The Pagan Village

Hello and happy Friday!

I’ve had some questions about what kind of art supplies you should have on hand if you are going to make art with your kids. There are just two main rules to follow when trying to incorporate more art into your family life: make supplies easy to reach and have a space to make art.  Our family lives in a small house so our work space is the table where we eat our meals, and the supplies are all on one shelf in a cupboard. Well, the supplies that aren’t under parental control. More on that later.

I’m going to walk you through the supplies that we have, how we store them, and why you should think about adding them to your own space. Don’t feel like you’ve got to run out and buy everything all at once–I’ve been building up this stash for 8 years. If you live near a Dollar Tree store, they stock a good variety of art supplies.

First: Drawing supplies

We have pencils, colored pencils, washable markers, glitter glue, and crayons. These are store in pencil cases that every store carries when it’s school-supply time. I recommend stocking up on these when they go on sale in September. Every few months, go through your markers and throw out the ones that no longer work. A variety of writing tools helps your child when they are learning to write their letters–each one has a different feel as it moves across the paper. I recommend washable markers for two reasons: they wash up easy, and you can draw with them and then take a wet brush to your drawing for a watercolor effect. (This is always a big hit with the 6-and-under crowd)

Our crayons are in a telescopic tower. Not necessary, but a huge space-saver. It’s also easy for multiple kids to access the crayons without a lot of bickering. The alphabet stamps were a gift–not necessary, but fun. At Michael’s craft stores they sell small alphabet stamp sets for $1 in their dollar bins.

Next up, what’s in the cardboard box?

A stapler for making books. A hole punch which has been used to make books, garland, jewelry, and confetti. Glue sticks. Scissors: safety scissors, shaped-edge scissors. Paint brushes from small to large (these go inside the cups and get stored upright to extend the life of the brush). Extra pencils. In Ziploc bags: rubber stamps and stamp pads; googly eyes, pony beads. Stamps and stamp pads are the ultimate in motor control plus storytelling, especially in the pre-school age group. For older children, they use the stamps to decorate invitations (and thank you cards, and birthday cards) or in their journals. Googly eyes can turn a grumpy day into a fun day–put them in unexpected places and wait for the giggles. I like to put them on fruit, light switches, and above door knobs. Pony beads are just the right size for 3-6 year olds to string up bracelets and necklaces for themselves, their friends, and you.

It all fits in one box!

And then we have two upright files: one is an actual magazine holder that I got from Ikea. The other is a cereal box that I cut up.

In the cereal box file

Watercolor sets: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let your children paint. Watercolor cleans up easily. They will learn about color, develop fine motor skills, and hone their story-telling skills.  I recommend Crayola or Prang sets.

There’s also more washable markers (these are in their original case because they travel with us), Sculpey bake shop clay, and a variety of stencils. The bake shop clay is less expensive than the other Sculpey clays–it’s designed with kids in mind so it’s a little more flexible after baking than the Sculpey III or Premo. It makes excellent beads and tiny figures.

Here’s the cereal box that it all fits in:

And in the magazine file

A variety of papers: lined writing paper, cardstock, origami. A variety of paper allows for a world of creativity.In our house, lined paper is for making lists, journal entries, and doodles. Construction paper gets cut apart and reassembled. Origami paper is folded into some pretty amazing creatures (and there are a TON of origami tutorials on YouTube). Cardstock is turned into buildings, cars, animals, and boats as well as invitations to impromptu parties.  A ruler, because sometimes you need to measure and sometimes you need a straight edge. Some stickers–embellish paintings, use them as a jumping off point for a journal entry. Another watercolor set(for when friends are over). Watercolor pencils (not necessary, but fun). An African animal stamp set.

Those are all the things that the kids can access any time they want. I do have supplies that are under parental control–which happened after my son, at the age of four, decided that he wanted to paint with acrylic paints at 6am. There’s nothing quite like scrubbing paint out of the carpet before sunrise…

Other supplies you should have on hand (and out of reach):

• White school glue. It holds better than glue sticks, and is useful in so many ways.
• Glitter. (draw with white glue, then sprinkle glitter over it to make a wonderfully sparkly design)
• Acrylic paint. It cleans up, but not as easily as watercolors.
• Peg People! These are the best boredom-buster at our house. Order from Bayer Wood Products. They are 15 cents apiece.
• Pompoms
• Pipe Cleaners (aka Chenille stems). SO MANY USES.
• Seed beads. That’s those tiny glass beads–they come in a rainbow of colors.

I can not stress enough the benefit of allowing your children space to explore and make mistakes with art. Up until they are around 13 years of age, the most important part of making art is the PROCESS. It’s getting to know the materials, figuring out what colors work together, deciding on how to compose a picture. So I beg you, get out the supplies and get out of their way. They will amaze you if you let them.

Oh thank the Goddess, spring is finally here! Our flowers were a riot of colors and perfume for Beltane and it was amazing. Where we live people start gardening big time after May 1. Our family has decided to tone down the veggie garden this year, which leaves me with the opportunity to make some yard art.

