Doodling and Its Health Effects

Doodling - a way to let your creativity come out!

A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines, generally without ever lifting the drawing device off of the paper, in which case it is usually called a "scribble".

Doodling and scribbling are most often associated with young children and toddlers, because their lack of hand–eye coordination and lower mental development. This often makes it very difficult for any young child to keep their colouring attempts within the line art of the subject. Despite this, it is not uncommon to see such behaviour with adults, in which case it generally is done jovially, out of boredom.

Typical examples of doodling are found in school notebooks, often in the margins, drawn by students daydreaming or losing interest during class. Other common examples of doodling are produced during long telephone conversations if a pen and paper are available.

Popular kinds of doodles include cartoon versions of teachers or companions in a school, famous TV or comic characters, invented fictional beings, landscapes, geometric shapes, patterns and textures.

Its Health Effects –

According to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodling can aid a person's memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain's processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation. The study was done by the School of Psychology, reported that doodlers in her experiment recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average of 5.8 recalled by the control group made of non-doodlers.

 

Zendoodles and Zentangles

Zendoodling is the art of drawing designs using structured patterns or 'Zentangles’.

When you draw a Zendoodle, you’re creating a work of art, but you’re also deliberately creating a mood, focus, and state of mind.

Concentrate on drawing small blocks of patterns at a time; going with the flow lets your mind get into a calming zen state. This allows you to follow through on impulsive thoughts, so your doodle won’t be restricted by expectations, giving you an unexpected final design and a glimpse into your subconscious!

Benefits of Zendoodling

·         Is Intuitive

·         Is Fun

·         Relaxes

·         Leads to inspiration

·         Teaches patience
         Inspires creativity

Quilling - The art of Paper Rolling

The art of Quilling

Quilling is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The paper is rolled, looped, curled, twisted and otherwise manipulated to create shapes which make up designs to decorate greetings cards, pictures, boxes, eggs, and to make models, jewellery, mobiles etc. These items can all be used as thoughtfully designed gifts which many people would highly appreciate. Quilling starts with rolling a strip of paper into a coil and then pinching the coil into shapes that can be glued together. There are advanced techniques and different sized paper that are used to create 3D miniatures, abstract art, and quilled flowers among many things.

Quilled Jewelry 

Tools

Slotted tool

The slotted tool is the most important quilling tool as it makes curling coils much easier and faster. The quality of the coil is noticeably higher compared to a coil that was curled with a toothpick or hand. For younger children, it is recommended that a Curling Coach be used with the slotted tool.

Needle tool

The needle tool plays a supporting role in the craft. It is used primarily to apply glue to hard-to-reach areas of the coil or quilling design.

Tweezers

Tweezers are used to handle delicate coils to prevent warping and unraveling. They keep the coils the same size which is important when making something with duplicate coils, like flower petals. Tweezers are also helpful in inserting paper in tight spaces.

                                                       Circle sizer ruler

The circle sizer ruler is essential in making coils into a desired size after curling. The ruler on the side is used to measure each strip to ensure they are the same length before curling.

Curling coach

Curling coaches make a great compliment tool for slotted tools and are recommended for younger kids and for people who like to quill 3D miniatures. It makes curling the strips much faster and easier than if they were curled with just the slotted tool.

Crimper tool

This tool is used to make crimped quilling strips. It helps to create different patterns.

Clay Sculpting Around the World

Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, unmolded, or cast.

Sculpture in stone survives far better than works of art in perishable materials, and often represents the majority of the surviving works (other than pottery) from ancient cultures, though conversely traditions of sculpture in wood may have vanished almost entirely. However, most ancient sculpture was brightly painted, and this has been lost.

Sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent centuries large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in South America and Africa.

Some Tools for Sculpting

The Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith. The revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelo's David. Modernist sculpture moved away from traditional processes and the emphasis on the depiction of the human body, with the making of constructed, and the presentation of found objects as finished art works.

