Again, I am LATE!  The problem with trying to be unplugged is, well, you are often unplugged.  I guess that is a good thing.

The theme for this month’s Unplugged Project is the very open-ended concept of:

Pretty

Have fun and be creative!  If you have never joined us before, please consider it.  You can read more about how it works here.

TURN YOUR DINNER INTO ART!

As is my pattern these days, I am a day or two late in posting our project for July’s Unplugged Project theme of beach.  Oh well!

I am such a packrat that I have had these clam shells sitting around all summer.  In fact, I am embarrassed to admit that I saved them from a fabulous meal in Upstate New York back in June and brought them all the way home with me!  (I just don’t really trust Arizona seafood.) We soaked them in hot soapy water right away after eating to clean off any grease and smell.

We used a dremel tool to drill a small hole in each one.  You’ll need a good masonry drill or dremel bit for this since, as we discovered, clam shells are quite hard.

Before we began painting, we soaked them again, this time overnight in pure bleach just to get rid of the last lingering slightly clammy smell. We then rinsed them off in cold water and let them dry.

Next we painted the outside of them bright colors. (I think it would also have been a pretty project with them left as-is, but my daughter wanted them to be colorful since this was to hang in her room.)

After the paint dried, we decided to splatter them with gold paint using old toothbrushes.  Fun but a bit messy!

We left the inside natural, but you could paint that too if you want.

After they had dried completely (overnight), we strung a piece of fishing line through each one.  My daughter brought in four sticks from the yard to make the frames for hanging them.

We tied each pair of sticks together in the form of a cross using yarn and then hung one shell off each arm of one of the crosses.  We suspended the second cross below the first using yarn to create a second tier.  We again tied one shell onto each arm and hung our final one much lower from the center.

Voilà!

We are having a busy summer of travel, playing outside with friends, refurbishing and cleaning my precious old doll house (that is finally out of my Dad’s New York attic and home with us in Arizona!), sprinklers, popsicles, etc.  How about you?

I have been blogging even less than usual and have even thought about taking a little official summer break of my own, but I guess I’ll just keep up minimally, as best I can when activities allow.  So, I am late again with this month’s Unplugged Project theme, but here it is:

Beach

This seems appropriate for those of us enjoying summer here in the northern hemisphere, as well as for residents of the southern hemisphere who might appreciate a little virtual escape from winter’s chill right about now (am I correct?).

You can blog (or leave a comment) about anything remotely related to the theme beach.  Perhaps something as simple as a trip to the beach, or perhaps a project you made with sand (like the permanent sand castles we made long ago for the Unplugged Project theme hard, or sand pictures that we made for the theme sand, or your own inspiration), or something sun or water-related?  Pretty much anything goes.

If you are unfamiliar with how the Monthly Unplugged Project works, then please read more here and consider joining in, even if only via a comment.  Just unplug, have fun, and tell us what you did!

(You’ll have to plug back in again for that last bit, but you can be quick, right?)

We are very late for last month’s Unplugged Project theme of bread, but since it is my blog, I am just going to slip it in anyhow!

Inspired by my recent emotional reunion with my beloved childhood dollhouse after about 30 years, I thought the kids and I could make some miniature food out of a glue-bread mixture that is commonly used by miniature designers (and me, many years ago).

First take a slice of white bread and tear it up into smallish pieces.  My 4 year-old was a great help with this step.

Pour some white glue on to your bread crumbs and mix it together with your hands (VERY MESSY PROCESS!). Don’t overdo the glue at first, you can always add more if you need to but it’ll probably end up being nearly as much glue as bread crumbs.

Squeeze it and knead it until you have a smooth ball of “dough.”  You’ll know you have the right consistency when it is smooth, looses its stickiness, and feels like real bread dough.

Next, decide what you are going to make and whether you want to pre-color your dough.  If so, you can divide it up and mix in some food coloring or paint to achieve the desired color.  We mixed in paint.  Here we are making green dough for lettuce:

Adding red paint to make cherries for a pie:

Mold your food.  A bottle cap makes a nice little pie dish or plate.  A toothpick is an excellent tool for both shaping and painting.

Leave it out to dry and harden, about 24 hours.  Once hard, you can spray it with a clear acrylic to protect it and create a shiny finish.

Here is some of the food we made:

~Some of my favorites~

Spaghetti and meatballs (in a bottle cap):

Chocolate chip cookies:

Cake and bread:

Hot dogs (with ketchup and mustard):

Now the dollhouse residents won’t be hungry anymore!

