Meet the Artist

In Dubious Battle an eleven panel, oil painting by artist Shelley Reed.

"Through a large oil painting on a paper grid Reed will allow the viewer to step into the creation of her black and white world, to exist among its painted inhabitants. She will use art historical imagery that is sometimes pastoral and at times aggressive, creating an environment that feels “vaguely familiar, a bit dangerous, and fully relevant to today.”"



Shelley Reed's paintings can be seen in Boston, New York, Chicago, and now, Southern California, while she is an Artist-in-Residence at Lux Institute.

A unique and enjoyable part of the Artist-in-Residence program is the chance to meet the artist, see them working at their art, and to ask questions. This experience is wonderful for personal engagement, and opportunity to relate to the art with its creator. We were interested to learn that Shelley Reed was painting in oil directly on paper, without gesso. She described the quality and properties of the Arches paper, and that she enjoyed how the paper behaves with the oil paints.



Shelley Reed will be giving a Studio Talk, October 5th.

We would like to thank Shelley Reed for the generous and inspiring way she engaged with Maria, Alex, and Bambi; she went above and beyond in her interactions with us, in sharing her experiences, insights, and helpful criticism. As Maker Faire exhibitors, and in our community outreach, we know how much time and energy it can take to engage with the public. We enjoy exhibiting, talking about our interests, and yours, and when someone, like Shelley Reed, makes time to share and personally relate with us, we are especially appreciative. Thank you, as well, to Lux Institute for hosting this inspired program: Artist-In-Residence is marvelous.

(Benevolent Order of Makers is a school, this year... while Maria is homeschooling, we are calling ourselves the Benevolent Order of Makers STEAM Education Academy, or something like that. Really, it's all a pretty natural extension of our regular activities, but with some extra pomp and flare, because that's amusing to us.)

Make a Handkerchief Pretty

Handkerchief: /ˈhaNGkərCHif,ˈhaNGkərCHēf/
noun
a square of cotton or other finely woven material, typically carried in one's pocket
and intended for blowing or wiping one's nose.
synonyms: hanky; kerchief, bandanna; tissue
"a monogrammed handkerchief"
There are all sorts of descriptions and histories of the handkerchief. But I think I like the handkerchiefs that are pretty, romantic, edged in crochet, or accented with embroidery. Adding art, something whimsical or romantic, can make a plain square of cotton special.

These pocket-handkins came four to a pack, from Collage, in Portland Oregon... a Sublime Stitching blank textile. Just the kind of souvenir I cannot resist... one that packs easily, and will inspire creative play.

I decided to revisit painting and embroidering. So, I drew a romantic little ratty, with her bouquet of pink posies. It's just a #2 pencil, lightly sketched on the square. You can even trace an image, like I did with a tea towel, in this tutorial.

The next step was to use acrylic craft paints to fill in color. I use water sparingly, and the cotton square was heavy enough, that none of the paint seeped through, which is nice. But to be safe, I keep waxed paper, or a plastic tray, under my paint projects... newsprint might stain leave marks on the fabric. The paints I use are Martha Stewart's acrylic craft paints. I use a smallish brush, applying thin layers of paint, so they can dry quickly and evenly, and so that I don't leave a thick, stiff feel to the fabric, with too much paint.

Then, I choose my floss colors, and use only two strands of thread to make simple outlining and detail stitches. French knots make perfect little flowers for a ratty's bouquet.

A bit of navy blue floss for her eye, and gray for her face, arms, and legs. A pale, sage-y green for the stems and leaves, and three shades of pink for everything, else, including all of those French-knot flowers.


After outlining her dress, and creating a belt of posies around her waist, I trimmed the edges in leaves, and more flowers.

I wonder, would I actually sneeze into this little handkerchief?
Would you?
Maybe your hand painted and embroidered handkerchief will be too pretty for nose-blowing, but it's still an easy and gratifying little project to make.

Make A Miniature Picnic

When Benevolent Order of Makers, (BOoMNerds on Instagram) was at the North County Mini Maker Faire, Maria and I taught crafting with paper clay. We love paper clay, because it's affordable, easy to use, and we can paint it, after it air dries. Making with the clay was a popular hands-on activity, so I ended up with a lot of loaves of bread from all the demonstrating we were doing.

