RISING TRIBES

Becoming Artisans

Little friends of ours, two sisters, are turning 5 and 3 on the same day (yeah talk about sharp calculations).  I asked our 4 year old little friend if she would enjoy a pin~ata for their bday and if so, what kind.  She eagerly requested a unicorn.   Ceiba and I got to work a few weeks ago, and this is the process and final product.

I will add that this has been a learning highlight of our few days here at our Learning Tree. I got to dig in my bank of cultural memory and share stories with Ceiba about being a child in a place like San Cristobal back in the 80’s.  Specifically, we talked about the artisan dedication that is required to be a pin~atero/a.  I shared with her a story about the family that made pin~atas around the corner from our house, friends of ours, about what it was like to watch them work, and how it is through my observations while at their house that I remembered how to make them.

We worked on how to build a vision and design.  We looked for “realistic” images of unicorns, and we found a “real” picture of one.  We used the image  and one of their toy horses as a models, a great technique for her to learn observation, three dimensional design etc.  She saw and part took in the various steps required to build the structure.  She learn to appreciate each step, to learn to be patient as she waited for the next.  To respect the delicate art.  She even exploded with ideas as to how to make this pin~ata magical.   One morning she got out of her bed and came downstairs, and proceeded to gather all kinds of goodies, including pin~ata candy she got from another bday, and she made “pin~ata bags”.  She figured that if she divided equally all the goods and placed them in decorated bags, then everyone would be treated equally, and pain and unfairness would be avoided. She inspired me to make a set of draw string bags with recycled fabric and some of our beads.

I got to say though culturally, pin~atas are the training ground for fighting bullies..it toughened me up!

Presenting the Unicorn:

ButtaFly Transformations

It was summer 2006, Brooklyn was in hot swing and everyone was coming out with their latest good looks.  I had been a mom for almost two years already, and I had some stuff to bring out too!  I felt so into my world of motherhood, inspired by my daughter who daily ignited me with her light.    It was this inspiration that slowly took me back, and I mean way back to my Junior High School years.  It was “La E.S.T. #1″ located in the outskirts of San Cristobal.  A 5 o’clock in the morning minibus ride from our downtown house across our then ’small’ city.  I was one of 32 young teenage girls wearing a white and red wine uniform.  We were called “Grupo E”, which was meant for the “costureras” the seamstress group.  Our junior HS was a technical or what in North America is known as vocational school.  I was accepted into the seamstress class, and spent a delicious, adventurous, filled with sisterhood three years.  I will probably revive some of my old school memories, but for the purpose of this Brooklyn story, I will say that it was thanks to my maestra Carlota, that I honed some sewing and crafty skills, though I failed her class often (due to boy trouble).   I did learn how to sew underwear!

Back to ‘06.  It was a hot summer, and layers were coming off honey!  My girl from Crown Heights, mother of two beautiful sons and I began to hang regularly, I had been her Senior English class teaching assistant, and it was lovely to reconnect, now a mother, I was looking up to her for advise and support.  I ended up at her house with her baby boy on my back many a time, rocking him to sleep while my Ceiba fell a sleep in her hammock.   It was during one of these times that we got on to some creative spark, and this spark turned into ButtaFly Transformations.  A line of awesome fashions that ranged from recycled clothing, vintage fabrics, and pillows.   We even got hooked up with some abuelitas from Bushwick that worked in a sewing Coop, mostly Dominican abuelas, that welcomed us to their studio with children in tow, and gave us some tips as to how to get going as well as lots of grandmothering.  I tell you, I was crusty, my transformations were quite rusty and awkward, but with my sister’s help and the abuelas, the sewing genes started to kick in again.  And soon, we were surging, sewing, cutting, and nursing babies all at the same time.  Those were some good times!

We ended up with our line out in the African Street Festival in Brooklyn that summer, children in tow still, we shared a booth with other awesome and super talented sisters, one of the young people I worked with back then, made a mural sign for our booth.  I remember being so new at it all, but so inspired by the idea of making my own stuff with a collective of other sisters.  Our booth turned into a hang out spot for all the kids and dads, and peeps that were enjoying the market.

Now ‘09, I’m reviving ButtaFly Transformations from a colder, northern, more natural and 100% recycled creative place.  My other ButtaFly sister is holding it down in Brasil with her family, making cheese, and picking fresh eggs every morning.  Shout out fam!!!

Enjoy some of my latest ButtaFly Transformations.  Most of these creations are from finds at our local Free Store down the road from our place.

Season Quilting

Though this was my idea (not fitting well with my unschooling values) Ceiba has taken her own little spin to this year long project, she is the designer, part seamstress, and bilingual writer of our Four Seasons Quilt. We began in winter and here is part of the process.

Using fabric pastels we found at the local Free Store. She phonetically spelled first and is copying from a piece of paper.

The most exiting part of this project has been spending time in nature and the elements to get a Feel for the season, lots of observation, reflection on our daily experiences.  We also spent a lot of time reading books about snow, this one is one of my favorites.  It helped Ceiba see the amazing world of nature close up, and we learned some cool facts, lots of information in the book for adults, but the images and captions are phenomenal.  She particularly liked counting hexagon snow crystals and was amazed at their perfection.  We learned  lots about hexagons and symmetry, how snow is formed, what temperature and weather factors affect the shape and design and lots more. It was fantastic.

One of the most amazing days we had this winter was going outside on a very cold day after rain, and seeing a thin ice sheet on salal berry leaves, we figured out that we could peel the thin ice sheet and find a perfect print of the leaf on the ice, which made an suculent crunchy cold snack.  We spend almost an hour  carefully peeling off “Salal Leaf Ice Chips”.

Next: Spring! First day today!

Megapode Learning Tree

Last night we read this book.

"Animal Dads" by Sneed B. Collard III inspired Ceiba to learn about Megapodes

And we learned about how Megapode dads make their nests.  So Ceiba asked “Tomorrow can we look for the pictures of the Megapodes nests?”  And this is  what we learned.

The particular species that is depicted on the book , is known as the Australian Brush-Turkey, which are found on Australia’s Gold Coast,

so with the help of Google Earth we were able to tag their location, add a picture that Ceiba found on google images (spelling ‘megapode nests’ on her own from the book),

and as she dictated, we wrote a description of our learning experience on our very own Megapode Learning Tree tag .

We used their toy measuring tape to see how the Megapode’s 60-70 cm size  compares to her own body.  We were  very surprised to know that the nest mound the males build to attract females can be as high as 1 m and as wide as 4 m! Which takes hours and hours of dedicated labor. The work doesn’t end there, they also have to keep the temperature at a whopping 33 degrees, which they determine by placing the soil/leaf matter they use for the mound into their bills, a perfectly created thermometer.  Ceiba loved this fact, and so did I, nature never ceases to amaze!

By they way, I found the book at our local Free Store (yeah, everything is free).  And its truly a beautiful account of  how dad’s behave in the animal world, and the illustrations are maginicent.

There is that hard working Megapode Dad

Here and Writing

So it seems that I am not a code kind of person, and thanks to our beloved Tech dad we are up and running.  I stayed up way too late last night getting posts and categories set, but here I am in the dark morning getting ready for my volunteer shift at our local Free Store.  Which is by far one of the greatest community organized projects!  So much stuff gets donated there, from new to super reused, so much that there are times that a lot gets trashed any ways.  But without the Free Store, our dump would be filled with all kinds of treasures.

…On my return from my shift, some of the treasures I found today..

Aldo suede boots, puzzles, felt book and a good book

Children's books and a train whistle

Stack of wool swaters