PS.  This month’s Unplugged Project theme is sleep.  Why don’t you join us?  Read more about how it works here.

I have been busy with summer activities and have not been feeling tremendously bloggy lately, so please excuse my tardiness in announcing this month’s Unplugged Project theme.

This month’s theme is inspired by one of my favorite activities:

Sleep

If you have never joined our Monthly Unplugged Project, please read more about it here.

There are very few rules.  The main ones are that the linky below is only for people who have done a project that is somehow, in some way, arguably related to sleep.  Also, please link to your project post, not just your blog in general.  Finally, I’d really appreciate a mention and link to Unplug Your Kids in your project post.

Thanks and have fun!

Hello all! Welcome to the month of May. May already? Yikes!

The theme for this month’s Unplugged Project will be:

Bread

Remember, it doesn’t have to be baking bread, it can be crafts with bread, learning about bread, the letter “B,” whatever you want.

If you have never joined our Monthly Unplugged Project, please read more about it here.  There are very few rules.  The main ones are that the linky below is only for people who have done a project that is somehow, in some way, arguably related to bread.  Also, please link to your project post, not just your blog in general.  Finally, I’d really appreciate a mention and link to Unplug Your Kids in your project post.

Thanks and I look forward to seeing what creative ideas you come up with this month for bread!

I have always wanted to try making paper so I confess, that is why I chose the theme flat for this month’s Unplugged Project (paper was already taken).  We finally did it and it was so fun!  I am also fairly proud of our efforts because we recycled not only a lot of used printer paper and newspaper, but also a picture frame which became our deckle.  It is amazing what you can do with old picture frames!

This paper was fairly brittle and could never be used for wrapping, however it would make nice note paper or scrapbooking paper.  Also, don’t expect a smooth, fine paper.  It is quite rough and well, homemade looking!  I really love the look of it.

Here’s how we did it.

Make the deckle:

You can get fancy and use wood to construct a frame for your deckle, or buy a ready-made deckle at a craft store, but we did something different.  I seem to have a love affair with alternative uses for picture frames, so I used one as the frame for our deckle.

Get an old 8″x10″ wooden picture frame (or other size, but the size of the frame will determine the size of your paper) or buy a cheap one at the dollar store.  You’ll also need some aluminum window screen.  If you don’t have an old screen at hand you can buy some cut to measure at a hardware store.  I bought one foot of screen for $1.12.  Aluminum is apparently better than nylon because it holds its shape better and is more rigid.

Cut the screen to the same size as the outside dimension of your frame.  The aluminum screen cuts quite easily with a sharp box cutter or X-Acto knife.  Staple the screen onto the back of the frame using a staple gun.  Try and make it as taught as possible.  That’s it!

Gather your materials:

We used old newspaper and some scrap printer paper.  You can also use wrapping paper, construction paper, paper bags, any kind of paper really.  There is an art to combining short and long fibers, but that was all beyond us at this point.

Also gather up some embellishments if you wish:  flower petals, leaves, yarn scraps, glitter, foil scraps.  We used construction paper punch outs that were left over after using a fancy hole punch.

You will also need a blender or food processor, some clean dish towels (or a scrap of felt) and a rolling pin.

Make the pulp:

Tear your paper up into smallish pieces about 1″ square, no need to be exact since they are going to be shredded in the blender (my 4 year-old really liked the tearing part).

Fill the blender no more than 3/4 full of water and add a handful of paper scraps.

Blend vigorously until scraps are shredded and combined with the water.  Keep adding small amounts of paper and pulsing the blender until your mixture looks like watery porridge (should be about a 4:1 ratio of water to paper).

It might take a few tries to get the consistency right.  If you find in the next step that the mixture is too watery, then pour it back in the blender and add some more paper.  If it is too thick, then pour back and add some more water.

Last, add any embellishments to your pulp but don’t blend unless you don’t want to shred them up.  Be careful you don’t add too much extra stuff because the more extras that are in your pulp, the less the fibers will stick together.  You might want to add a bit of glue or cornstarch to your mixture if you put in lots of decorative items.

Make the paper:

Pour the pulp mixture into a basin that is large enough for your deckle to lie flat on the bottom.  Tip the basin a bit and slide your deckle in under the watery pulp.