Today I set up my paints, so I could paint all the miniature bread pieces. Baguettes, a bâtard, and a traditional slicing loaf... and bagels, and pancakes (not pictured.) Painting isn't just a fun, creative part of finishing the paper clay pieces, it's also a necessary step in protecting them, since any moisture could make them start to disintegrate. The acrylic craft paints seals the dried clay.

These are some of the things I made while we demonstrated how to make with paper clay. The baguettes are rolled from a small ball of clay, allowing the ends to get narrower. Then I use the side of a toothpick to gently dent across the tops of the bread so they appear to be scored. They've had plenty of drying time, now we need to get them painted, and sealed.

If you would like more tips and suggestions for making with paper clay, please follow this link, where we give a more complete paper clay tutorial.

To paint the bread, I used acrylic craft paints. First, I painted the whole loaf in a medium brown shade, being sure to get the entire surface sealed in a light layer of paint. Once the first layer was dry, I used a very dry brush to paint on a slightly darker shade of brown, to make it look like the bread has nice crust to it. The last part was adding the palest brown paint into the scores, where the bread would be less browned. I could add one last clear coat with a glossy acrylic paint... something you may notice in the picture of other breads I made. The decision to make the bread shiny is a matter of preference. I like them both ways; shiny, or matte.

Maria brought out some pretty props from her doll house, so we could depict a picnic, featuring a crusty French baguette, still wrapped, and tied with bakery twine! The little bread knife is one of our miniature make creations, too. Today I will finish painting bagels/donuts, and a cake. And we want to create some syrup for the pancakes. We may open a cafe, soon!

We Are Making Arts

No one has seen the dining table, for weeks! We've been making art.

Alex is applying glaze to the ceramic forms he made. With this fine point stylus he discovered in a classroom locker, he can add elaborate illustrations and details to the sculpture he is making.

Back in November, Alex was sculpting the forms that he's glazing, now.

And in November I was busy, too, designing shapes to make little shelves. William offered to take my drawings, and add them to software for operating our CNC router, Frankenrouter. It sounds simple, but it's a lot of work, and he adds his own attentive consideration to the process, including layout, formatting, scale, and measurements. I feel so lucky to have his thoughtful skills and own artistic perceptions to help me get things done.

Then comes taking what William finished, and loading it into Mastercam... a notoriously fickle, yet indispensable operating system for CNC milling and routing. Now we have three artists and makers on my little project. I never underestimate the time and frustration some of my brilliant ideas can command! Fortunately, Geoff relishes a bit of tinkering and puzzle solving. His unique skills are always in demand, and much appreciated.

Maria, Emma, Amira, and Sarah~

When we celebrated Maria's birthday, it didn't take much more than paper and markers to make the party fun. Artfully so.

I love this collaborative, engaged activity... how it evolves and is interactive, but also spontaneous. Sometimes, art can be private and personal, need it's own space, but there is something energizing and stimulating about sharing space, too. The exchange affords opportunity for developing new skills, new ideas.

Thanks to William and Geoff, my little shelves are cut, and glued, and now, I sand. And sand. And sand. I actually enjoy this part.

And this part, too! Painting my cat shelf with a chalkboard surface paint! These little shelves are for holding tiny things, and are completely inspired by the ones I saw in Lauren's home. Of course, I slipped in another New England mention... the goodness has become ingrained in me!

Besides sculpting and ceramics, Alex is painting, drawing, working on his life drawing. And I would love to post more on this, but, to quote myself, "Sometimes, art can be private and personal, need it's own space." For now, just this peek.

Just before her birthday, Maria turned a corner of her room into a gallery, with her own work, and friends'.

Make and Re-Make... Our Neighbor Totoro

This isn't a re-make of the movie Our Neighbor Totoro, this is about our stand-up friend from the Miyazaki classic animated film, My Neighbor Totoro. Our Totoro's first appearance was for a birthday celebration, and he's lived with his Chibi companions around our yard for two and half years since. Unfortunately, this last winter was too much for the wood cutouts, and they suffered a lot of damages. After completing work on version II of the Laputa robot, William decided to rehabilitate the friendly wood spirit, too.

