Richela Fabian Morgan's Blog, page 8

Day 8 of 30 Days of Halloween: Duct Tape Michael Strahan Mask

This is my duct tape mask of Michael Strahan. It's a flat mask that will eventually have a stick handle attached to the back of it. I think that I mostly just want to look at him. What can I say--I have a thing for gap toothed men.

I mostly wanted to stop making Tom Cruise duct tape portraits, if you really want to know the truth. I have too many (and, no, I won't reveal the number to anyone). I need to branch out. And so this smiling,gregarious fella greets me every morning on TV and I felt compelled to make a duct tape version of him.

What do you think?


 

I flipped over the duct tape covered parchment paper and cut out the details of his face with scissors.

 

After peeling the parchment paper off the backside of the duct tape, I placed it on top of black duct tape. Then I trimmed the outline of his head.

I'm thinking of doing more celebrities. Any suggestions?




xxoxR

Day 7 of 30 Days of Halloween: Duck (or Duct?) Mask

My son is a big fan of animals with beaks. Over the years, he has amassed quite a collection of stuffed animals which cover almost every square inch of his bed. His favorite? A duck.

For some strange reason, I never made him a duck costume for Halloween--until now. He's been a rocket, tug boat, vampire, train, football umpire, and the former San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson. Of course this is the year he doesn't want to get dressed up to trick or treating, and this is also the year I made him this duck mask. So being the insane mom that I am, I forced him to wear the mask for this photo. I made it for him, darnit. And he will at least wear it once!

Duct tape masks are really fun to make and I'm sure that these next few weeks I'll fill my blog with many different types. This particular mask was easy, consisting of only yellow and orange duct tape. I make a lot of masks with kids when doing duct tape crafting workshops because it's a versatile project. Given the motivation and skill level of the child, it can be as simple Zorro type black mask or an elaborate Mardi Gras style mask with an elongated nose and feathers.

For the duck mask, I started with orange duct tape for the beak. It's made of two duct tape fabrics, cut to the shape of a beak and taped together.

 

For the base, I made a duct tape fabric roughly 7 inches x 5 inches and then cut it down to fit over my eyes.

 

I added some eyelids and attached the beak with tape.

 

A duct tape duck mask--it was inevitable!

Enjoy.

xxoxR

Days 5 and 6 of 30 Days of Halloween: Duct Tape Graffiti

One of my passions is graffiti art.
No, you'll never spot me with a spray can in my hand tagging a wall in the wee hours of the morning. I don't think that I have the talent for such large scale murals. I'm also afraid of heights and get dizzy whenever reaching for items located on the top shelf of a cabinet. But whenever I see graffiti on the side of a building, I have to stop and look, maybe snap a picture or two. There may be elements of protest, political or otherwise, or an ironic sense of humor. There may be homages to pop or hip hop culture. But no matter what the subject or focus of the graffiti, there is always a sense of defiance that sparks something in me, a reminder that art and artists should never be complacent. I always walk away feeling inspired.


 


My kids wouldn't model the costume for me, so I have to lay this thing flat for a photo. Maybe one of them will be brave enough to wear it on Halloween, or maybe I'll wear it while passing out candy on my front steps. Let's just hope no one tries to tag me...

xxoxR

Day 4 of 30 Days of Halloween: Duct Tape Tattoos a la Mike Tyson

Just like James Lipton (of The Actor's Studio), I've always wanted a tattoo. But you won't hear me whining about it. I know my limitations. I can't stand physical pain, and the last time I willfully did anything really painful was childbirth. And that was excruciating.

I have two friends with kick-ass tribal tattoos on their arms, and in my more inebriated moments have stroked their biceps lovingly, covetously. I've tried applying decal tattoos that look promising on the outer packaging but failed to exude the same seriousness as the real thing. In fact, it looked ridiculous, mostly because the tribal design also included a heart and "I Love Mom" in the center of it. Bah.


  
The arm tattoo turned out so well that I decided to make one for my face. (Confession: I was watching "The Hangover" recently and Mike Tyson's face tattoo was weighing heavily on my imagination.)
 


What do you think? Do I look like Mike?



I'm off to find Holyfield...



xxoxR

Day 3 of 30 Days of Halloween: Lady Gaga-inspired Duct Tape Mask

Ever listen to a song and feel like you can actually be the singer?

Well, let me first say that I am not delusional. I am quite aware that I cannot sing a single note of any song in any recognizable musical key. But lately I'm obsessed with Lady Gaga's Applause (much to the chagrin of my I-can't-stand-Lady-Gaga children). I cannot help but sing--and sing loudly.


The photo for the single on iTunes is of her in white make-up and with smeared blues, yellows, and reds across her face. She's the commedia dell'arte performer gone wild, the insane clown with smokey eyes and an agenda. Whenever I play the song (usually when I'm alone in the house and drinking my 3rd cup of coffee), I am Lady Gaga and sing at the top of my lungs.

For the basic mask, I made a double sided fabric using white duct tape. Then I cut out the shape of my mask using a sharp pair of detail scissors. For the blue color, I made a sticker by placing a sheet of parchment paper over the basic mask and drawing dripping blob forms over the eyes. Then I placed blue duct tape over my drawings and cut out the shapes (including the eyes).  Next, I removed the parchment backing and placed it on the mask.

 

I made eyelashes with black and yellow duct tape. You can't tell from the photo, but the front of the lashes are black and the back are yellow. I added the eyelashes to the eyes of my mask.

 


And that's pretty much it.