Swish it back and forth a bit to evenly distribute the fibers and lift it out of the water.  You should see a thin and even layer of pulp over the entire screen.  This is your sheet of paper!

Let the water drip through the screen until only a few drops are falling (a few minutes).

Meanwhile, prepare your towels.  I put some folded newspaper down first to help absorb the water, then I topped it off with a clean, folded dishtowel. Apparently felt works really well for this too, but we didn’t have any.

When most of the water has drained from your paper, gently tip the deckle upside down onto your towel or felt.

Gently tap the back of the screen so the paper falls off onto the towel.  It should fall in one sheet, but if not, keep tapping and it’ll probably all assemble OK on the towel.  Cover the wet paper with another clean, dry dish towel folded in half and roll over it with a rolling pin until much of the water is squeezed out.

The tricky part is getting the paper off the towel.  Carefully peel up one end until you can pull the sheet off in one piece.  I found that it was actually a bit easier to put a large plate upside down over the paper, lift the towels and the plate all together, and then flip it all right side up so the paper lands on the plate (kind of like getting rolled pie pastry from a sheet of wax paper into a pie dish!).  Gently peel off the towel and you’ll have a lovely whole sheet of paper on the plate.

Hang it with clothespins someplace to dry.

Variations:

Newspaper/white scrap paper:

Newspaper/scrap paper and fancy hole punches:

White scrap paper only with grass and flower petals:

Newspaper/white scrap paper with red food coloring added to blender:

Newspaper/white scrap paper with blue food coloring and a bit of light weight kitchen foil added to blender (the foil shredded fine in the blender but I had to add a bit of cornstarch to the pulp because the paper wasn’t holding together well – next time I’ll use less foil, or use foil wrapping paper instead):

Tips & Notes:

• You can fix holes that occur when you tip your paper off your deckle by making another small piece of paper on the deckle and placing it on top of the holes.  It will all blend in together and patch the holes when you roll it with the rolling pin.
• If your paper doesn’t look good, just toss it back in the bin of pulp and swish to break it up.  Try again.
• I had read that bleach could be added to make the paper white.  We tried that on one of our first simple newspaper sheets but it made no difference.  Perhaps we didn’t use enough, or didn’t let it sit enough?
• You will find that your paper will be much lighter in color after it is dry.
• I really like with printed paper how a random word will surface every now and then and become part of the new paper.  If you don’t like this look, then stick to plain paper, or grind your printed paper more thoroughly.
• Would soaking the torn paper in water overnight or for a long while help improve the texture of the result?  Or pouring boiling water over it?  See Mother Earth News for more information.
• I read that using already recycled paper for your pulp produces a sturdier result.
• A few paper-making friends had the following ideas for me:  For color add cotton thread or string (embroidery floss apparently works well).  Just cut up and blend with the pulp.  Try a streak of ground dried chilis for interest (spices – great idea!), or sharpen some colored pencils and add the shavings.  Thanks guys!
• There is a definite learning curve to paper-making.  Our first few tries were not as successful as later ones.  Just keep experimenting!
• Reader Clara beat me to it with the idea of paper for this month’s Unplugged Project and posted this comment:

“Did I send this already? Papermaking! Great recycling project, and artistic and usable! You soak newspaper for a day or so, add a few drops of bleach (or not) and put into an old blender. You strain the pulp and spread a layer on a very FLAT board, place cloth or other paper on top, and weigh down, allow to dry, and while still damp, you can add flower petals, small blossoms and thin leaves to make it pretty. This was in the early 80s, so if you have any corrections, PLEASE add them! You can add thinly shredded cotton cloth before soaking, and this colors and strengthens the paper. You get a cream colored very artsy looking stock. Enjoy!”

Thanks so much Clara!  I think we’ll try your method next time. I like that no deckle is necessary.

Links:

The method we used:  Learn to Make Homemade Paper (a very thorough tutorial)

Some really good advice from an expert:  Instructables Homemade Paper

Well this month certainly FLEW by! With an Odyssey of the Mind competition, a few cases of strep throat, and a week off for a Spring Break of beach, sun, museums and roller coasters in San Diego, it is now April 1st before I even realized it.

I guess I didn’t get to a sphere Unplugged Project this month, but maybe we’ll do one even though the month is over, no promises though.

Thanks to all who did join in with the March sphere project.

It is now time to announce the Unplugged Project theme for April:

Flat

The linky is below.  Have fun!!

