mind-your-head

'mind your head' is my workshop contribution to imagine peace festival 2014 on lantau island, hongkong. we let ourselves be inspired by the extravaganza of nature and create head-pieces made from the beauty that surrounds us: lush leaves, green grass, fresh fruit and flowers. and off we go to find all of these adornments on our walk along the beach and through the beautiful wetlands of pui o. apart from natural objects we find bottle caps, fishing nets and a lot of broken down pieces of plastic. we take our findings and turn them into bouquets on each other's heads, just like children adorn each other. it is an act of giving and receiving. by adorning our heads with beauty of the natural world and the throw-aways of the human society, our heads are decorated on the outside. on the inside we start to think: why is there so much rubbish in nature? where does it come from? where does it go to? questions like children ask. honest questions hard to find a simple answer to. 

 the process of adorning each other with the treasures of nature honors ourselves and is a deep prayer to the beauty of mother nature herself. let her be healed. and let us heal within her.

Stranded goods to Christmas tree goodies

Last year I was given a shell by my dear friend Philine with a hemp string wrapped around it and a loop at the end. "Put it on your Christmas tree", she said. Such a simple and decorative idea! I found out that the name of the shell is 'Tower Shell' or 'Turritellidae'. Now we simply call it 'Turritelli', a word rolling wonderfully over your tongue. For this year's Christmas I couldn't resist to copy the idea for my Wunderkinder class. Making a few alterations, we are using soft wire instead of string. And we are adding gold and silver glittery glue plus glitter (there can never be enough!) to make the ornaments sparkle - now they almost look like icicles! 

Follow the steps as shown in these pictures. It's easy! 

Peaceful and happy Holy Days to all of you:)

Origami: the Sacred Lotus

Yes, I do adore Lotus flowers!(bot.Nelumbium speciosum) They seem to glow from within, flowers so beautiful they seem from beyond this world. It is hard for any artist to capture something that beautiful, something that perfect. I'd like to show you a version that comes close to the original and isn't that hard to make: the origami lotus.

 

Instead of using origami paper I prepared sheets of newspaper that I tinted with wood stain pigments beforehand. These pigments give off warm colors that look very natural. The folding of the petals is actually easy, it can be done by 6 year olds. Here is a YouTube video that's easy to follow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYNG2YikxA

The trick is the larger the paper petals the easier the folding. For our lotus we folded 12 petals (purple) and 4 outer leaves (green) but you can also go with 8 and 4. Tying the bundle of petals together and then inverting them is a bit more challenging and needs the help of an adult. 

Our hands being coloured purple after folding so many Lotus petals!

This photo I took in a temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia this spring. Even withered the beauty of the Lotus still radiates.

Tonight is Mid-autumn Festival in Hong Kong!

If you haven't made a lantern for tonights Mid autumn festival yet, here are a couple of really cool upcycling ideas!!! I took those pictures this morning at Lantau International School where a lantern competition is held each year. Only recycled material is allowed for use. Thanks L.I.S. for this great event and thanks to all the children and parents for sharing your creativity!