This Week I...

...went to New York with work! We took a group of 39 art students to see the famous galleries and tourists attractions. Even though I've been to New York twice before there were still things on the itinerary that I hadn't done before. These included:

Going to the viewing platform of the Rockefeller Centre. This was actually our third attempt to go up as the first two were rescheduled due to poor visibility.

We went to the Guggenheim. The other art galleries we visited were the Met, the MOMA and the Whitney, all of which I'd visited before, but this was my first time at the Guggenheim. The building is amazing and unlike any other art space I've been to.

On one day we got up super early and headed down town to catch the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. It was cool to be so close to the Statue of Liberty and we gave the students a competition to see who could produce the best drawing of it, and Ellis Island was very interesting. It's cafe wasn't bad either.

Having got back today I'm thankful that I have the rest of the week off, as it's half term, to recover from a very busy few days.

Tool Belt Apron

At this time of year my job at work is to make sure the display boards around the school have fresh backing paper and borders. It's kind of a big job for a small person but I made something to make it a little easier.

A tool belt apron!

Being able to carry around the tools I need strapped around my middle frees up my hands to carry rolls of paper and a stool.

I whipped this up in one evening using strong black fabric. I luckily found I had some black strap material which saved me making my own from the black fabric.

I sewed three pockets; one big enough for the staple gun, one for the scissors, and then the other one for things like a tape measure, staple remover and spare staples. There's nothing worse than standing on a stool holding up backing paper only to find I've run out of staples and having to put everything down to go and get some more.

This might be my favourite thing I've made just for how useful it's proving to be!

String balloons

Have you all seen these string balloon things that people turn into lanterns and baskets and the like?

Well my boss at work recently saw them on Pinterest and thought they could be part of a children's workshop, so I got to experiment with making them.

Unfortunately, the ideal room for me to make these in was taken, so I found an area in my little office, between the shelves and the desk, covered it in plastic bags and got to work.

The key to this project is corn flour.

Mix corn flour with water and add PVA glue. Cover the string with it and wrap the string around the balloon.

I found it easier to cut the string into separate bits, but I admire people who could manage the string in one long piece.

Those people probably weren't trying to do this in a small office.

The best part is popping the balloon.

Watch this video, and make sure you have the sound on, to see what I mean.

These string balloons will eventually become planets, but so far I haven't done anything with them other than this.