Before we share the re-make, let's look back to the first making of our Totoro...

To begin, William developed an original illustration of the animated character. He did this at the computer, and when his design was completed we set up a projector, so we could trace the image on 3/4" plywood.

Next, with Totoro's outline sketched on the wood, William cut out the shape with a jigsaw, right down to those six whiskers.

Gray, black, and white... time for the paint. While William finished this wood spirit, Alex began work on adding some smaller spirits to the party.

A finished Chibi Totoro, and Alex sketching the Chu Totoro.

Chibi Totoro has already visited San Diego Maker Faire, but we want to bring all of our Miyazaki inspired creations to the North County Maker Faire, so here is some of what William's done to get ready...

Let's call this triage... an assessment of all the damages. Plywood splitting, whiskers shorn off, paint worn, base loosened. Poor Totoro does't have much to smile about.

He spent days glued and clamped together, had his whiskers removed, got sanded, then taped up for a fresh coat of paint.

William designed then cut new whiskers. Made of aluminum, the new and improved whiskers are epoxyed to Totoro's face. It should be a stronger finish. They definitely look good.

Intensive care.

Sometimes things look much worse before they're all better. Totoro is on his way to recovery.

Here he is! Our neighbor and friend, restored, and ready for Maker Faire!

Make Stamps

Playing! Experimenting. Messing up. Trying again. Learning...

I am collecting supplies for stamp making, and print making. It can be as simple as having a sheet of rubber, carving tools, and an ink pad. This time, to make the pig, I traced a sticker of a pig, drawing with a pencil. Then I used my Speedball cutting tool (sold for linoleum carving) and slowly, peeled away the outline of the pig and details. The tool is too big for the tiny piece and details I want to carve, so the effect is what I like to call "rustic." Let's be clear: I am not ready to post tutorials, but I am excited to share the beginning of my journey.

The other thing I tried is making a bigger image to print from the lid of a Styrofoam food container. Humbling! I learned this method when I was an art volunteer in Maria's fifth grade class; the students made and printed portraits of themselves. Now that I've tried carving Styrofoam, (pressing firmly into the soft foam with a pencil, or blunt tool) I can see it's not as easy as it looks. It definitely seems to be something that will work better with large images, and few details. Also, I didn't roll ink on my stamp with a brayer, but just dragged it across the surface of the stamp pad. Anyway, I love the children's art, find it very inspiring, and now that I've tried it for myself I am ten times more impressed with what they made! I may be asking them for tips.




Maria and her classmates are really sweet, fun to work with. And they enjoyed this project so much, it seemed to me it could be a fun activity to bring to Maker Faire. Maybe with smaller stamps? I'm still figuring it out, playing. It's fun. Messy, too. If not Bay Area, then something for one of our mini events, here at the Bird House. There are great ideas and suggestions to be found at Pinterest. I searched "scratch foam printing" and found plenty to get things going!

**Important Update**
So, it turns out food container lids are not the same as the crafting foam the students used when they made their portraits. Happily, the stuff I ordered from Blick will be easier to use, so I am very excited to be getting the good stuff. I had my suspicions, because the styrofoam I used to make the bird was behaving very poorly... no smooth lines, only deep and crumbly, jagged cuts. But thanks to Vicki at Art With Kids, I have been reassured that Scratch-Foam printing boards will be much easier to work with.

If we do share this activity in a Maker event, it's essential to have the right tools, and nice quality materials, because when learning how to make things, it's such a bonus for things to go well. Very often in arts and crafts, especially with children, the cheapest supplies come out... of course this cannot always be helped, but whenever possible I think it's important to use the best available supplies, for greater success, and nicer finished products.

Make PaperClay Mushrooms

Two years ago Maria and I started playing with paper clay, making tiny mushrooms. Those first creations were planted in tiny pots, and made into gifts. Maria and I made little houses, trees, and gnomes, too. The next year I made larger mushrooms, with doors, and smoking chimneys. Paper clay is easy to work with. It dries quickly, paints easily, and even when parts come apart, a little white glue fixes everything. This holiday season we've moved into new themes, adding our mushroom collection to terrariums, and miniature potted gardens. With natural moss, twigs, and lichen, they add whimsy, charm. We gave so many away, I was eager to replenish the stash.

