Exploring MY BODY and learning how to work with her...

Updated March 2025:

Hummingbird & flower - Art by Sylvia Kay

For the last couple of years I’ve been working on a new connection in my repertoire of conscious ties between my parts and faces...   MY BODY...  I mentioned on my “Nouvelles” page on my web-site last year that I’d added work with the Feldenkrais Method and the Alexander Technique to my existing explorations with Acupressure and Craniosacral Therapy...  ALL offer beautifully gentle, non-invasive ways to connect to my physical self... so  I’ve continued these explorations this year (2024) and they are definitely helping me!  I didn’t continue with the Acupressure Courses themselves...  As I’m not interested in working with other people,  I found that I had the pieces I needed to work on myself with just the 1st year of Michael Reed Gach’s Acupressure Training Circle Course and his Acupressure Mastery Course which covered the points, the meridians and the extraordinary vessels.  The 2nd year of the Circle Course just wasn’t adding material I felt I needed, so four months in, I stopped taking this course...  but I continue to use what I studied in that 1st year and in the Mastery Course...   

I’ve also added a few other ways of perceiving and working with my body...including a new understanding of the brain’s neuroplasticity.  The Feldenkrais ATM's (that I speak more about below) are REALLY helping me to discover how this can apply to me and my body...  Discovering the ubiquitous complexity of the fascial  network enervating my whole self has completely changed how I view my body!  Studying it has been revolutionary!!!  I’ve also incorporated some of Ida Rolf’s ideas concerning structural integration...  

In the process I’m discovering that:

• Although others approaches have definitely given me valuable insights, no one approach has been anything close to a seamless fit. I’ve needed to get little pieces here and there from MANY sources and figure out a way to integrate them and apply them to me and my body as it is now.

• Attention to my body, how it feels and what it’s trying to tell me is what is MOST important!  My body is there to help me once I make it clear that I’m REALLY ready to listen AND act on what it has to say.  I have to be VERY careful to not get caught up in the “what” I’m doing or want to do and pay attention instead to the “why” I feel a need to do whatever it is and “how” I do it...  I’ve found these last two factors to be MUCH more important than is commonly believed! It’s also been most helpful to think of my body as a VERY informed, interesting person I've just met who wants to help me do things I’m  interested in doing...

• It just doesn’t work to try to copy what I see anyone else “doing”.  I have to feel my own way SLOWLY and CAREFULLY with ATTENTION to what is unfolding within me and adapt my movements to suit.

• Although the information supplied by others specializing in various forms of body work can be VERY helpful, it's IMPORTANT to remember that each body is unique and none of them ever comes with an instruction manual...  so NO-ONE really knows!  My own explorations and experimentations are ESSENTIAL for understanding and working with MY body!  What these others suggest can be helpful but I need to REALLY pay attention to what MY body has to say as I try out their different approaches...  

• My body is also intimately connected to both my soul and my mind...  It takes TIME to understand what these connections are and how they operate. 

• My eyes do more than see... My ears do more than hear...  The shape of my mouth and mobility of my toes and ankles can have far reaching effects... There's SO MUCH to explore and sense and then to understand and integrate...

• There isn’t any ONE “right” way to do anything... There are a myriad of possible patterns and connections between parts that are available to be explored and  then utilized on a daily basis... The more options I have available, the easier it is for me to choose a "best" approach  for each situation I face...

• It is so IMPORTANT to go very slowly, so I can stop or modify or otherwise change direction the instant this is required!!!  

• Going slowly is also essential to unravel the ways in which I DO move, which have become largely automatic and unconscious.  Re-inventing the wheel constantly is cumbersome and impractical, so I think most of us work out patterns that seem to get us where we need or want to go and then repeat them endlessly... and  I'm no exception. However, I'm seeing that these patterns are frequently sub-optimum and therefore eventually cause my body unnecessary difficulty... Bringing the how I move into conscious awareness, opens the possibility to modify and improve the way I do something...

