Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #23--Paper Holiday Decorations

Playbill Tree Topper

For Challenge #23 we were asked to use materials that we already have--to take something old and make it new. I have a collection of Playbills from most of the shows that come to our theater. The Playbill is the free program that is given out to all of the audience members. Many times, the Playbills get updated and become obsolete so I usually will snag a bundle or two to recycle. I am always looking for ways to repurpose these materials.

So for the current show, I decided to make a tree topper made from the cover of the Playbill. As you can see above, the show is prominently displaced in the center of the star.

Never to be satisfied with only one project, I decided to try and use the Playbills for other purposes. I made two paper bows with can feature any of the small pictures featured in the Playbill. Once uses the cover artwork and the other uses the black and white pages of the book's interior.

Playbill Bow (Cover)

Playbill Bow (Pages)

Finally, since I had so much material left over, I decided to try and miniaturize the tree topper star and make an ornament. The ornament below is made from two 2 inch squares of paper.

Playbill Star Ornament

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #22--Fall Flowers

Inspiration

This is going to be a bit of a strange post. For this challenge, we were tasked to create something dedicated to Fall colors. Orange has always been one of my favorite colors so I knew which direction I was headed. I love color and color theory and people are always asking me what inspires me and affects my color sense. After reading the posted challenge, I was walking by one of the Manhattan bodegas. In Manhattan, we always have flowers and foliage available for last minute gifts. As I was walking past, I noticed the above flower arrangement and decided to immediately do a floral arrangement for this challenge.

What many of you might not know is that I have always loved flowers. One of my only regrets about living in NYC is not being able to garden. I would love to have a plot of land to grow flowers for arrangements. If I had the chance to redo my life, I would have been a gardener and/or florist.

There were so many beautiful blooms available. I found these yellow and yellow/brown Calla Lilies.

Yellow Calla Lilies

There were also Dahlias in yellows, golds and oranges.

Dahlia

I fell in love with these Pumpkin Trees which I had never seen before. I found out that they were actually ornamental eggplants. Unfortunately, they were out-of-stock when I went back to the store.

Pumpkin Tree/Pumpkin on a stick

These Lantern Flowers have always intrigued me. They apparently intrigued everyone else because they were gone when I went back to buy them.

Chinese Lantern Flowers

And you can't have a Fall arrangement without berries and buds. I don't know this specific variety but they definitely fit the theme.

Berries & Buds

As I was deciding what to use for my arrangement, I decided on the Dahlias and Calla Lilies as my main flowers. For height, I added curly willow and cattails. I used lemon leaves, berries and some buds to fill out the arrangement.

Raw Materials

Below is the result. I am very happy with the result and gave it to a friend who needed some cheering up.

The Final Arrangement

I am always amazed at the overhead in flower arrangements. I really don't think that a simple arrangement like this is very difficult to do. If I had purchased this arrangement from a florist it would have been between $80 to $100. I already had the vase and the flowers totaled $25.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #21--Butterfly Mask--Part 2

A couple of people asked me to provide a pic of the Butterfly Mask in action. This is me at work guarding the Stage Door during broad daylight. To say that I caused a stir would be an understatement.  Since our show deals with Shakespeare we were asked to dressed as a character from a Shakespearean show or to dress as one of the characters from a musical referenced during the show.

I knew that most people would take the easy way out and dress as musical character. Oh no, not me. I chose to dress up as Oberon, King of the Faeries, from A Midsummer Night's Dream. In Victorian times, faeries where always represented by butterflies. Also, Oberon is a larger than life kind of character is usually tall and statuesque.

The costume is made from several pieces some of which were handmade, some purchased, and some from my stash. The leather corset and boots were from previous years' costumes. The skirt is made from an extra piece of tie dyed fabric from my stash. It is simply tied at the waist. I made the mesh tank top from material that I had around the apartment. It is a double layer of material with holes torn into both layers for effect. The butterflies were purchased and placed through the mesh tank top and through the laces of the corset.

By the end of the night, the only butterflies remaining were the ones in the mask. I gave the rest of them away before returning back stage.

I will have to say that many people stopped and took pictures and asked if they could pose with me. I worked this door for two hours before moving backstage.