My Trip to Etsy Labs

Busy times for me means lag in posts. Last week I taught 8 classes in two days so I was wiped out because of all the planning that went into it. Then, this weekend I was away visiting relatives and attending a wedding. 

Right, anyway,Etsy labs, in Brooklyn, yeah. This is an interesting story. I took the F train to York Street and went the wrong way because of the bad directions I got. I ended up on the sketchy side of York St. When I realized I was totally not at Washington St., I turned around and (if you can believe it) asked a real live person for directions!

 When I finally arrived at 55 Washington St. where the Etsy headquarters is. It was an unassuming loft building. When I got to the seventh floor there was a chalk board sign pointing the way.

 The front door featured a handmade sign.

 Inside were tables and chairs, shelves filled with art supplies, books, and board games. This particular session was for painting glass hearts, in a set of three, using paint markers. There was great music, and all different types of people, which among other things meant that no two sets of hearts were the same. 

These are all three of mine together (the middle one says love in Hebrew and is upside down):

This is my favorite out of the three that I painted and it sort of happened by accident:  

The paint pens were rather difficult to use so this happened after I could not get any paint out, and then got way too much. Instead of cleaning it off and starting over when I had and overflow of paint I used the pen to just scribble. It is much prettier in person.     

One more really awesome thing about this experience was the name tag. Not only was it helpful for having conversation with the people at the table, they are really cute! (Note: I changed what I originally had to Hebrew because I am doing a project about Esty for my Hebrew class):

The HeArts

Historically speaking, St. Valentine's day is a Pagan Holiday. This along with the fact that I am Jewish and single means that I won't be celebrating. Judaism has its own romance holiday, Tu B'Av (literally the fifteenth of the month of Av), which usually falls in August. You can learn more about Tu B'Av Here:
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Modern_Holidays/Tu_BAv.shtml
 However, this does not preclude me from participating in some sort of activity so I don't have to be alone, because that would be sad right? Therefore, I am off to Etsy Labs in Brooklyn to decorate a glass heart or two. Pictures to follow...

Backtrack

In December, I ran a booth at a Chanukah fair at one of the schools I work for. The booth was for making "stained glass" dreidels. The Project was simple enough for K-2nd graders, but still fun. I got to make one during the slow times: 

New Beginnings

This is my inaugural post, and as such I will include namesake images to better explain myself. Better yet, since you have probably already asked yourself, "Why Pomegranates and Paper Cranes?" Well, the answer is, that I recently began collecting ceramic pomegranates and I (even more recently) have begun to make paper cranes. I hope to some day be able to create something more complicated out of paper but for now... 

This was my first attempt to make pomegranates out of paper, thereby marrying my two interests. 

This is my first attempt at a paper crane... Hopefully, my cranes will evolve over time into stronger, more adaptable paper critters...