• Listening is critical! I try to pay close attention to ALL my body's messages and what they have to say from as many angles and perspectives as possible... rather than focusing on parts that hurt or are uncomfortable...  When moving, I start very slowly by just beginning to move in a direction and feeling what happens... It's so IMPORTANT to notice from where the movement is initiated... how smooth the movement is, what other parts participate or don't while watching for the first signs of tension!  It's very common for the breathing pattern to change, with tension, but this can show up in MANY other ways too... For instance, for me, I first notice tension beginning in my tongue... long before ANYTHING happens to my breathing pattern...  It's possible to smooth out the movement by increasing the overall tension... BUT I know I do NOT want to do this... If the movement isn't smooth AND relaxed, I know I need to go slower and/or do less.  I may also need to relax more by allowing and accepting me JUST as I am now. understanding best I can how this is and why...  However I am it's OK and PERFECT for whatever I REALLY need to experience and learn NOW!!!  If no matter what I do, I find I add tension or it hurts,  I’ve also learned it is possible to reap many benefits by doing movements just in my imagination!  Unlike only reading about something or simply watching what someone else does or listening which have never done much for me, DOING something in my imagination DOES seem to do something!  A very important bridge between mind and body seems to be forged when I work in this way...

• I’ve also learned that a part can hurt, NOT because it is weak and needs to be strengthened, but because it is over-worked or over-burdened by attempting to carry a load it isn’t designed to carry.  It needs support, often from a quite distant part that is under-worked and not carrying its proper load, usually due to poor use by me, which is also usually very correctable once it's noticed...

• Over the years I’ve also accumulated A LOT of excess tension that prohibits movement generally.  It takes TIME to sense this, discover its roots, learn to release it and get used to all the NEW feelings that suddenly emerge as a result!

• When "exercising" my body, I now understand it's generally "better" to stay within 70% of what I think might be possible... going past this seems to stretch things unduly.  Stretching between 70% and 100% can be temporarily and infrequently necessary... BUT it feels definitely NOT "good" if I make working in this range a general habit...  Generally working within the 70% range, on the other hand, seems to gradually permit an increased mobility with a MUCH more comfortable process...  It's slower and takes more TIME... but feels more effective in the long run.  TIME is also required to re-learn the many OLD patterns and beliefs that I've accumulated by living so far... Patterns and beliefs that have pushed me into the 70% to 100% range MUCH more frequently than feels really necessary NOW...

• My body is just like all my other parts and has difficulty with unfamiliar and strange...  so it's important to be able to discern the difference between this difficulty which may need to be worked through and others which can't...  Also some of something can be VERY beneficial, but to go the FULL nine yards to the movement I see someone else doing can be TOO far and/or TOO much for my body as it is now...  maybe later... maybe not at all... maybe some variation of... or... I need to listen and then my body REALLY does guide me.... I think our bodies are always giving us guiding messages... but mostly we're not trained to listen or act on them...

• I see I’ve  spent most of my “body” time in the past. ordering her around... Do this, pick up that, go over here, reach to get this, cut that, dig this out....   This is necessary to a certain degree.  I do need my body to do what I feel a need to do out in the world.  However, I sense that my body also needs time that’s just for her... Time when she can move how she wants to move.  Time to touch or be touched... Time to just feel... Time JUST for her to be or move how she wants to!  She wants to do some things that aren’t results oriented... that don't have goals attached... where she gets to just explore while BOTH sensing AND directing... so I’m learning to incorporate time into my day... EVERY day... that is JUST for my body.  A new kind of "body" time is thus emerging... where she does the initiating and we explore what happens and how it feels together...

• I’ve also learned from my study of the Feldenkrais and Alexander techniques that there are many ways to accomplish any task... and some ways require less muscular effort or tension within my body generally... so I’m learning to ask whenever I do something, if there is a better/easier way to accomplish what feels needed which I explore with the understanding that the new way may indeed be better in spite of it feeling quite different or even awkward at first.  This, as well as my new just for body time, include my body in my life in a way I didn’t include her before and it feels MUCH better!

AND THEN... the BIGGEST surprise of all for me has been to discover that I haven't left my body behind with my focus on the emotional and mental aspects of my being for the past more than 25 years...  Amazingly, I discover that behind the scenes, my body has been pretty much keeping up with the rest of me!  As a result, although there have been some important details about how I move, stand, sit and, and, and... that I could see wanted some small modifications, without the backlog of necessary work I expected to find, I now discover, that I don't need to address much with a specific focus on my body and what and/or how she does what she does... Sometimes something surfaces easier when initiated with a focus on my body, but these other avenues are functional too and all of them allow access to ALL facets of my being.   Furthermore, the small details that have surfaced when I focused specifically on my body, have had even more to do with mental and emotional aspects or perspectives that I hadn't addressed before... This has been a HUGE surprise and has necessitated some major re-thinking of my understandings and beliefs about how body, mind and soul integrate and work together!  Even my sense of my body's basic requirements for food, sleep and exercise is being radically altered!

