Hoarding with purpose

I have always had pack rat tendencies.

A nice way of saying, "Hello my name is Jeri.  I am a hoarder"

I can't help it.

I find beauty in the strangest places.

Case in point, changing out the lightbulbs in the laundry room a couple of weeks ago.

Now for most people, you would put in the new bulb and throw the burnt out ones away.

However at my house, you take out the lightbulb and immediately say, "I can do something with this."

Which quickly leads the 16 year old child who is helping you to remark, "Mom, you're a hoarder"

So just to prove her wrong, I immediately put them to good use in the next art class.

12 year old

We made hot air balloons!

I had them start by covering the lightbulbs with some maps I pulled out of old National Geographic magazines I had bought at a church sale.

(hoarder)

Using some gel medium, the kids ripped and pasted down the map.  And then while they were drying, I gave them some Fimo to create baskets.  And then they decided who should be taking a ride in their balloon.

The artist above decided to take a puppy on a ride.  A puppy who had obviously been at a picnic as she painted the inside of the basket in a very sweet red and white checked blanket.  I wanted the kids to be able to take their passenger in and out of the basket so there was an interactive element to their sculptures.

This artist wanted to add a ladder to her work also and came up with a solution by creating it out of embroidery thread I picked up at a garage sale and some cardboard I had saved from packaging out of my cupboard.

(more hoarding)

7 year old

We then used some wire to wrap around the lightbulb and then connected it to the basket prior to putting the clay in to bake.  I made sure they put a knotted loop at the top of the "balloon" so they could hang it up once they got home.

This artist decided to paint their collage work on the balloon prior to finishing it.  And he took a penguin for a flight.

12 year old

Since we used white Fimo clay, I pulled out acrylic paint once it was baked for them to paint their creations.

This artist took an Ostrich for a ride and then decided she'd like to have a person holding on for dear life underneath!  She had him holding on with the embroidery thread I'd pulled out for the ladder and then built the sculpted figures hands around the thread and baked it all together then hooked it on to the wire at the end.

I love that although the instructions were the same, each student came up with very different finished sculptures in the end that reflect their unique visions and personalities.

And I love the next time someone in my family points out that I am indeed a hoarder, I can retort, "Yes, but a hoarder with a purpose."