Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Earthship, beam me up!


Earthships:

Beautiful, self-sustaining (off the grid), sustainable, earth-friendly, 
beautiful, HANDMADE, unconventional, beautiful...
Did I say beautiful?


Earthship in Taos, New Mexico) 

Made with discarded tires, drink cans, glass bottles, 
and honest-to-goodness earth,
these are dwellings of the future (I hope),
inspired by the past.

This is re-purposing at it's best and
I really, really want to live in one.

Full disclosure:  I would also like to build it.
(DaddyBoy, are you listening?)

Here's a little about earthships.  Even the name is heavenly :)



YouTube has lots more on them...

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Paper Sculpture with the NanoBot


It's been rainy, so rainy.  I do love the rain,
even though it sometimes means being stuck indoors, but not much :)



So on one such lovely day,
NanoBot and I sat out in our little covered patio
outside our apartment
and made...
this!



I can see the idea translated into
wall sculptures with an industrial feel -
a set of three square bases
with metal strips instead of paper
and a lovely blue-green patina!

Anyway, here's the PAPER version for now,
with a step-by-step demo
courtesy the NanoBot herself.

Begin with some thick paper for a base.
We used the side of a spaghetti carton.


Glue plain paper on to it and cut to size, like so:


So now you have a cleverly recycled piece of packaging!


Set the base aside and start making line drawings on a sheet of paper.
I used one color, lots of globby shapes, and a whole bunch of
lines in a variety of ways.

This was the only step I showed the NanoBot an example of.
(the teal blue drawing is mine)
It was a good lesson for taking note of how many
ways you can draw a line.



Then she made her own...
She made the globby shapes in a pale orange, but quickly
switched to a dark blue for the inside lines.


She even put in some alphabets!


Next, flip the drawing over, make some guiding lines
(yes, MORE lines)
and cut!


Snip, snip into thin strips.


And you end up with these.


Remember that base we made before?
This is where it makes its grand entrance.


Using a glue stick, start sticking the ends of the strips to the base,
leaving the rest of the strips loose.


You can twist the strips before you glue the second end,
or loop them around other strips.

Keep going until the entire base is covered, and you get THIS.



A lovely, loopy paper sculpture!


And an incredible artist overcome with modesty!


Do give it a try!