THE MAGIC OF TRYING, EXPLORING & EXPERIMENTING...

I’m finding the Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement Lessons (ATMs) with their wonderful movement explorations  particularly helpful.  Their slow, gentle, generally small movements are REALLY helping me improve my awareness of my body and gradually I'm also noticing improvements in how its parts work together!   I’ve found lessons ranging from about 5 minutes long to just over an hour, which means I can fit one into almost any available time frame.  ALL the lessons I’ve explored from ALL sources have proved MOST helpful, but it’s best if you’re interested, to do your own search as the ones you discover for yourself will likely be the ones that will be MOST beneficial for you...   

The Internet offers such an amazing gift... even better than a World Class Practitioner offering classes in your home town! If you’re interested or even just curious, you may want to search around and give the Feldenkrais ATMs a try... and see...  If you can afford to pay there are a TON of options, but even if you have limited resources , like me, there is A LOT offered for free or low cost...  Although all can be helpful to some degree, every practitioner has their own style and all won’t “resonate” equally.  Needs can also change over time, so what seemed to suit perfectly yesterday may not still suit today or tomorrow... I know I need to allow myself to change and to stay open to new or different feelings and sensations, which means I’m SLOW to fix anything too solidly in place...  Part way down a path may be just PERFECT... while going to the end of the road can be less, rather than more... 

If what I've shared intrigues you... maybe you'd like to give these a TRY and SEE; feeling how they work for YOU in YOUR BODY!  The learning model at the heart of the ATM's mimics how babies learn... ALL babies learn "organically" by "trial and error"... just by exploring and experimenting....  Remembering this, has made it easier for me to open to the ATMs... allowing me to experiment and explore various, often strange or different, movements with where and how I am now ... It's also helped me to let go of maps and recipes... Babies don't come with these either... I think, exploring, experimenting and feeling are all that's really needed for learning...

I’ve also remembered this idea that less can be more from my Craniosacral work ... Here, with what might be no more than a couple of nanometers difference in the articulation of a cranial bone I could usually perceive a corresponding substantial shift in my consciousness...  The smallest of movements, if it’s REALLY the “right” one can make a surprisingly BIG difference.  I’m re-applying this principle elsewhere with micro-movements and a slower, lighter, low breathing pattern, focusing on the umbrella like action of my diaphragm as it opens and closes just below my ribs... This breathing pattern increases my ability to tolerate carbon dioxide, which seems to have amazing benefits.  It turns out this isn’t just a useless waste product, but something my body REALLY needs.  In fact, surprisingly, I’ve read that we have a greater need for this than for oxygen... However, changing such a fundamental pattern does take TIME! I’ve also incorporated micro-movements into sitting and standing, so I now sit or stand STILL as little as possible. and move much more.  

I’ve also found that exploring the developmental movement patterns babies do, can yield surprising results as can walking or running backwards... and I continue to work with both pandiculation and unwinding, which are techniques I’ve used regularly over the years and am now re-visiting and refining. 

Since I’ve found if I focus on understanding and feeling, that necessary changes often happen by themselves, I’m not inspired to focus on trying to change much at ALL at least initially! Even if I find something VERY difficult or uncomfortable, I’m MUCH more interested in staying with the experience...  exploring, experimenting, feeling and discovering... to increase my understanding of myself and life in general...   Once I understand what is already here in me AND why, I'm better equipped to also understand what if any changes might REALLY be necessary! Most often if changes are still necessary, they bear little resemblance to those I might have thought were required initially and usually none are required at all as the difficulty has been resolved without further intervention on my part!

However, if you’re primarily interested in the possible benefits.. these are well documented.  In fact, most practitioners “sell” their work based on its probable benefits....  If you're curious... check them out and see... for yourself... However,  the benefits you're expecting may not be the ones you ultimately get... So often I've found that the benefits I thought I'd get from something weren't the ones that showed up... However, the ones that ultimately arrived did REALLY help in unexpected ways!  Maybe for you too, some unexpected magic happens... as you try, explore and experiment with attention and small, slow steps... 

Hummingbird & flower - Art by Sylvia Kay

A Canadian Spring...

 The last two days...  a winter storm with LOTS of snow...

