22Jul 2023 by catbird
Blue Moon Cyanotypes

Blue Moon Cyanotypes

Blue Moon, Craft Project, Full Moon, Nature Art, Nature Collection
Blue moons are slightly misunderstood. You see we have 12 months in our year, but there are 13 full moons. So each year there ends up being an "extra" moon in the western calendar. (This is not true of some other calendars.) If you are interested in this sort of thing, the way we got to the current western calendar is somewhat fascinating and insanely circuitous. But anyway, back to the moons, the extra moon doesn't always fall in same month and sometimes has it's own special name (like if it falls in September) but generally it gets called a blue moon. (Like the expression "once in a blue moon.") Why it's called a blue moon isn't abundantly clear, and according to astronomers the actually definition of a blue moon…
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01Jul 2023 by catbird
Painting with the Rain

Painting with the Rain

Craft Project, Full Moon, Nature Art, Play, Thunder Moon
 In spring we talk about spring showers, but that is a gentle kind of rain, whereas in summer it’s a wild downpour with huge fat drops of water and thunder and lightning, and it feels completely different. The science backs that up-- generally it rains the most frequently in spring, but the most rain falls in summer. There really are more thunderstorms in summer in temperate parts of the world– summer brings humid warm air up from the south, which then bumps into cooler, drier air from the north. Whenever two air masses meet like this the air becomes unstable. The cooler, denser air wedges itself under the warmer humid air and lifts it up. (Called an updraft.) As all that moisture rises up in the atmosphere, it begins to…
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18Jun 2023 by catbird
Summer Solstice Fire Wheel

Summer Solstice Fire Wheel

Campfire, Craft Project, Garden, Nature Art, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
One of my favorite things to do is to sort through traditional observances from all around the world and find things that resonate for me and my family. My own celebration of the wheel of the year is generally secular, but I enjoy drawing on these ancient practices that have been celebrated for as long as we have records. This turn of the wheel I was struck by a Germanic/Slavic tradition of lighting an actual wheel on fire and rolling through town into a river. I initially discounted this for being ridiculously dangerous, but I kept thinking about it. I was then reading that people spread the ashes from their solstice fire on their gardens to make them extra healthy and productive. I have been having a pretty terrible garden…
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16Jun 2023 by catbird
Plarn Sun Catchers

Plarn Sun Catchers

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Recycled Materials, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
I am always trying to think of new ways to make sun catchers this time of year- it's the perfect easy craft to celebrate the sun. I also try and stay away from the contact paper method and excessive waste plastic (no shade though we've all been there.) This is one of my favorite sun catchers to date-- it's simple enough for littles and engaging enough, well for adults honestly. It makes use of waste plastic in the form of those terrible plastic grocery bags that just never seem to go away. (My county has banned them and yet they are still everywhere?) You first cut the bags into strips and make a type of yarn (plastic + yarn = plarn) and then weave them around sticks. It's a very…
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04Jun 2023 by catbird
Botanical Bioplastic Sun Catchers

Botanical Bioplastic Sun Catchers

Craft Project, Learning, Nature Art, Play, Summer Solstice
The Summer Solstice is a perfect time to make sun catchers-- light is abundant and long lasting. Every year I try to think up a new way of making a fun sun catcher that will look beautiful gleaming in a summer window and celebrate the season. This year we used a material that's been on my list forever-- bioplastic. Bioplastic is "a plastic derived from biological substances rather than from petroleum, many types of which are biodegradable." So in for this project we use gelatin to make a plastic that is completely biodegradable and not harmful to the environment, but is string and rigid the way traditional plastic is. We used natural plant colorants to dye our bioplastic. Botanical Bioplastic Sun Catchers My favorite of the sun catchers we made this…
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28Apr 2023 by catbird
Maypole Happiness Trees & Garlands

Maypole Happiness Trees & Garlands

Craft Project, May Day, Nature Art, Play
The last Friday in April is Arbor Day in the United States. (There are several other Arbor Day observances in other countries as well!) I knew I was going to do a May Day post on Arbor Day so I immediately thought of maypoles which were once made from trees. Arbor Day is a day to celebrate and plant trees and I was immediately reminded of an old project we did during covid lockdown to celebrate special trees. Everyone choose a tree that was special to them, in their yard, in a park or somewhere they went every day and decorated it with natural or compostable decorations. We called them happiness trees, in part because they brought joy to others during lockdown. As a part of that project we researched…
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19Apr 2023 by catbird
Recycled Bottle Chandelier

Recycled Bottle Chandelier

Craft Project, Earth Day, Play, Recycled Materials
I generally refuse to buy plastic bottles and try to never buy water in plastic bottle, but every now and then it's unavoidable. Because I know that I'll end up with some every now and then (and will have tons after a clean up!) I am always on the lookout for interesting ways to reuse them. This chandelier is one of my very favorites! It's simple, easy to make and looks stunning. It's also a great project for a group if you have a class, coop or family gathering or some sort. Everyone can decorate a bottle or two and then they all come together to make something greater than the sum its parts. painted bottles ready to be hung the bicycle wheel frame Recycled Bottle Chandelier You can use…
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