Monday, June 9, 2008

Monday Make A - Midsummer Ideas

Hundreds of years ago on the summer solstice, our ancestors sat in sun-drenched fields or on stones as warm as living flesh, fashioning small round suns from straw or vines, decorating them with sun colored flowers, honoring the mysterious, fiery light that warmed and brightened their days and made the plants grow that fed them.

Here are a few ideas for today:

* Grapevine wreaths make excellent bases, which may then be decorated with fresh or dried flowers and yarn or ribbons. You can home-dye your yarn and ribbon using onion skins to achieve a rich terra cotta or golden yellow, depending on how long you boil them in the pot with the skins.

* Modeling clay comes in many types, some self-hardening or bakeable. Get out the toothpicks, chopsticks, and other carving implements, and make suns with jolly faces.

* Children of all ages enjoy finding four slender sticks from the yard, crossing them to make an asterisk shape with eight spokes—reminiscent of the eight festivals of the year—and winding brightly colored yarns and ribbons around and around to make a round solar variation on the ancient “God’s Eye” shape. If four sticks are too bulky for small fingers to manage, use only three—the solar shape is more hexagonal but still appealing. Poke in a flower or two for an especially pleasing result—marigolds and daisies are the classic sunny favorites.

When the images are finished, you and the children may want to hold them up to the sky for a few moments so that the sun shines on them, before finding the perfect place in your house or outdoors to hang them.

Found at : Care2

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

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