From the Library

Erika found a few things from this book that she wanted to make today and what started out as one project turned into three. The first is a very loose interpretation of Huichol Yarn Art. The Huichols of Northwest Mexico make yarn bowls that tell stories by pressing yarn into warmed beeswax. The book suggested gluing yarn on the inside and outside of a paper bowl. We didn't have a paper bowl, so we used a cardboard coffee canister that we cut to the size we wanted. It was too hard for Erika to get the yard to twirl around in the outside, so we only did the outside. It was a mess while we worked on it, but the glue dried totally invisible. I'm on the lookout for some beeswax though....



Next we made a worry doll from Central America. Erika was really interested in the idea behind these dolls: You tell your worry to the doll and put her under your pillow. The worry doll takes your worries away. I'm curious what worries the doll heard tonight. We used a clothes pin and some of the fabric that we got from Art and Scraps last week. Erika chose the fabric, helped cut it, applied glue, and drew the face. This would have been hard for her to do on her own, but she loved the result.





The final project was a pouch, which she desperately wanted, but I had to do most of the work. This is a good project to prepare ahead of time. We cut and folded some felt and I poked holes in it with a screwdriver (know of a better way?) Erika sewed it with me guiding the way. She chose the beads and sewed them on, but I had to tie everything off. She kept her worry doll in this all day and wore it around her neck. The inspiration was a Lakota-Sioux medicine bag, which are made of animal skin.



The great thing about these projects was learning and talking about the people and cultures that inspired our work.