Today... a red-wing blackbird sings of its arrival...

Today,:I'm TIRED!!! - To Fall Like a Drop of Rain...

I'm TIRED!!!

However, I think it's a good thing to be tired sometimes... When I'm tired or unwell, I can't do the extra things I'm used to doing.  Life gets pared down... only bare essentials can be done, so I get to see what is REALLY necessary and essential... Maybe having experienced this pared down life, I decide to drop some of the extras... maybe I want to re-prioritize my life and cut some of the unnecessary things I'm used to doing and put the time and energy I save into  what I've seen REALLY is essential.... Strangely, it seems that being tired or unwell, in spite of the discomfort, can in fact be a step towards a better lived life!

My thought for today...

This Post's Flavor(s):  difficulty/pleasure,human,process.
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Today: Sowing Seeds... - To Fall Like a Drop of Rain...

 

Today's picture on my Page-a-Day Art Gallery Calendar is Vincent Van Gogh's "The Sower"... It sets me to thinking...

How much of life is like sowing seeds or planting plants...  Seeds are a truly unknown commodity... As an example, last year, the packet of seeds said they would grow into "Sentimental Blue Balloon Flowers"... but the ones I sowed all ended up white... and one of these was something else... no idea what it was going to be; except that it was going to be HUGE... too big for the space I had, so it had to go...  and then conditions are anyone's guess... For the past few years in my garden the summers have been HOT and DRY, so I'm choosing plants that like these conditions... but maybe the next few years are all COOL and DAMP... OH! DEAR!! Will what I've planted make it through???  I research plants carefully before I buy, but  the information  I find isn't always indicative of what I can expect to happen in my garden... The nurseries make EVERY plant sound WONDERFUL!!!  Even plants like staghorn sumac, with which I have personal experience, are listed as GREAT to buy and place in your garden...  The grove of sumac I had on the fringe of the property, which apparently were the result of someone 3 or 4 doors down planting a single tree... grew over 15 feet high (15 feet is supposed to be their maximum height) and were like THUGS, wanting to take over the entire property... their roots went down more than two feet in compacted gravel and clay (I don't know how much farther down they went, because I couldn't dig farther) and spread out at least 30 feet, sprouting vigorously at every node and then, on top of this, they self-seeded too...  After trying to work with them for years, I finally just cut them all to the ground in the fall of 2020...so I tend to take what the nurseries say with a BIG "grain of salt"... and do my own, independent investigation on the Internet... However, this too, isn't really reliable... Often I've seen the Internet say this kind of plant grows to 6 feet tall in one place and 4 feet in another... but what I really want to know is how big it will grow in my garden???  No-one can tell me this... Maybe it grows only 2 feet, or maybe 8 or even 10... one place lists it as Zone 5 and another Zone 3... What am I to believe??? I'm supposed to be in Zone 4, so it makes a difference!  Zone 5 things aren't likely to survive the winters here... and this is just a small sampling of what sowing and planting is like in my garden space where some research is possible... Even if it is of questionable value, I still do the research because it broadens the view and is at least a little more informative than the nursery's glowing words and "pretty" flower pictures... The extra information allows me to get a  "feel" for the plant and whether I have a space for it in my garden... However, I NEVER know... it's always a gamble! Each time I sow a seed or place a plant in the ground it's a step into the unknown; a gateway into another world where potentially strange or  unexpected consequences can occur... To me, it always feels a little like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit's hole...

Eating isn't much different... I put things in my mouth... but I don't know if my body is going to be able to digest and use them... or ... not...  My body has done SEVERAL radical shifts, where the food she'd been used to eating and digesting was suddenly completely INDIGESTIBLE!  She'd been able to digest it quite happily yesterday, but today NO and the NO is strong and stays in place for weeks or months or years... Consequently, I never really know if she's going to be able to use what I've so carefully stocked in my pantry, prepared and chewed...  Here too, I find body's digestive process isn't well understood... even the generalizations, that assume we all have similar bodies, have gaping holes where a lack of understanding is readily apparent... and then, I think we all have unique bodies, uniquely tied to unique souls, and if this is the case, the generalizations are frequently going to be inaccurate and incorrect... If  my thinking is correct, it would render at least some, and maybe much of the "knowledge" we've gained so far  useless in a practical sense...  landing us back again with Alice in Wonderland, sowing seeds of unknown type and result... whenever we eat...

