Looking out on my balcony the other day, I noticed something new. A multi-coloured carpet had appeared from somewhere.
UFO – unidentified fibre object photo source : Lorie Pierce
Being very cold at the moment, we took this photo through the screen door.
Oh and did I mention we live on the 21st floor? Go figure.
Through a fortunate turn of events, we won a chocolate gift basket this past Valentine’s Day.
chocolate gift basket with Twinkle photo source : Lorie Pierce
A peek inside revealed chocolate hearts, chocolate-covered nuts, miniatures and a frog.
chocolate hearts and frog photo source : Lorie Pierce
Then as we were settling into an evening of chocolate delights, there was an emergency. Twenty-four hours and two hospitals later, the crisis was averted and there the chocolate sat waiting for our indulgence. I feel lucky to be living in a country where the level of health care is so high and is guaranteed for all. I truly won twice this Valentine’s Day.
My last few blog postings have been lacking in colour so here is a preview of next weekend’s programming, centering on Carnival. These costumes and an accompanying exhibit are on display until the end of the month.
Mas costume 01 photo source : Lorie Pierce
Mas costume 02 photo source : Lorie Pierce
mas costume 03 photo source : Lorie Pierce
I came across some 35mm slides being discarded (duplications) in our department. There is not much call for slide shows in the age of PowerPoint presentations. But it came to me that it would be a new and novel experience for most of the children attending our programs to insert a slide in a viewer and take a look!
Here’s the type of viewer I am referring to :
Optex illuminated slide viewer source : http://www.henry’s.com
I now have two viewers for this purpose. Both take one slide at a time and light up to illuminate the photo from behind. From the discarded slides, I am compiling small sets on topics such as Roman household objects, Chinese ceramics, Stonehenge, and the solar system.
The viewer and slide sets can form a separate stand-alone activity during the mini-museum events. Just add a sign to explain how to use it and bring some back-up batteries.
There is an incredible Biodiversity Gallery in our museum that features animal ecosystems and the stories of animals at risk. I came across the Rainforest Alliance website as I was creating the Awesome Animals program (see previous posts). A portion of the site is dedicated to Kids activities, online games, stories and printables.
tortoise color page source : Rainforest Alliance
Take a look: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids/activities
I particularly like that the coloring pages have information about the species included.
I’m warming up to Twitter. Especially since following Chris Hadfield’s tweets from the ISS. And although I can work the basic fundamentals to follow other tweeters and post tweets myself, I have not yet figured out how to add a tweet feed to this blog. So here is a cut and paste version of a tweet conversation from today. From the subject, you can probably tell that I am feeling poorly at the moment.
Parasaurolophus photo source : Wiki Commons Steveoc 86
@CreativeLorie 09 Feb
do you think a Parasaurolophus ever got a sinus headache? Maybe I’ll ask the one @ROMtoronto – he may know the cure
@ROMtoronto Royal Ontario Museum
What do you say @ROMPalaeo? “@CreativeLorie: do you think a Parasaurolophus ever got a sinus headache?
@ROMPalaeo ROM Palaeontology
@ROMtoronto @CreativeLorie If #Parasaurolophus did get sinus headaches, we are sure they would be big ones!
Medieval Europe is the first offering of the 2013 events photo source : Barb Magee
The dates are set and the themes chosen for this year’s mini-museums to the venue.
Here they are:
April 7 – Medieval Europe – this topic was a lot of fun last year. Will definitely take the trebuchet again
May 26 – Rocks, Fossils, Meteorites – this is a new program and the title may change a bit before the event
July 28 – Ancient Cultures – pulling from the existing programs for Ancient Egypt and the Silk Road, with the addition of Mesopotamia (the next major museum exhibit)
September 29 – Awesome Animals – a repeat of the 4 B’s – bats, birds, butterflies, bees with some mammals thrown in
November 17 – Dinosaurs and Ancient Sea Creatures – the perennial favourite
Spent a very enjoyable day out with a friend reintroducing myself to Marimekko fabric designs at the Textile Museum of Canada. More than a pleasant viewing experience, it was a veritable trip down memory lane to the age when freedom in design patterns and clothing came in a Scandinavian wrapper.
Helsinki-Helsingfors fabric designed in 1952 by Per-Olof Nyström. photo source Marimekko Vancouver website
One of my favourite designs : the 1952 Helsinki-Helsingfors has been reissued to celebrate a special occasion.
Helsinki was named World Design Capital 2012 because of its never-ending contributions to the world of design. Helsinki’s contributions include: popular events such as the annual Helsinki Design Week, outstanding education institutions like the University of Art and Design Helsinki, visionary designers such as Alvar Aalto and Maija Isola, and well-known global brands, such as Nokia, Kone, iittala and Marimekko
My wish is to afford to buy enough of this fabric to make a set of pillows for my couch.
I am drawn to models as adjuncts to museum programming. They can help explain during interpretation plus inspire and generally make a session more memorable. Plastic dinosaur models are my mainstay. I am rarely without one nearby. But they can be expensive and sometimes not really very good representations of the animals. Clay modelling is intriguing but can be messy and presents the challenge of where to put them while they dry. Plus different clays present varying results.
The medium I am most involved in now due to its simplicity and affordability is paper modelling. Here are 4 creations I have made in the past week just by downloading files free off the Internet, printing them out, cutting and pasting.
clockwise from left : angler fish, anomalocaris, dragon, trilobite photo source : Lorie Pierce
Working with paper has its challenges. Flat models (anomalocaris and trilobite) are easier than shaped ones. There are fewer steps and the precision of gluing is not as critical as with the shaped models (dragon and angler fish).
I learned to not rush the gluing. Do one join at a time and use tweezers to apply pressure. Make sure the seams line up. You can see in this photo that a side seam on the dragon is not glued into the exact location.
side seam gapes a bit at base of neck photo source : Lorie Pierce
The more often I work with paper, the more I get the feel for it. All these models were printed on cardstock (64 lb) weight.
Now for some close-ups:
anomalocaris on stand photo source : Lorie Pierce
underside of anomalocaris photo source : Lorie Pierce
angler fish photo source : Lorie Pierce
underside of angler fish photo source : Lorie Pierce
trilobite photo source : Lorie Pierce
details of trilobite legs and gills photo source : Lorie Pierce
dragon from rear (a bit out of focus) photo source : Lorie Pierce
Many of the most unique papercraft patterns come from Japan and their instructions are written in Japanese. An addition challenge of these models is to understand from the illustrations, how one is supposed to proceed.
instructions in Japanese photo source : Lorie Pierce
Anyone who has put together a purchase from IKEA will have a head start.
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