Enjoy!

xxoxR

Day 2 of 30 Days of Halloween: Duct Tape Feather Headpiece and Necklace

Today I made a headpiece, necklace, and earrings using duct tape feathers. They were inspired by Johnny Depp's Tonto in the recent interpretation of "The Lone Ranger." I saw commercial for the forthcoming DVD release and immediately thought of duct tape feathers. What do you think?




I used Platypus brand duct tape for these accessories. They have this terrific Brazilian rosewood pattern that is probably my favorite tape at the moment.


To make feathers, I folded strips of duct tape over coated wire. (I threw out the packaging so I'm not quite sure of the gauge.) Then I added strips of white linen and navy blue duct tape in a chevron pattern along the bottom edges.

 

I then cut the ends of each strip into pointed triangles. Then I cut slits into each triangle.

 


I'm loving the feathers! I may not wait for Halloween to wear them.


xxxoxR

Day 1 of 30 Days of Halloween: The Duct Tape Mustache

I love black duct tape.

Why? Well, one reason is that I can make it look like facial hair. Just take a look at the picture to the left. That's me sporting my best Mario mustache. Tell me it doesn't look like hair!

After I made this mustache, I decided to put it on and stealthily walked into my living room. Both my kids were so engrossed in a television show that they failed to notice me. When there was a commercial break, my daughter finally looked my way and her jaw dropped. Then my son saw me and he shouted, "What happened to you?" And then both my kids doubled over with laughter. When they recovered, they both wanted their own black duct tape facial hair.

A duct tape mustache is the easiest Halloween costume that you can make. So if you get a last minute invite to a dress up party, don't despair! Just follow these easy steps for the mustache of your dreams.

1. Cut a strip of black duct tape that measures 10 to 11 inches long. Fold it in half, sticky sides facing each other. You now have a double-sided strip that measures 5 to 5 1/2 inches long.




2. Fold the strip again, lengthwise. With a pair of scissors round off the upper left corners of the folded strip.
 

3. Along the bottom edge cut slits into the strip. Be sure to cut through the top and bottom layers. And voila! Your mustache a la Mario style is complete.





















If you want to make a different style 'stache, you would cut half the shape into the folded strip at step #2 above. For example, if you want more of a French curl, you would do this:

 




Enjoy!
xxoxR

Summer Camp: Duct Tape Board Games!

A few weeks ago my kids and I made a duct tape board game based on a trip to our local food mart. We were inspired by a "make-your-own" board game project in a terrific book called UNBORED: The Essential Guide to Serious Fun (Bloomsbury). It was such a successful project that I thought that it might be a good craft for my summer camp workshop.

Yesterday we used the last 30 minutes of our morning to sketch game board ideas onto scrap paper. We talked about what makes a good board game and how we could personalize them. And I told them that they had to make everything out of duct tape--well, everything except the dice I would give them. I showed them the board game that my kids and I made, and pointed out the different rectangles of duct tape that we used for the game path. I then explained what each rectangle's color or pattern represented in terms of furthering the action of the game (e.g. skull and crossbones tape meant going back to the start of the game path). (Click here to see our board game.) When it was time to leave, several of the kids asked if they could come in early the next day so they could start working on their board games. Of course I said no, especially when one of them asked if I came in at 7am. Egads, that's early.

My favorite board game was "Farm Dots." The goal is to collect the most dots (those squished up balls of duct tape) at the end of the game path.


Along the game path, you can win a farm dot if you land on a "chore" rectangle. Chores are things you do around the farm, like paint the barn or giving water to the horses.

Pretty awesome, right?

Today was my last day at summer camp. I had a great time and can't wait to come back next year.

xxoxRichela

Summer Camp: Making Pictures With Duct Tape

Today I showed the kids how to make pictures with duct tape.

When I first told them that we were going to "draw" or "paint" with duct tape, the reactions were anything but positive. There were groans, blank stares, head-shaking, and even an eye roll. But as I passed around simple animal cartoons and illustrations, I reminded everyone that they were all expert duct tape sticker makers. For the past three days they've been making duct tape fabrics and stickers for every project. And then I explained that a duct tape picture was just a bunch of stickers placed on a background. It's hard to explain here, but trust me when I say that it's easy. In less than ten minutes the kids were happily making their pictures, tracing the animals, and cutting out stickers.




The photo above shows two different duct tape drawings using the same penguin illustration.



I am definitely doing this project again. 
Tomorrow is my last workshop and I'm a little sad. But I have something really special planned! Stay tuned.

xxoxRichela

Summer Camp: Wallets and Key Chains

Today we made duct tape wallets and key chains.

The wallets were a big hit, but I forgot how quickly they can be made. I usually make wallets at the library workshops that I run, which usually lasts about 90 minutes. So I had to start a second project right after snack time and hope we had enough duct tape to last the remainder of our morning.

The great part about running a week long workshop is that the kids have time to hone their sticker-making skills. I have quite a few kids that use duct tape like markers and "color" with it. (For a quick tutorial on how to make duct tape stickers, click here.)

Here are some pictures of our duct tape wallets from today:


We also made key chains, but I forgot to take pictures! It's one of the hazards of getting too involved when crafting with the kids. Tomorrow I might turn an alarm on my phone to remind myself to take pictures of the kids' work.
Two of my wonderful crafters brought back their coin banks and finished them in class. They are two of the best duct tape coin banks that I've seen so far. (Pictures of the penguin and pink dog coin banks below.)
Looking forward to tomorrow's duct tape crafting!
xxoxRichela