In my "secret" private, inner garden, I sow the seeds and plant the plants of "qualities" and "traits of character" I think I want to grow there...  but how they will REALLY grow, or what they may require or... I have NO idea! 

My Web-site... well it's the same...  I put things out there, on it, that make the "best" contribution I can for now...  However, what I put there are very much like seeds... I have NO idea what will grow as a result... in me or in my readers...

Gardening... wherever and however we do it... isn't as simple and easy as it would appear... No matter where or how it's undertaken, it is a CHALLENGING activity, with many unknown variables and unforeseeable consequences!   

This Post's Flavor(s):  food,gardening,human,process,puzzle,art
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Today:Is it REALLY Spring?? - To Fall Like a Drop of Rain...

WOW!!! You Should Hear The Birds Today!

They think it's Spring... Maybe it is... Maybe their feelings are sharper... Maybe my vision is clouded by technology and my fingers and toes more numbed by cold...

Mid January in Quebec...

Clear, Sunny and COLD!

Wind Chill minus 35 C last night...

Up from minus 40 the night before...

Tomorrow's forecast... a major winter storm...

BUT...

The air is FULL of bird song and chatter

As though it were Spring...

Can they sense what I can't???

Maybe... 

This Post's Flavor(s):  poetry,puzzle,beginning/ending,

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Post #1 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #1 in a Series of 7 Posts  

Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

This post was originally published Apr. 6/2016... I've republished it on Dec 22/21, so it appears first rather than last in the series...

Below: Four views of an "empty" bowl... The bowl is in two pieces... and the color is actually a silvery, grey/green.... as is the spiral in the gold interior...  I'm new to photography and don't know why it shows as blue in my pictures.... A little imagination will therefore be required for the first  three pictures.... The fourth picture was taken outdoors and the green color is accurate... but the gold is better represented in the first three pictures... I've decided  the blue color either has something to do with the light indoors or is reflecting some of the blue in the table top it sits on....

I made the bowl first and then decided it wasn't complete.... It needed a base... The base I made is a separate piece with the four phases of the moon on each quadrant and small gold dots in between for stars.  Being separate, it allows the bowl to be tilted this way or that way or....

It is strategically placed beneath my "Wheel of Fortune" hanging art... poised, ready to catch any droplets of work which spill or fall from its "spinning" wheel through the tangled, golden ball of confusion, passed the butterflies and dolphins, to land in the bowl.....


The bowl with its base...  From one side...

From above....

From another side...

The final picture - taken outside in daylight...




















Although it is made with objects joined with beading and ribbon rather than with Paper Mâché; to the right, you can see a picture  of my "Wheel of Fortune" which hangs above the bowl....






I  Just LOVE Working with Paper Mâché....

• I use scraps of "useless" paper, fabric or other materials which would be discarded otherwise, transforming these discards into  "beautiful,", functional pieces of art...
• In addition to paper, I can also incorporate cardboard, fabric, metal, wood and other found objects for interesting effects...
• The materials are as non-toxic as is possible with artists materials...
• It's VERY flexible... I can add or subtract pieces at any stage... changing the shape,  color or the texture  at any time...
• By nature, it is lightweight.... but  weight can be easily added if I need a heavier piece...
• Parts of the process have to be done with care and precision, but other parts can be sloppy and messy...
• Working with the paper and glue is very tactile, reminiscent of making "mud pies" as a child...
• None of the materials are expensive and no special equipment is required...
• I can take my time creating them... there's no problem with allowing them to sit at any stage... so there's no rush or hurry....
• I can make all kinds of shapes.... and create functional three dimensional art I can use in my every day life...

Below are some pieces I made to hold my brushes, pens and nibs.... Ready for use...
They too, are made in pieces, so they can be easily taken apart for cleaning....  

I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I plan to do seven of these posts, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish...and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...



This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process

Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...  Searching "art" will bring up only posts featuring actual artwork, but searching either "creativity" or "process" will bring up other posts as well,  which contribute additional dimensions and information...

Post #2 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #2 in a Series of 7 Posts  

Paper Mâché Art: My Art Is A Process, It's Never "Finished"...

This post was originally published Apr. 6/2016... I've republished it on Dec 21/21, so it appears in the proper viewing order...

Because of its flexibility and mode of construction, Paper Mâché  is ideally suited to working with things in perpetual process....always in a state of becoming....and this is another reason why I enjoy working with it SO MUCH!