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If you are wondering what the Unplugged Project is, then please read more about it here. We’d love to have you join in!

The basics are the following:

• Please only link if you have done a project that is related to the theme. Don’t just put your website in there because you like the idea of the project. I appreciate the support, but if I don’t see a project, then I’ll have to delete your link.

• Please don’t link until you actually have a post to link to. The post should not simply describe an intention, but document an actual completed project.

• When you link, please link to your POST, not just your blog. I am trying to build a library of project ideas, so we want people to always be able to find your project in the future. If you link simply to your blog, they won’t be able to find your post later on. (Feel free to email me if you have a question about this.)

• Don’t worry about the “accuracy” of your connection to the theme. Be creative, have fun, and think “outside the box” if you wish. For example, the theme was once soft and we made moth feeders out of soft cotton balls. Another time the theme was kitchen and we made Oobleck because it was made with cornstarch which is a substance you find in the kitchen, right? If you think about it, you can find a connection with almost anything and that is what is really fun!

• If you have the time, energy, and inspiration to come up with more than one project for sphere that’s great! Feel free to link to each sphere project separately in the linky.

• If you have no blog, then please leave a comment on this post with a description of what you did. The more ideas we get, the better!

• It takes a lot of time and energy to put this project together and I would greatly appreciate a link to Unplug Your Kids in your project post. Thank you and enjoy!

++++++++++

The Unplugged Project theme for the month of March will be:  Sphere

The linky is below and will remain open until April 1st.  On April 1st I will post a new Unplugged Project theme.

If you are wondering what the Unplugged Project is, then please read more about it here.  We’d love to have you join in!

The basics are the following:

• Please only link if you have done a project that is related to the theme.  Don’t just put your website in there because you like the idea of the project.  I appreciate the support, but if I don’t see a project, then I’ll have to delete your link.

• Please don’t link until you actually have a post to link to.  The post should not simply describe an intention, but document an actual completed project.

• When you link, please link to your POST, not just your blog.  I am trying to build a library of project ideas, so we want people to always be able to find your project in the future.  If you link simply to your blog, they won’t be able to find your post later on.  (Feel free to email me if you have a question about this.)

• Don’t worry about the “accuracy” of your connection to the theme.  Be creative, have fun, and think “outside the box” if you wish.  For example, the theme was once soft and we made moth feeders out of soft cotton balls.  Another time the theme was kitchen and we made Oobleck because it was made with cornstarch which is a substance you find in the kitchen, right?  If you think about it, you can find a connection with almost anything and that is what is really fun!

• If you have the time, energy, and inspiration to come up with more than one project for sphere that’s great!  Feel free to link to each sphere project separately in the linky.

• If you have no blog, then please leave a comment on this post with a description of what you did.  The more ideas we get, the better!

• It takes a lot of time and energy to put this project together and I would greatly appreciate a link to Unplug Your Kids in your project post.  Thank you and enjoy!

Photo is from Wikipedia, by Andrzej Barabasz.

I promised another Spiral Unplugged Project post and I am finally here with it – at the eleventh hour (a new Monthly Unplugged Project theme begins tomorrow)!

All day yesterday I was looking after four girls in addition to my own two girls (my son was very happy to escape this overdose of estrogen by fleeing to a friend’s house).

The age of the girls ranged from 4 to 11 and after boredom appeared to be setting in, I tried this totally retro idea out on them:  Spirograph Shrinky Dinks.  Just 3 words:  THEY-LOVED-IT.

I had bought some shrink plastic at a Michael’s craft store on my last trip to the big city.  We pinned the Spirograph rings on to the plastic sheets with no problems.  NOTE:  The frosted type of paper worked out best with markers, the shiny white tended to smear.

Since my original Spirograph ball point pens were long dead after 30+ years, I had also bought some fine point Sharpies in many different colors and they worked great!  The tip was small and long enough to fit through the holes in the Spirograph disks and produce beautiful results.

Before they went in the oven, we punched holes in some of the finished Shrinky Dinks.  A regular one-hole paper punch works fine and, once shrunk, produces a hole large enough for a thread or fine wire.   If you need to thread on something larger than that, then punch several times to make a bigger hole.

The girls strung them on thread to make necklaces.  I actually have an even fancier idea in mind, so check back!

If you like this, then be sure to read my original Spirograph post.  To find out how to make your own Shrinky Dink plastic from home trash, don’t miss my Homemade Shrinky Dinks post!