Sometimes, not.

bucklewithinitialThe belts are very long, usually so that they can be cut on one side to fit the wearer.  The gang members take advantage of this length for more customization to their belt.  They often ink in symbols and phrases recognizable by other gangs on the metal end of their belts.  Then, the belt is left dangling so that everyone can admire their artwork.

These days, because the school uniforms have blue shirts – and the students don’t have to tuck them in – it’s harder to see the belts.  But, once seen (at least by me), they cannot be “unseen”.  I have to confiscate them and send them to our school resource officer. Sometimes, they just take the buckle off. But technically, that style of belt is against the school rules, so they take the whole thing off.

That got me to thinking. What happens to those belts after they go to the office?  I would jokingly tell my students that we were going to weave them all into a hammock, so recycling must have always been at the back of my mind.

So, the other day I sent an e-mail to the resource officer and asked him that question.  He said that they are all thrown out at the end of the year, or the custodian uses them to tie things down.  He told me I was welcome to come down and get some.  So I might.

After doing some internet research on lawn chair frames, I found out that they were sold by macrame companies.  Unfortunately, the companies I looked at were out of stock.  Apparently, macrame lawn chairs are popular – there were designs and patterns and instructions on how to weave them.  I considered buying an old chair on eBay and stripping it, but they were kind of expensive – not even including shipping. So, if I do this, I will have to wait a bit.

In the meantime, I worked on an illustration of what I had in mind.  Here it is:gangbeltlawnchair

Now, here I was, thinking this was a completely WACKY original idea, but nothing is new on this planet.  I was surfing for pictures of belts and buckles (because NO ONE seems to have illustrations of gang belts – why not?  How are people supposed to prevent something they don’t recognize? But, I digress…), and I found this:6a00d8341c5dea53ef00e553f519208834-640wi

Strap Bands Chair — by Yahïa Ouled-Moussa

Paris-based designer Yahïa Ouled-Moussa has a way with reinventing old clothing or fabrics into funky and functional design objects. He studied interior architecture in Paris, but it was through a job with a French cabinet-maker who specialized in restoring period furniture that he developed his passion for furniture and design. Ouled-Moussa transforms sturdy vintage French linens, army sacks or antique porcelain tea sets into stylish smocks, small sitting stools and bound sculpture.

His “Strap Bands Chair” uses old canvas belts that you may have worn in the 1980s (and that those born in the 1980s may be wearing today) and weaves them onto discarded wooden chairs to create the seat and back. The unwoven part of the belts hang under the seat, giving the piece an added, looser dimension in contrast to the tight weave above. The strap bands chair has been made in shades of pink as well as in a mix of bright yellow, red, blue and orange. There is also a military version which incorporates old canvas military belts in green, brown and beige.

Chairs can be commissioned by the piece or bought directly from his boutique (Yoming Gallery) on rue Nollet in Paris’s 17th arrondissement.

Isn’t life wacky?  I really liked the wooden chair idea, because I can see where it would be easier to tack the belts on wood.  I hadn’t quite figured out how I was going to make them stick on the lawn chairs.  I also think that having the belt buckles hanging is interesting.

Next move – contact the gallery and find out how much they sell for – I’m gonna be rich!

 

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