Kicking Back at ConStruct
A belief in working with the head, hand and heart and mixing enough play with the work so that every task is pleasurable and makes for health and happiness.
--John Ruskin
I am getting my things packed and getting ready to head out to Ann Arbor for ConStruct! I am very excited! We have been working hard to have a chance to relax this weekend. My friends and I have a funny way of relaxing, which involves organizing big events, like this convention. Much of my social life these days revolves around meetings and gatherings to plan these events, and we are always talking about new ideas for upcoming events. Working, if you will. Good thing I love work, and subscribe to John Ruskin's thoughts above, which I introduced to the wording of Construct when I was helping to write up the about page.
I am planning two events for ConStruct. One is a Bead 'n' Bitch, which is basically two hours or so of casual bead crafting for beginners and advanced beaders alike. I will teach basic bracelet stringing and earrings to anyone who wants to learn, and I am cleaning out my craft closets to supply the beads for anyone who comes to play.
The other event is the Exquisite Adventure drawing game that I designed! This will be fun... We will roll out a long piece of paper, and set upon it with magic markers. I will be guiding the adventure, and there will be interaction between the players, and their drawing areas. This is sort of a mix between pictionary, musical chairs, and some of the Surrealist parlor games like "Exquisite Corpse" and "Eat Poop, You Cat!" It is intended for people with no drawing skills and accomplished artists alike. In fact, I think it may be harder for artists, but that is a theory I am going to test. My intention is that by introducing randomness and chaos into the act of drawing, the process itself will become less mystifying and precious, and less about Art and more about Process. It will be a lot of fun to run this adventure.
Also, as you may know, I have been working on my costume for the 80's prom dance tonight, which is the Steampunky Brewster costume. I will show pictures next week, but here is a sneak peek of one of the elements for the costume... my boots! You may remember these boots, as I painted them for my Clockwork Doll costume back in January. I haven't worn them since, so I figured I may as well paint them again! I painted in the brassy gears from before in Day-Glo paint! Its pretty much steampunk and gears, plus 80's neon colors. AND jelly bracelets! whee! I haven't tried it all on, actually, so I am wondering how it will come together tonight. We shall see... and I will try to remember to take pictures to show you. See you all next week!