These mushrooms, gnomes, trees, and houses are easy to make, fun, too. There are very few supplies to gather. It only takes some time and a bit of patience to make tiny garden accessories. Maria and I have seen a lot of fairy garden pieces in gift shops and nurseries, but we still think these homemade ones are the most charming! We hope you will give this craft a try, and share your results with us!

Supply List
1. PaperClay... we found ours in a craft shop. After it's open, it will dry out easily, so keep it in an airtight bag. Also, one package is plenty, when making these little crafts; I've never run out.

2. Straight pins. I had an old box, found in a thrift shop goody bag of sewing supplies.

3. Elmer's white glue

4. Acrylic craft paints... satin and glossy are nice.

5. A bottle of gloss glaze, to seal the painted project.

6. Small tipped paint brushes.

7. Foam to hold the mushrooms while they dry.

8. Tooth picks.

The straight pin, and a pinch of paper clay. I lay the pin on top of the clay... think of the pin as a sausage on a bun, and the clay is the bun. With my palm open and flat, I gently roll the pin back and forth, until it is wrapped in the paper clay.

This needs just a bit more rolling, so the head of the pin is covered, too.

It can also be rolled between finger and thumb. Make it pleasing, but there's no need to be overly obsessed with the details, since it will be handled more, and the soft clay will keep changing with handling until it's finally dry and hard.

Next roll a small ball of paper clay for the mushroom cap.

You can flatten the ball of paper clay, to make an umbrella shaped mushroom cap.

Or turn and pinch the ball of paper clay to create a dome, or rounded chocolate chip shape.

Now, stick the pin-head mushroom stem into the underside of your mushroom cap. You want to blend the two pieces together, so they dry as one piece. If the clay is cracking, then your hands are too dry... dampen your hands. It also helps to smooth out the piece with a barely wet paint brush. I also use the wet brush to gently unite the stem with the cap. A toothpick works well for this part too. In tiny strokes, drag the clay from the cap around the stem, then you can use the wet brush to smooth any lines.

Play around with the shapes, and sizes... you'll soon find a look you like, and see how easy the paper clay is to work with. And remember: Do-overs are always an option!

We had such a cold, dry night, these mushrooms were dry the next day. Larger pieces take more time, and I wouldn't paint anything until it's as dry as possible, to discourage mold from ruining the pieces.

Mushroom house... single story, fireplace, cozy. I'm using the toothpick to blend the chimney clay with the mushroom cap roof. I make the door by denting an entry at the base of the mushroom with the end of the paint brush.

Here's an experiment: Bigger mushrooms, on toothpicks! I want to see if I can create food-safe cake decorations, by building the mushrooms on toothpicks, instead of tiny, sharp pins. I like pinching the clay at the base of the stem, so when we stick it into a cake, it will look like a wide, planted base.

Here's a larger mushroom. I want to scrunch up the base of that stem. If you look through Pinterest for red-capped mushrooms, you will find all kinds of inspiring shapes and colors for painting your mushrooms.

I add the white dots using the blunt end of a toothpick. Just a dip in the paint, then tap the red cap!

Easy Peasy Repairs!

After drying, some caps fall right off, and it's so easy to fix, I wonder why I bother assembling them while they're wet. A dab of Elmer's glue and a little more drying time is all it takes. Here's one that came apart after painting; I'll fix it with the acrylic gloss. It dries very quickly!

I paint the entire cap, and be sure to get some gloss in the hole where the stem will attach. (I have no particular attachment to this brand of gloss... it's just the one that was on sale. It goes on a bit heavy, dries fast, and shiny. It's nice.)

I glossed the stem, too, then set it into the cap. It will be dry in minutes. I like to have scraps of upholstery foam to hold the pieces while they dry. I'm sure a piece of styrofoam would work as well.

Make a Banquet!

I am sure you've figured out, you can make so much more than mushrooms! These carrots and lettuce are paper clay!

These loaves of bread and baguette are paper clay, too!