The picture above is of a "jug" I've been working with... part way through its process....  For awhile, I thought it was "finished" as you see it in this picture.... but then... the handle needed work and it became...

It's done, for now, as you see it in the pictures above, but....


My work is always in process.... Some pieces are more "finished" than others.... and sometimes I think they're "finished".... They look finished and I don't have further instructions.... but usually they're just resting.....They can rest, seemingly finished, for years and then suddenly I'll notice something "not quite right" which needs altering.... and I'm back in the midst of a process of becoming with them... I don't like to sell my art, because I'd miss the process.... and like with life, it's the process which feels MOST important...  


The two pictures below clearly demonstrate the "process" nature of my work...  They are of the same piece... but...  The one on the left is "Wind Chimes with Golden Ball" as it was in 2009 when I used this picture on my web-site....  However, now, several years later, with the addition of the egg, the wheel, some butterflies and more ribbon and beading,  it has become "The Wheel of Fortune"...   When I used it on my web-site, I already understood the tangled golden ball represented confusion... but, I had no idea what it was to become...  I didn't know why it needed an egg or a wheel or.... However, as I worked on it, its name became clear and then so did the rich symbolism of each part.... which has yielded an uncommon interpretation of this tarot card...

The picture below shows two pieces which are definitely "un-finished" ... They're resting like this until I know what I need to do with them... In the meantime, I sit with them and enjoy their structural "beauty"... The one on the right uses an old shampoo bottle as a framework, with sand in the bottom under the bottle, to give it weight.  It was made as a vase and can hold water, but I didn't have anything to put in it....so the top came into being....  The  one on the left uses an empty peanut butter container and is used to hold string.... My sense is that it wants to be an "elf" who sits on my counter top.... I've never created a  three dimensional "elf" before, and have never done a face with paper Mâché, so I don't know how it becomes....

Instead of selling my art, I prefer to share it... particularly when I can use it to demonstrate process and the value of process...  My books, with their blend of art and writing and their description of how I work with my art to discover parts of me are therefore perfect venues for the kind of sharing of my work which I like to do.....Several of my posts here are also about process in general and the creative process in particular.... If you search creativity or process you'll find them... If you're interested, my web-site (https://www.sylviakay.ca) gives more information about my books and art...



I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I plan to do seven of these posts, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish...and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...  However, since gardening season is now beginning... the other posts in this series may emerge slowly...



This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process
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Post #3 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #3 in a Series of 7 Posts 

Paper Mâché Art: Uniqueness...

The art works on this post showcase some unique objects made with paper mâché ...

This post was originally published Feb. 11/2017... I've republished it on Dec 20/21, so it appears in the proper viewing order...

This past year I've been working with "Dream Catchers"... I made a few pieces of  jewelry with feathers, beads, scraps of fabric and lace and then the dream catcher tree you see below...  It stands on a plant stand beside my front door and is about 2 1/2 feet tall. Its construction incorporates cardboard, copper foil, paint, bead work, copper wire, feathers, ribbon, tree twigs and copper tubing in addition to paper mâché.... The base uses a small box filled with stones to provide weight and keep the tree stable...  

Top Detail of Dream Catcher Tree

Base Detail of Dream Catcher Tree

Full Dream Catcher Tree - Art by Sylvia Kay

The three photos below are of two candle holders which sit in front of my kitchen window.  

They are made reversible... and look quite different each way...

However, they are equally happy to stand right side up as upside down and were made specifically for the candles they hold...

The photo on the left shows them as I usually display them, holding their "special" candles...









The three photos below show a paper mâché holder I made for a vase. Even filled with stones the vase tended to be quite prone to tip.  The vase holder contains it and prevents tipping... It was made with paper, and cardboard, and filled with gravel to give it weight... It is covered with fabric and ribbon and embellished with a little paint...

Above is the vase holder with the vase and bouquet... The whole thing is just a little over 2  feet tall...


To the left you can see the empty holder...






On the right you can see the vase holder with the vase in place...








The next three photos are of a vase I made to hold a bouquet which sits on my bathroom vanity... Each of the vase's  three sides are shown... The vase is made with cardboard and paper, covered with fabric and some lace, to which I added additional paint...  It is about 8 inches tall and the bottom of this vase is also filled with sand or gravel (I don't remember which now) to give it weight so it doesn't tip....

I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I plan to do seven of these posts, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish... and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...

This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process

Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...