Round-up of Holiday Season Projects

Making things out of paper seems to be something we do during the holiday season. Here's some projects that I've written about with links to the full posts that explain them, that seem appropriate for the season. This first one, the Spiraling Ornaments was surprisingly well-liked. All year, when I visited different places, I'd see ones…

Wat Meer Trekpoppen: More Jumping Jacks

Welkom!  A few week ago I noticed I was getting some verkeer vanuit Nederland - traffic from the Netherlands. While it's not unusual for a far off web site to link to my blog, what has caught my attention, and what has prompted this post, is that, day after day, for several weeks now, I continue…

Antique Jumping Jack Toys, made by students

This past Friday I had the good luck of being able to work with students to test drive my instructions for making cut-paper Antique Jumping Jacks. The students were young, only in grades First through Fourth, but they were a surprisingly competent group.. Some of these childrens live nearby in Vermont, the others are from…

Antique Jumping Jack Toy

This week the Southern Vermont Arts Center asked me to teach a Friday morning class for young children. The request was that the lesson be inspired by Alexander Calder. It is, fortunately, easy to be inspired by Calder. His work immediately conjures up colorful shapes, whimsy, animated forms, and circus-like figures. Putting this together, I…