Gone forever

I lost my mom
I lost my dad
And then my sisters, too
I lost my brother
Lost my friends
And then the world
lost me.

The art in me
The art in them
The art in all of us
It’s gone forever
Flown away
Like the butterflies…..

and me

Think about it. 1,500,000 children who perished in the Holocaust and their art is gone forever. What might have been will never be.

They cannot make a butterfly.

But you can! And there's still time!

Enter Amaco's Open Design Challenge here.

Because you can!

Email this blog to everyone you know. We need 1,500,000 handmade butterflies!!!

So, after my genealogy story yesterday, I wrote the poem. Then I printed it on canvas and fringed the edges.

Colleen had made this background strip in one of Jana Ewy's playshops last month.....and she didn't know what to do with it! So I used scraps, charms, and cookie cutters to make the 3 little butterflies and set them on the strip.

And it just looks wonderful!

They can't play. They can't make art. They lost that when their lives were taken in the Holocaust. Please take just a few minutes out of your day to make a handmade butterfly to add to the Houston Holocaust Museum's memorial.

Do it for them.

Because you can.

If you think it didn't happen

Some days, genealogy is simply mindless data entry. I sit and enter names, dates of birth, dates of death, and my software creates wonderful family trees.

So my current project is to do a family tree of the descendants and ancestors of the Cotopaxi Colony. This was a Jewish agricultural community that came to Cotopaxi, Colorado, and you can read the story on the link provided. But here's the thing. I was entering the names and dates from the family tree and suddenly, my mind came alive. Every single date of death was 1942.

The Holocaust.

So I started looking at what i was entering. I had to know who this was and how they were "related" to the Cotopaxi Colony.

A brother and his wife, their children and all of their grandchildren. Another brother, all 6 of his children, and their children....and the list just went on.

I went online and started researching the Holocaust archives and records and have found the names of each member of this family.....all lived in Brest Litovsk. All perished on the morning of October 15, 1942.

Their brother married a woman who was part of the Cotopaxi Colony and he came to America with her. His entire family remained in Russia.....and was wiped out.

Including each of the children in that family.

From the Holocaust records:

all the estimated 50,000 people shot and buried at Bronnaya Gora were Jewish, victims of the Holocaust. About 20,000 of them came from the town of Brest (formerly called "Brzesc nad Bugiem", in Poland between the wars; and "Brest Litovsk", in Russia before that), now in the independent country of Belarus, on the border with Poland. The victims from the Brest Ghetto were rounded up on October 15, 1942 and trained to the massacre site to be shot and buried in previously prepared pits. The monument above recalls the central role that trains and railroads played in the massacres at Bronnaya Gora and at many other massacre sites throughout the former Soviet Union.
At 6:00 am on the morning of October 15th 1942, one of the non-Jewish neighbors informed the Jews of Brest that the ghetto was completely surrounded by the Nazis. Some of the Jews tried to hide in predetermined hiding places, but they were found by the soldiers and taken to the Brest train station at gun point, loaded into cattle cars and transported to the village of Bereza Kartuzka (68 miles, 114 km northeast of Brest). Upon arrival, the Jews were unloaded and marched to an area where a large trench had already been excavated. The entire group was forced to remove their clothes. They were then pushed into the trench and machine gunned by the Nazi soldiers who surrounded the trench. The action continued all day and it is estimated that 50,000 Jews were killed that day, most of them from the city of Brest.
In 1944, when the Russians recaptured Brest, there were only nine Jews (two men and seven women) left alive.

Now, while this may be hard for you to read...and you may be one who has been led to believe that this didn't really happen....when you do genealogy and see that an entire family of 3 generations ALL died on the very same day.....

you know that it is real.

We're making butterflies this week to honor the 1.5M children who perished along with the children in this family.

Won't you join me in making one as well?

This is another one that I made using fantasy film for the inside of the wings.



What a joy, what a delight for me to be able to assemble a family tree for the Cotopaxi Colony. What an honor for me to make butterflies for this project.



If you think it didn't happen.....just know that it did. Genealogy is just another way of keeping history alive - of keeping history accurate.

1,500,000 children died

in the Holocaust. And The Holocaust Museum in Houston has a butterfly project.....collecting a handmade butterfly for each child who died.

And Amaco (bless their hearts!) is sponsoring a contest where you can win $100 and a whole lot more!

The deadline is now November 18.

And I've been having the best time ever helping all my friends make butterflies, teaching them what they can do with Friendly Plastic.....and just playing in general. So, my blog has been long forgotten!!!

This weekend, my sis, Colleen, used Fimo polymer clay to make this butterfly wing:




Then, after baking the wing, we used it to make a butterfly mold.



While she is making her own butterfly.....I decided to make one, too. And I think it turned out gorgeous!



Can't you just imagine having a tree covered with gorgeous butterflies like this? What a great idea for home decor!



So, 10 more days - plenty of time for you to make a butterfly.

One child gone. One butterfly in remembrance. It takes so little time. It means so much!

Fracture n Fusion - unFractured

Jana Ewy is just a pro at fracture and fusion....but I just don't have the muscle power to cut strips. This week, I came up with a method that I'm going to put into a video later on. Not only can I cut the 1/4" strips that she is so good at, I can cut 1/8" strips, just as easily! YEAH!!!

