Working From Home Art Project #2

So the whole masquerade mask project was fun and kept me from constantly reading what continues to be bad news on top of bad news, so I decided to try another artsy project. I just couldn't decide on what kind of project, though, so for a while, I sat and watched this:

I am so thankful to the Rowe Sanctuary for having the live feed. The best times to watch are at dawn and then again at dusk. I was actually in tears yesterday as I watched the cranes, as if by some silent cue, all lift up at once, taking flight to go spend the day in the nearby fields. It was incredible.

While streaming the feed to the TV (I decided to bring the TV down from upstairs; I figure if I'm going to have to be home, I might as well enjoy some movies), I looked over at the growing stack of newspaper by the fireplace. I almost got up to get a fire going, but then it hit me what to do for my next art project: paper beads. Instead of burning all that beautiful, colorful, useless paper, I might as well try to make something pretty, and most likely useless, out of it. That is, if I am even able to work a little magic and turn newspaper into what can pass for beads. 

I started by cutting up some of the more colorful newspaper I could find. I did have to laugh when I saw the one flyer was from back in November, before Black Friday. Even with all the lovely fires I've enjoyed through the winter, this particular insert avoided being turned into ash. Maybe it knew it was destined to become a beautiful bead and while I wasn't looking slipped its way to the bottom of the newspaper stack. If only it had known it was going to be scalded with boiling water!

           

(sorry for the chunk of white space between the images . . . no idea why that's happening)

Then I let the boiling-water-covered paper sit way longer than it was supposed to because I realized I had no glue in the house other than a glue I figured wasn't the best choice for this project. Not about to give up, I texted Angel Baby (he just so happens to work at an office supply store!) and asked him to please purchase a large bottle of glue for me.

Side note: this is our text exchange . . .

end side note . . ..

If anyone gets this nasty coronavirus, it'll be Angel Baby since he's still venturing out each day, and business at the office supply store has increased exponentially due to everyone here needing office supplies since they are now working from home. Like me. Which means if he gets it, I'll most likely get it . . . :(.

So, back to the art project. The boiling water did its job and turned the paper to mush. Ugly, gray mush. I was really hoping the vibrant colors would remain intact, but no, not to be. C'est la vie. Hey, I rhymed without even trying!

Angel Baby brought me this (yeah, just a tad bit overkill with the amount of glue I had him get)

and after mashing out as much of the water from the paper as I could, I went from these

to these >>  

(and I still don't know why there's so much white space between the images!). Drat! But if I keep typing, the space gets filled up with my inane typing chatter that has nothing to do with this art project whatsoever. More inane typing chatter: did you know Elmer's glue is a Borden Dairy product, and Elmer the bull on the label is the husband of Elsie the cow on the label of Borden milk products like condensed milk and ice cream? And they even had kids: Beulah and Beauregard, and twins Larabee and Lobelia. Not kidding! Okay, end of inane typing chatter. Promise.

So, for today, this is how far I've gotten with my newspaper beads. I just checked them a little bit ago. Still tacky to the touch, which means another day or two of drying might be in order. Stay tuned to see how the beads turn out.