Island Living June 27, 2007

We couldn’t have been more thrilled to be heading back out to the Island.
Mad Spent two years commuting the daily ferry to get to school. There was something about being removed from the city. It was almost like traveling back in time of our own childhoods of exploring and walking to school without the persistence of the city’s hustle and bustle.

The island is quiet and calm. The only sounds come from the nature that surrounds the school and a trip on the summer solstice is a perfect example.
We headed out for the summer celebrations and year end graduation. It was utterly amazing to see Mad and her friends so grown up. Mad was the size of Baz when she started and now she and her friends are real kids.

Surprisingly, only a fraction of the children that attend the school actually live on the island but the entire group is family all the same. Next year most of the kids of Mad’s group will disperse throughout the city with the promise of staying in touch. I’m sure we will all try our best.
God, they grow up fast.

Candle Making December 9, 2006

What Holiday would be complete without candles?

I think that Mad liked today’s craft as it took place in the kitchen and included changing forms, which is lucky, since it wasn’t entirely a “hands on” craft for her.

We went for a molded candle. Easy and uses recyclable material.
Supplies you will need:

Old melted down candles (or whatever you have extra kicking around your house)

Coloured crayons (paper removed:)

Store bought wick or a 6″ – 8″ piece of kitchen twine

Old camping pot (or make a run to your version of our local Goodwill store.)

Empty (and rinsed) egg nog (or milk) carton

Chop stick or a pencil

Pot lid and/or a fire extinguisher

Cut the milk carton about in half and notch groves from two facing sides.

Clean and dry the carton well.

Tie the twine to the centre of the pencil and check the length by resting the pencil in the notches.

On a low heat, melt the candles in the pot. Swirl the pot to get it to melt, occasionally removing it from the heat to keep it from getting too hot. At this point, you may add the crayons, if you’re using them, to obtain the colour of your choice.
*Please be cautious melting the wax, not only is melted wax really HOT, it’s really flammable. Wax has a flash point of about 250ºF, NEVER leave it, or children unattended.*
Once the wax has melted, remove it from the heat and dip the twine to saturate it. Hold it up over the pot by the pencil, and allow any drips to fall. Once it’s cool enough to handle pull it straight. Place it back over the carton and centre it. You may choose to affix it with a wax putty for a better guarantee that it won’t move.

Carefully pour the melted wax into the carton, watching not to displace the wick.

Alternately, you may add broken crayons at this point. They will add a bit of colour as well as a slight blocky effect.

Play around, experiment and be creative. (and careful… it’s hot)

We put one of our candles in the freezer and got a pretty cool crackled effect, if you like that sort of thing. However it’s best to allow the candle to harden in the carton for at least 3 – 6 hours, if not over night.

Tear away the carton and trim the wick to 1/4″.
A bit of coloured cellophane wrap, and these candles make a great gift.

Making Paper 101 December 6, 2006

Making paper around here has been pretty fun and it’s going to come in handy in the coming weeks. There’s of course, wrapping paper, greeting cards and the most recent, Little Boxes.

I’m not sure what’s most appealing to a kid, the destruction or the mess. You be the judge.

There’s a bit of preparation to paper making, but once you’re done initially, you’re set to go.

You will need a screen, if you’re up to buying one, they’re available at most craft stores and not too expensive. But if you’re cheap and handy a 11 x 13 (or so) piece of screen, an old 8 1/2 x 11 wooden frame, or a canvas stretcher of the same size and finally a staple gun. Around here though, heaven forbid, we use the store bought variety.

An old blender, sometimes the paper can really stress out a motor.

Scrap paper. Keep colours and dyes in mind, or all of your paper will be grey.

J Cloths or a tea towel

Sponge

Water

Instructions of creation:

Tear up what would be equivialent to the size of paper you will be making. The type of paper you get will depend on the amount of pulp you used.

Add about 2 cups of water to your blender and add the paper.

Blend everything on low at first then turn it up. This pulping process should take only a couple of minutes, if that. Just watch the papers consistancy, when it looks pretty chewed up, it’s probably ready to go.

In a basin that fits your screen (or the sink if you have a high sided screen), submerge the screen and pour the pulp from the blender over.

Swish your fingers through to even out any blobs.

At this point, you may add any extra material, like dried flower petals, thread or sparkles to the flattened pulp.

At a slight tilt, carefully lift the screen from the water allowing most of the water to drain.

Lay the J Cloth over top and blot the sponge over to remove as much of the water you possibly can.

Flip the screen over and lay everything on top of a tea towel. If you have removed enough water, the paper should come away from the screen.

Add another J Cloth and blot more of the water away.

Flip over and change to a drier tea towel, if necessary. Remove the J Cloth on top and leave the paper to dry.

To guarantee flat paper, you will want to weigh the paper down by pressing it at this point. To do this, replace the toweling with something drier and place the paper between two pieces of plywood or something of the sort.
Stomp on it or add bricks or toddlers, if handy.