I had some very sweet friends over today for a gnome day. (age 8) We made gnomes and mushrooms from sculpey and then created gardens for the them to live in. Really fun project. I got everything from Michael’s which is around the corner from my house. Reason enough to never move.
And this is why crowdspring rocks. Thanks to Norbert Demeter for the amazing design. Poster coming soon.
I teach a sculpey class after school twice a week. It’s been a few years now, so coming up with new ideas can get a little rough. I want to do a checkerboard with the kids but decided 25 kids at once and no assistant making checkerboards equals not so much fun. So I nixed that idea for a simple Tic Tac Toe board. Instead of x’s and o’s we just made round discs in two different colors. The kids really liked them. It will be fun to watch them play with them after they are baked. The boards, not the kids. Ha. I’ll probably find some small mesh drawstring bags to hold all the pieces or Altoid tins maybe. Fun project and really simple for all ages. I have kids 5-12 in my class.
Some of the kids opted to make Alien Army instead. I really like this one. After 200 it’s always nice to see a fresh shape.
My 88 year old grandmother, Gigi’s great grandmother, came to visit today, along with Uncle Teddy. I decided to bust out the sculpey and see if there were any takers. Before long, me, Ev, gram and Ted were sitting around the kitchen table listening to the Louis Armstrong channel on Pandora, making Alien Army. It was pretty awesome. My collection is now up to 225. Suhweet.
Since my obsession has reached gargantuan proportions, in order to leave our home, you have to make Alien Army. Some resist more than others. Most find out they want to make more than one. As was the case here, with my cousin Ted. He busted out with FOUR new Alien Army recruits taking us to 203!!!! Woo hoo! Of course now I want to make 500 but that’s neither here nor there. Well done Ted!
While Ted made his guys, I set the other 199 up perfectly equidistant apart and then put them into groups of ten, followed by choosing our favorites. Can you say OCD?
Ted was concerned some of the guys don’t look as nice from the back as they do the front. He assured me his next group will be equally intricate on the back side as well. Phew.
I admit, I did get bored for like a second the other night while making Alien Army. I just needed to switch it up for a minute so I got out a skewer and turned some of my dudes into beads. The result is pretty fab. I can’t wait to wear this the first week of kindergarten. The kids will go bonkers.
I just don’t really want to do anything else. It’s too awesome making these guys. So in between being a wife, a friend, a teacher, and blogger, I am ferociously creating Alien Army dudes till midnight almost every night. Is that normal? Does it matter? NO. I must go on. Besides, I want to have 200 by the end of the month. All help welcome. In fact, Ev helped with this little guy. I love him.
If you’re over the whole Alien Nation thing, come back tomorrow, because when I got to Art Camp yesterday, the kids had been working on it all morning before I even arrived!
They even made up names, which I can’t wait to do for my Alien Army.
So when we were done, I got them ready for the oven…
And in between burning the whole tray due to a chicken nugget/sculpey combo incident, we were able to salvage this great hamsa and put it on a pin. (Note to self: toxic clay, food products, and children-not a great mix. Oy.)