So here I've done the background as 1/4" strips and the foreground is 1/4" strips.

I used the same color pattern in both pieces starting with gold on the left, then blue, then swirl.....you can see a bit of the difference in size here:

When I teach, I like to have samples to share.....and I like to have terms that everyone can understand. So I'm going to call these Quarter strips. That means that I cut the original friendly plastic into 1/4" strips and fused them together, then cut those strips into 1/4" strips.
Using the same 1/4" strips, the 3 on the far right were cut in 1/8" strips, so these are 1/4" x 1/8". We'll call these Quarter 8s.

Of course next, I cut the 1/8" strips by both 1/4" and 1/8".

So I think we can call these 8 Quarters and 8 Eights.

Totall confused yet? But I think as you start to line up the different cuts, you can see what fun you can have with this:

And even more fun if you put them into a cascading pattern like this:

If you look at this closely, you can see the strips that are 1/4" wide vs those that are 1/8" wide.....and then you can see the strips that have 1/4" sections vs 1/8" sections within each strip.

And you can probably start to see how designs and patterns could have simply endless combinations.

When will I get the video done? Well, as soon as I recover from my day today....it went like this:

My dentist said I should have the blood blister removed from my lower lip. So I went to the doctor's office this morning. I told her that I have tried to open the blood blister and when I do, it just bleeds and bleeds like crazy, and when it closes, the blood just pools in the same spot again.

So, she set up her table and cut it open. No anesthetic at all. And it bled and bled and bled. So she has her freeze stuff and is spraying, trying to stop the bleeding. Press, release, spray. Press, release, spray.

I am thinking I like my doctor, I'll keep her, but I am going to get a new dentist - because he's the one who wanted the thing removed.

My doctor is starting to get a bit worried. It won't quit bleeding. And she keeps freezing it. Have you ever had anything frozen off? Bad enough to have it on your arm.....but on your lower lip??? By now, my teeth are freezing, too. She tells me to close my mouth, she is going to try again. I close my mouth. She is spraying and spraying and spraying and I'm trying to hold my breath, but finally, I have to take a breath in...through my nose, of course. All her stuff goes right up my nose. She gives up. Tells me I will have to go to an ENT and have it electrically cauterized.

Ear, Nose & Throat? This is MY lip!!!

By now, I know I am going to find a new dentist.

I drive home (1 hour) and the pain is so bad, I can barely concentrate on driving. My entire lip has swollen up something huge. Can't close my mouth. It's on fire, stinging, burning, throbbing. I decide the best thing I can do is just rest when I get home.

I walk in the door. Kerry takes one look and says, "you can't go out looking like that! Someone is going to think I hit you!"

Isn't love wonderful???

LOL!!!

Naming your butterflies

We have had the most fun naming our butterflies this week. While I can't share photos yet of those that are being submitted, I can share mine.

Now this one was made with 100% scraps. Look at it closely! Nothing but scraps and loads of fun. Do you see over on the top left....the openings with the mesh? So we named her: "That one wing made it impossible to fly"

I think names should tell a story. So why not have fun with your project? Who says it has to be just one or 2 words - give it any name you want!

This next one is named: "Too puffed up to fly". Can you tell we were going with a whole theme here especially if you look at the last blog? None of my butterflies can fly. Hidden meaning - none are being entered since I was one of the winners last year. So see, put a play on the words! Have fun with it! We were just giggling up a storm around here!

And Rose, we named yours for you as well!!!

"Too Puffed" was made with ooze in cookie cutters.....but we also made up our own technique by oozing around a tool handle to create the center part. How fun is that? When you lay her flat, she looks flat....but she's really quite puffed up!


The rhinestones were in the net. The bottom layer was oozed through fantasy fibers. The centers were connected by using the hot water method and then shaped backwards.

I think I need to go shopping and find more things to oooze through. That or make some more butterfly girls! So much to do I don't know where to start!

Deadlines!

Are you like me? You know you want to do something....enter a contest, submit to a magazine.....and you just wait and wait and then you think, "No way can I get that done in 2 days!!!"

????

Gotcha, didn't I? I swear, I always thought I was so guilty of this. I've worked in an office for 33 years and I would wait til Friday morning to create a report that was due at 8 am that morning! OK - I often made the report at 8:15 am.....always a bit late! My excuse....they got the latest information that way! LOLOL!!!!

Well guess what? Amaco has extended their deadline for their CHA challenge to November 18!!! Now, absolutely NO excuses! I have Friendly Plastic here in my little store and you can have it on Thursday if you ship it priority mail. And even if you want first class - you'd have it on Monday!

And I still have 3 of Liz's books and 1 of Sarah's DVDs , so if you need instruction, we can even help you with that.

I'm going to host TWO more play days if you live in Colorado! There's going to be another Friendly Plastic party this Saturday, November 7, in Eagle CO. And then I'll do one on Thursday, November 12, here in Lafayette in my studio. Everything is provided - you just come make a butterfly or piece of jewelry that we can submit to the Children's Memorial in Houston!

