In May of 2023, I made some Faux Foilage for bats to play in for Relief Crafters of America. It was sent to Bat Conservation and Rescue of Virginia.
" Bat Conservation & Rescue of Virginia was created
to raise awareness of white-nose syndrome and its devastating impact on North
American bats. Bat Conservation & Rescue of Virginia strives to conserve
native bat species in Virginia and beyond by engaging, empowering, and
educating people of all ages and abilities to ensure the future of Virginia’s
bats and preserve their habitats.
The group wanted something without wires. So, I did a sketch of what I was thinking
I drew out some leaves onto polar fleece and cut them out.Pinching the leaves, I sewed them onto a long curved strip of polar fleece.
This is what it looked like, but I decided it needed more, so I made a few "magnolias"
It was madeso it could be tied onto poles for the garlands to be hung. The final measures on the 3 garlands were between 5 and 6 feet
I was preparing for a new project and wanted to indicate which hangers were mine. I bought some unfinished wood hangers and painted them with acrylic paint. I sealed them in acrylic gloss medium.
getting started!
another paint used
Used a sponge to add dimension and sealed with Acrylic gloss medium.
Sometimes, the transformations we do for theatre aren't very big, but they make an impact. This, however, was a personal project. I had bought these jeans at Dress Barn and while I liked the pattern, I wasn't jazzed on the colorway. I knew it could be better.
So, I pulled out the acrylic paints.
I started by painting the leaves.
Better, but not there yet.
Painting the flowers.
I cut away that terrible hem. And was very happy. I have since lost weight and have passed them along to a friend to upcycle them into an art piece.
It all started with a email from our associate choreographer, Richard J Hinds, asking if I could make the Come from Away Easter Bonnet for Broadway Cares, "What if we did something like the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign but have it say “Welcome to Gander?” Thoughts?"
"I'm into it" And I started doing some preliminary notes.
Ricky suggested a Canadian Maple Leaf instead of a star, which was great, because I wanted to change the atomic star. He then sent me a picture, asking if we could have this dress.
.
I said "OHHHHH!!! I see your Canadian Flag dress and raise you..."
And, so it began. I ordered a showgirl helmet. And some mailing tubes, remembering that I wanted to keep it light. I made the frame at home.
Hmmm, not tall enough!
That's better.
Let's paint it!
I brought it into work the next day, because Allie Dillard was going to help, by working on the sign part, as I worked on the leaf and the dress.
Freehanding the leaf was harder than I thought, so I made a pattern.
That works.
I cut it out and painted it.
I then poured glitter on the wet paint.
I added glitter paint to the frame.
Allie came up with using paper cups to do the "Welcome" of the sign.
She also worked on graphing out the sign, first with paper.
I drew in the graph for her to work on the letters.
Here is Allie painting the letters, while I made the dress.
We both wound up painting out the grid.
Then, we painted on the glitter. We used Elmer's and poured each letter separately.
Yes, we tried to stop the spread of glitter by using a tarp!
We added glitter duct tape. It isn't very sticky, so it had to be hot glued down.
I glued down the "welcome", while Allie strung the lights.
We hot glued everything together.
Look at it twinkle!
Our Model, Natalya Czosnyka came in to try on the bonnet and dress.
I figured out where the stripes went.
I fought with the printer to make the center and finally decided that I was going to do it myself.
I traced the bird on my computer screen.
I painted it and scanned it into the computer.
I then flipped the image , so I could use iron-on transfer paper.
Time was running out.
So I used Elmer's glue to add the emblem
and added a glitter border and then more glitter.
______________________________________________
We then went to the dry tech for the show. The balance was off again. Allie ran to our theatre to get weights, but we were finished by the time she came back.
So it was on!
Strips of washers were made, but we wound up making it too heavy. So, we pulled out some of the weights.
We added a washer to the front. Success! It was balanced again!
_______________________________________________
Go to 34 seconds in to watch the bonnet in action.
I drew out some leaves onto polar fleece and cut them out.Pinching the leaves, I sewed them onto a long curved strip of polar fleece.
