A Guest Post & Project from Nancy Overton

Hi, everyone – today, we have a guest post from Nancy Overton. She’s a veteran crafter, and the mother of Paul Overton, of Dudecraft fame. Her story made me smile, and I hope it has the same effect on you. Plus, she’s generously shared a project tutorial. Enjoy!

_________________________________________________________

Craft Deficit Disorder
by Nancy Overton

Teaching at two garden club meetings and one senior center in quick succession, I am thinking that I may have diagnosed a new malady buried within the busy lives of many seniors; Craft Deficit Disorder.

Is it the lack of time or other activities that keeps them away from crafts? Do they lack a space? Is it too messy? Is it hard to justify spending an afternoon in such concentration that you forget your troubles? Have they forgotten the spiritual and mental rewards that come from spending hour of single-minded eye/hand coordination devoted to a creative endeavor?

They may have had a lot of excuses for being craft deficient when they arrived at my class, but I don’t think they could give me one good reason for their craft neglect when they left. They had way too much fun!

The groups I instructed were a mixed bag, consisting of the savvy, the excited, the willing, the wary, the reluctant, the intimidated and those with returning childhood memories of growing up craft-deprived and art-discouraged. I could see the mix of emotions from face to face as I gave my presentation and described the craft of the day: making greeting cards using pressed leaves and flowers.

The large round tables were covered in newspaper. A blank white greeting card took the place of a plate at each place setting, with a foam brush to the left, in place of the fork, a watercolor brush and a toothpick standing in for the knife and spoon to the right. In place of the water glass was a cottage cheese container of dilute white glue.

The side tables were set like a buffet with paper plates on which to place one’s choice of potluck salads. In this case the fare was a selection of pressed pansies, dried hydrangea petals, single primrose flowers, violas and a variety of colorful pressed leaves.

The volume of female voices rose as they stood to fill their plates. The objective view of the camera shows a blur of activity not unlike a grade school cafeteria at noon. As they sat down at the tables, I buzzed the room, instructing here and encouraging there to find that even the reluctant and wary were busy pushing flowers, dipping brushes in glue while engaging their “luncheon” partners in conversation. Some lively leaf trading was in progress at table three.

“Ladies”, I said (I needed a whistle to get their attention), “there are more blank cards available. Just raise your hands.”

The buffet table was testament to the success of the “meal”. Every plate was empty but for a crumb of a leaf and a leftover garnish of pansy petal.

Seventy women had “eaten” 100 blank greeting cards, months of pressed plant material and half a gallon of Elmer’s glue in an hour and a half.

They were smiling and loud, thanking me and shaking my hand, telling me what fun they had. They were girlish and happy and proud.

Now they greet me in the grocery store and on the street. They tell me they are pressing flowers and how much Jane loved the card they sent.

Should you be privileged enough to provide a cure for craft deficit disorder in your community, take the offer. You may use my greeting card recipe or create a craft project of your own.

_________________________________________________________

The Craft Cure for 25 to 75 people

• Pack of 100 Strathmore 5” x 7” blank greeting cards (140lb. Watercolor paper)
• 1 quart Elmer’s Glue-All all purpose glue
• 1 season of small pressed flowers and leaves
• 100 pieces of 5” x7” art papers in assorted light colors
• Small containers for glue so that every two people share
• Pack of 100 foam luncheon plates
• Foam brushes so four people share
• #6 watercolor brushes so four people share
• 1 box of toothpicks

Step 1: Press plant materials in phone books, old dictionaries or encyclopedias. No special paper is necessary. Most plant materials will dry in two weeks. Don’t try to dry anything that is sticky, fleshy or refuses to lie flat when pressed with a finger. Roses don’t work.

I have had good results with individual hydrangea flowers. (Cut the flowers from the multi-stemmed head and press each flower face down on the page. Close the book slowly, trying to insure that all the flowers are flat.) In a good-sized book, you can place 4 to 10 flowers per page. Pressed hydrangea stems make nice looking little “trees”. Other flowers I like are pansies, violas, small daisies, individual primrose flowers, the petals of compound flowers, small leaves, seed heads, interesting grasses and ferns.

Some dried materials may be hesitant to leave the book, so have a toothpick handy as a prod. For a good method of storage and transport, have a foam plate ready to receive each kind of leaf or flower. Stack the plates, putting an empty plate on top and secure the stack with rubber bands.

Step 2: Though flowers look fine glued to the blank cards, I like to tear out a piece of lightly colored paper and glue it to the card before adding the flowers. It makes a nice visual transition between the tight, hard surface of the card and the fragility of the plant material.

Step 3: Dilute the glue a bit with water. Apply the glue to the card using the foam brush and place the colored paper on it. Applying the glue to the colored paper will make a soggy mess.

Step 4: Apply the glue to a plain card or a card with colored paper and place the plant material on it. Use a toothpick to arrange or move the flower. Use the #6 watercolor brush to add glue under the flower or to put glue between the petals (pansy, viola) so that all parts of the flower are secure. Stubborn plant material may need be finger pressed several times as it dries, or you may place a coffee cup or water glass on it for awhile.

Step 5: The wet glue often buckles the paper card. After the card is thoroughly dry, place it in one of your pressing books and weight it. It should flatten in a day or two.

When you’ve made a nice collection of cards and you love them too much to send them, color copy them and glue the images to your blank stock with a glue stick. Frame your originals “for keeps”.