Happy Crafty Hour

Last week, I organized a "Happy Crafty Hour" at the Community Crafts Studio.

What the heck is a "Happy Crafty Hour" you ask? 
Well, it's like a regular Happy Hour ... with a craft!

























(This one is mine.)

I prepared a large batch of my turkey chili (the tame version) and a small batch of the wild!  It was BYOB and a donation to cover the craft supplies.  Hey, we'd need the "B" to get loose enough to have some fun and do some marble painting!

That's right!  Marble Painting! 
Like you probably did in Kindergarten.
Don't laugh.  It's fun!
And produces some very gallery worthy art!

(This one is Chris'.)

I had done some test art at home, trying out how best to teach this.  I don't have any pics of those.  Too bad, but I took one to work with me to adorn my new desk.  Anyway, this works best with slightly watered down acrylic paint.  It lets the marbles roll around better.

We used box lids to contain the marbles and to do our painting in.  Just taped down the paper (so the marbles don't roll under the paper), used little cups for mixing and pouring paint, then ...  voila!  Marble Paintings!

They all turned out so different!

Some were minimal...

Some were maximal ...

Some even branched out and used moustache-shaped resists!
(The resists came in the form of cardboard moustaches that slide over your straw.  Like I said, it was BYOB and boy did we B!)

I wish I had remembered to bring my "good" camera as some of these shots from my camera phone just don't do the pics justice.  But it was a lot of fun and was E-A-S-Y!!!

Did I mention that I'm sadistic and I made them practice their color theory for mixing?  Yep.  I only brought red-yellow-blue-black-white paints.  [insert evil laugh here]

But a fun night was had by all!

... even if the threat of tornadoes made us call it an earlier night than planned.  Severe storms hit the area, but all were safe. Except me.  My cat Erebos had a freak out while trying to put him in the pet carrier so we could head to the basement for safety.  He cut my foot good.  I had to bleed in the basement for awhile ... then he promptly crawled willingly into the OTHER carrier for a nap once we were back upstairs.  The little jerk ...

Anyway, I suggest you try having your OWN Happy Crafty Hour sometime!  Make it a potluck!  Have special cocktails!  Go big!  Go small!  Just have fun!