Sewing it Up

It is hard to believe that the last day of our first full week of 4-H Summer Fun is behind us. What fun we have had and Day five of 4-H Arts and Crafts Day Camp was no different. It was known as fabric day. In other words everything we did involved some type of fabric.

We started with the ancient art of Batik. It involves taking a fabric and coating with with wax to make a design then dying it. After it dries you protect that color with more wax and then dye it in a darker color. The wax will crack as it dries and allow for unique characteristics in the dye patterns. We used pillow cases and a combination of bees wax and paraffin wax. The bees wax has properties that allow the wax to better adhere to the material. As the youth finished their designs we used dyes to color their pillow cases. We let that dry over the course of the morning and then painted the pillow cases after lunch and dyed them again. Two days later the wax was ironed out of the pillow cases and will be sent home for washing and use.

As this process went on we had a lot of time on our hands to wait. So we needed to do a few other things to make sure our hands were not idle.

As we waited for our pillow cases to dry we worked on Fleece blankets. Each person got to pick a piece of fleece and tie the ties on the ends. Of course this meant when they were done they wanted to test them out so everyone hit the floor and covered up and thought about taking a nap. Mind you there was way to much giggling, talking, and movement for actual naps to have taken place but they thought about it.

After lunch we batiked again and then settled back in to pop our balloons. You may remember the craft we started on Wednesday, while we took a few minutes to finish them today. Then it was time for a new type of Tye-dye, Sharpie Tye-dye. We used cotton bandannas and used Sharpie pens to created circles. Then a few drops of alcohol are added and the color spreads but does not come out. The effect is neat, and different every time.

After dying the world we switched to fabric markers for our last two activities. We each got a couple of squares of fabric on which we designed our name on one and our favorite activity of the week on the other. Miss Shea Ann will then put the squares together and display them at the office to show all the work we did as part of Arts and Crafts Day Camp. After that we rounded things out with bags. Canvas bags I should say that all the the items we made can fit in. Of course we had to add our own creative touches to the bags. There were basketballs, flags, stars, squiggles, and other designs add to our bags that we can use day to day and be green.

It has been a long and fun week. We want to thank everyone who took time to be part of this 4-H adventure. Especially Barbara McCormick who worked with us as part of her college internship. Her help this week and company was greatly appreciates. Thanks to another wonderful 4-H volunteer it looks like an Arts and Crafts club may start in September. Stay tuned for date and time of this newest and creative club.