Email if you want to attend either of these events.....or if you want to place an order for Friendly Plastic!

I have to wonder how far they might extend the definition of a butterfly for the project! Meet "Miss" These Wings Weren't Meant for Flying!"

Now yes, that's a butterfly cookie cutter I used for her wings with Liz's ooooooooze technique. I just think she is absolutely adorable! I'd like to see a whole series of butterfly girls.....anyone want to join me? And remember, I can't compete - so I'm just giving away all my ideas for you to copy! OK - the doll is Liz's, the oooze is Liz's - my idea was to assemble them to create a butterfly girl and I think she is beyond adorable!

Stay tuned as I've got a few more ideas to share!

Friendly Plastic for sale!

OK, first up, I've cut strips and made up some kits. You get a full strip of Black, Cobra and white, a 1/2" wide strip of black and white already fused togther, a 1/2" strip of turquoise, and then a 1/4" strip of metallic print swirl, avacado, silver, silver spectra, fuchsia and gold.

With this kit, you can make at least 2 bracelets, or 1 bracelet and 3 pendants...and probably a whole lot more if you utilize all the scraps like I do!

$15.00 plus shipping.



Then I have some strips up for sale. $1.47 each Metallic Print Pearl, Metallic print swirl, cobra, white, metallic print turquoise.



I have loads of half strips at $.75 each

Have sold out of the prints, only a few of the solids left!

And I've made up 2oz bags of pellets $3.50 each. And trust me, 2 oz will go a long way!!!



So, while you are ordering Liz's DVDs and books - (almost completely sold out of books/dvds) get some Friendly Plastic to play with as well!!! To order, just send me your zip code, the items you want, your paypal address and I'll calculate your total and send you an invoice.

email Jen

Other uses for Friendly Plastic

So what can you do with Friendly Plastic when you've made all the jewelry you can possibly wear or give away or sell? I think it's a great way to enhance anything else.

I went walking through Hobby Lobby and saw this snowflake. 40% off, so less than $1.00 Not bad as it was.....



But look at the difference when I simply too scraps of pieces of Friendly Plastic and melted them together, then cut out a star for the center of the snowflake. Look closely. You can see some of Jana's Fracture n Fusion, some marbled pieces, and who know what else. It all came out of my "trash" bin.



And yes, you could hang this in the window, or on your tree....but I think it gets a definite "wow" when I simply layer it on top of paper:

Or how about a star on a star on a star?

And I think you can see that as you start to change backgrounds, you can get an even different look:

I simply used a griddle, laid my junk pieces on top of each other in a mish-mash pattern, let them all melt down together, tapped them to get the lumps out, and then used a cookie cutter to cut out the star.

And since this is not something I'm going to be wearing, I just used a really thick layer of Glossy Accents on top. Now, this is just a great way to use up your scraps.....and even kids can have fun doing this!

Friendly Plastic books and DVDs for sale

When Liz Welch was here, she bought so much stuff that she didn't have room in her bags to take home the DVDs and books she brought to sell. So I am selling them for her!!! Trust me...these are a limited edition as far as getting cheap shipping within the US! It's first come, first serve for sure! Some of these have even been signed!

First up is her DVD - Bend it Shape it $25.00 plus shipping (I'm happy to send priority mail or media rate)

"Create texture with Friendly Plastic by stamping in to it with rubber stamps, thick lace or objects around the home.

Join strips together to create wonderful patchwork effects.....

Use moulds to shape and form the plastic......

Try Liz's unique lacework technique.....

and oooze......

90 minutes, so loads and loads of ideas in this one!

SOLD OUT!!!

Then I have several copies of her book: Friendly Plastic for Starters. $15.00 45 pages. In this book, Liz shows you how to do moulding, cutting, stamping, piecing, rolling, modelling, manipulating and layering. Projects include patchwork, mosaics, texture tiles and beads. She also has a whole section on finishing your piece.

ONLY 2 LEFT!!!

Liz also left a few DVDs by her good friend Sarah Lawrence. This first one, "The Decorated Surface", is $25.00. 90 minutes. In this DVD, Sarah will show you how to create texture and drama with paint and scraping tools, how to color and decorate all sorts of surfaces including wood, plastic and fabric. She uses found objects as printing tools and will show you how to use rubber bands to make background surfaces. She incorporates Friendly Plastic, foils, bottlecaps and shrink plastic into her art. Again - it's called the decorated surface and that's just what she's doing - decorating surfaces!

ONLY ONE LEFT!!!

And then there is just ONE of this DVD - "Simply Fused" $22.00. Sarah will show you how to use Angelina and Crystalina fibres. Ok, we know them as Fantasy Fibers by Art Glitter.

SOLD OUT!!!

So, if you want to order these, simply send an email to me at jlowe54@gmail.com and list which product you want by title. Include your zip code, tell me whether you want priority or media rate mail, and include your paypal email. I will create an invoice and email it to you via paypal. And since this is Saturday, and the mail is already closed here, these won't go out until Monday. As we sell out, I'll come back to this blog and add notes.

How fun that I can sell these for Liz - it makes it seem like she's still right here!!!