Beltane is the perfect time to make some little stone Goddesses to hide around your yard (or balcony, or potted plants). This project took me a few days because I had to go rock hunting in the woods. I took my two kids (ages 5 and 8) and we made an afternoon of tromping through the woods, finding animal tracks, throwing sticks into the creek, and building bridges to ford deep mud puddles. It was a blast. Once you have your rocks, wash them with dish soap and let them dry overnight.

Then gather up the rest of your supplies:

• Acrylic paint (I used pale blue, spring green, and yellow You want acrylic, not tempera. Trust me.
• Paint pallet (I used a styrofoam tray that came with some veggies I bought)
• Brushes
• Water and a paper towel to dry your brushes
• A fine-tipped permanent marker
• Scissors
• Painters tape (or masking tape)
• Some faces to look at while you draw. Mine were inspired by icons and matryoshka (Russian nesting dolls)
• Clean rocks

If you’re going to be painting, it’s a good idea to put down paper to protect your work surface. It makes for easier clean up when you’re done, too.

Step one: Cut a circle out of painters tape. You can eyeball it or trace a coin.

Step two: Place the tape circle where you want the face to be on your rock. Smooth it down and make sure it’s really stuck on there.

Step three: Paint your rock. If you are painting with little ones, let them be as messy as they want to be.  As long as you are sticking with 3 similar colors, the finished project will look great.

Step four: Once the paint is completely dry (unless it’s really humid out, that should take about 30 minutes), peel off the tape circle. Sometimes you need to lift the edge with a needle to get it started.

Step five: draw a face in permanent pen.

If you are going to put these gals outside, I recommend sealing them with an acrylic all-purpose sealer. You can find that in the craft store in the same aisle as the paint.

In the sprouts of our butterfly garden…

Have a great weekend–get outside and Get Crafty!

Regardless of where you live in the United States, this week has been full of unpleasantness. I was going to do a post about gardening, but I think what we need right now is a little healing.  Let’s talk about mandalas. They are found cross-culturally, but the word mandala comes from India. The mandala is essentially a repeating pattern centered around a fixed point. In Buddhism they are used to help with meditation. In Hinduism they are used to represent the order of the cosmos. Mandalas are used in art therapy to help people deal with emotions and illness. From a physiological standpoint, creating (or even coloring in) a mandala floods the brain with epinephrine which leads to feelings of calm and well-being. I’ve been a huge fan of mandalas for decades–and once you understand how to construct one, I believe you will be too.

I’m going to take you through it, layer by layer.

We’ll start with our central point: a circle.

Then add 8 spokes. Eight is frequently used in Buddhist mandalas to represent the eight-fold way of the Buddha.

Next, draw triangles around the spokes.

Draw a circle around the whole thing.

Draw another circle.

Draw half-circle petals around the outside of your circle.

Inside of the petals, add smaller half circles–aim for an odd number. I drew 3 per large petal.

Add more half-circle petals–from the top of each petal in the middle to the next.

Add triangles into the newly-added petals.

Outline the whole shebang leaving space between your petals and outline. And then add another outline on top of that one.

Add another layer of petals, in between your established petals.

Outline your new petals.

Add decorations into your petals. I made a little petal and added 3 lines.

Add tiny little half-circle bumps over the whole outline. Then leave a space and outline the whole thing again.

Once you’ve got the outline done, add spokes in the dips. My spokes look like tridents…

And you’re done!

You can color it in, paint it, photocopy it and make a coloring book. Remember to start in the center and build your way out and you can recreate any mandala.

For more information on mandalas you can check out Wikipedia, The Mandala Project, and the AltMedicine post on About.com

Grab your pen and Get Crafty!

Hello and happy Ostara!

Yes, I realize that the actual date is behind us, but many of us celebrate on the weekend closest. These little nests are perfect for colored eggs, a handful of jelly beans, or tiny toys–my 5 year old has taken some to be nests for her toys. They are perfectly spring-like and will sit on our family altar through Beltane. Let’s gather our supplies and Get Crafty!

The whole craft is made from things I had around the house–

• An empty cardboard egg carton
• An out-of-date road atlas cut into 1/4-inch strips (you can use newspaper, or junk mail, or magazines)
• hot glue
• clothespins (to hold things down while you glue)
• scissors

First, cut the egg cups out of your carton

Then pick 3-5 strips up and use the clothespin to hold them onto your egg cup

Then flip that upside down and use the clothespin as a handle for your egg cup (thus avoiding hot glue burns)

Loosely wrap the paper strips and glue them down. I found that each egg cup took on a different method of wrapping and gluing. The point here is to make something nest-like. At some point you may wind up with a whole mess of loose ends.

Fold them down into the egg cup and glue them down. Then you can cut the ends at 45-degree angles and curl the ends.

Since I like the crazy look of the loose ends, I put more into my egg cup and glued them down. And voila! You have tiny nests to tuck around the altar or to snuggle into bookshelves.  It took about an hour and a half to make 12. You don’t have to use all 12 egg cups out of the carton.

What are you waiting for? Go gather up your supplies and Get Crafty!