A selection of the children’s drawings, beanbags, mites and other work from the project has been on display in the School of Art in Brighton during October 2018.
Stef had done a great job of organising rooms and providing snacks and drinks. She had also planned a varied and exciting agenda. The classes were divided into three groups, orange, purple and green, and rotated through activities which included:
The students from Seahaven Academy joined us for the latter part of the afternoon, and we all attended the premiere of the animations,;Mafia Mites, Love at first Mite, and Lady Jusy Burrowing-Down. Red carpets for all the mites!
it was a hot day, and the children had walked from Coldean to Falmer, so they needed a bit of a rest before starting.
It was lovely that towards picking-up time, parents arrived. The children enjoyed showing them pictures of the workshops, and the textile mites and beanbags they had made.
The high point of the afternoon was the premiere of the animations that all the participants, mites included had contributed to.
After this there was a vote for the best animation, and a prize for the group from Seahaven Academy who had taken the photographs and worked on the story.
The animations will be posted on here once they have been finalised.
This was the last workshop at the school, and alongside the planned activities it provided the opportunity for those children who hadn’t done so earlier to finish their mites and complete their badges.
Twelve students from Seahaven Academy who are studying GCSE photography joined us for the workshop to meet the younger children, learn about scabies and the project, and take photos and videos in preparation for their own workshop later on, in June.
Julie Middleton was the storytelling facilitator, and did a marvelous job, despite the incredible noise levels – note to self, if I do this again, spread the groups across two or three rooms!
Julie had organised three story lines that the groups to develop, and these are shown below.
Meanwhile the late-finishers were beavering away at their mites next door. Lots of glue was used, so it was necessary to take some home and add a few helpful stitches to the larger beads.
Towards the end, the children played Scabies Scramble with their lovely beanbags.
The weather was so lovely, it seemed a shame to sit inside sewing. So this was an evening job.
Cutting the fabric is much easier using a rotary cutter on a self healing mat. Make sure the blade is nice and sharp; I started with a rather blunt one, and realised I hadn’t changed the blade for quite a while. It cuts SO much better now.
I worked out a quick method to sew them without cutting the thread each time, but of course they have to be separated at some point.
Video to follow…
Turning them inside out was a bit of a chore, but when done whilst watching The Woman in White, it was bearable. Using a collar turner to pocke the corners helped to make these crisp.
The order has gone off to PrintmePretty; they were so helpful with this. Because the project is through the University, purchases have to be done through the finance system, which is a bit involved. The company found solutions so that I could use the online upload method, but the invoice would be paid separately, as opposed to paying on order. All a bit complicated, but I am so looking forward to seeing the results!
When we were speaking on the phone I commented that the children were very excited by the thought of seeeing their drawings printed on fabric, and the reply was, ‘..adults are too’. To be honest, I am already thinking what designs I can have printed myself.
the 50+ children’s drawings were scanned in and I have just completed editing them. Because they were pencil it’s been necessary to thicken and darken the lines and enhance the colours. They were on white backgrounds, so I have added pattern fills behind them so that the beam bags will be COLOURFUL. Yey! The children drew on A4 paper, but the drawings are to be digitally printed on cotton to be made into bean bags of a specific size, so re-sizing and some editing was needed. Despite being asked to put their name and on the front, not all have them. It may be tricky finding the owners.
I’m using PrintmePretty for the printing as our digi printer at University is busy at this time of year. A metre and a half will be enough for the 50+ beanbag outers, and I will have another length printed for display when the animation is shown.
Exciting!