Quilting - An Introduction

Quilting - An Art of Fabric 

Welcome to the wonderful world of quilting! To many, quilting may seem like an obscure, outdated and difficult hobby. For the majority of people, it is something we have seen our aunts or grandmothers do in their spare time and something which we have envied from afar, yet never taken time to pick it up ourselves. Quilting also seems to be quite a foreign concept and most cannot even fathom how to begin, let alone how to learn the unique hobby. However, before starting let us understand more about Quilting - 

Quilting is the process of sewing of two or more layers of fabric together to make a thicker padded material, usually to create a quilter quilted garment. Typically, quilting is done with three layers: the top fabric or quilt top, batting or insulating material and backing material.

The process of quilting uses a needle and thread to join two or more layers of material to make a quilt. The quilter's hand or sewing machine passes the needle and thread through all layers and then brings the needle back up. The process is repeated across the entire area where quilting is wanted. A rocking, straight or running stitch is commonly used and these stitches can be purely functional, or decorative and elaborate. Quilting is done to create bed spreads, art quilt wall hangings, clothing, and a variety of textile products. Quilting can make a project thick, or with dense quilting, can raise one area so that another stands out. It is a perfect hobby for housewives.

The whole process of creating a quilt or quilted garment also involves other steps such as designing, piecing, appliqué, and binding. A person who works at quilting is termed a quilter. Quilting can be done by hand, by sewing machine, or by a specialized longer quilting system.

Quilted Fabric

Quilt stores often sell fabric, thread, patterns and other goods that are used for quilting. They often have group sewing and quilting classes, where one can learn how to sew or quilt and work with others to exchange skills. Quilt stores often have quilting machines that can be rented out for use or customers can drop off their quilts and have them professionally quilted.

About Tie and Dye

Tie-dye  is a modern term invented in the mid-1960s in the United States for a set of ancient resist-dyeing techniques, and for the products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment and binding with string or rubber bands, followed by application of dye(s). The manipulations of the fabric prior to application of dye are called resists, as they partially or completely prevent the applied dye from colouring the fabric. More sophisticated tie-dyes involve additional steps, including an initial application of dye prior to the resist, multiple sequential dye and resist steps, and the use of other types of resists (stitching, stencils) and discharge.

Unlike regular resist-dyeing techniques, tie-dye is characterized by the use of bright, saturated primary colours and bold patterns. These patterns, including the spiral, mandala, and peace sign, and the use of multiple bold colours, have become clichéd since the peak popularity of tie-dye in the 1960s and 1970s. The vast majority of currently produced tie-dyes use these designs, and many are mass-produced for wholesale distribution. However, a new interest in more 'sophisticated' tie-dye is emerging in the fashion industry, characterized by simple motifs, monochromatic colour schemes, and a focus on fashionable garments and fabrics other than cotton.  A few artists continue to pursue tie-dye as an art form rather than a commodity.

Tie-dye can be used to create a wide variety of designs on fabric, from standard patterns such as the spiral, peace sign, diamond, and the marble effect to beautiful works of art.^[2] Using techniques such as stencils (a la screen printing using dyes or discharge pastes), clamped-on shaped blocks, and tritik (stitching and gathering), and tie-dye can produce almost any design desired.

A Brief Introduction About Sketching.

Sketching is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work. A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might record or develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image, idea or principle.

Sketches can be made in any drawing medium. The term is most often applied to graphic work executed in a dry medium such as silverpoint, graphite, pencil, charcoal or pastel. But it may also apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, ballpoint pen, water colour and oil paint. The latter two are generally referred to as "water colour sketches" and "oil sketches". A sculptor might model three-dimensional sketches in clay, plasticine or wax.

Sketching is generally a prescribed part of the studies of art students. This generally includes making sketches from a live model whose pose changes every few minutes. A "sketch" usually implies a quick and loosely drawn work, while related terms such as study, modelling and "preparatory drawing" usually refer to more finished and careful works to be used as a basis for a final work, often in a different medium, but the distinction is imprecise. Under drawing is drawing underneath the final work, which may sometimes still be visible, or can be viewed by modern scientific methods such as X-rays.

Most visual artists use, to a greater or lesser degree, the sketch as a method of recording or working out ideas. The sketchbooks of some individual artists have become very well known, including those of ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ and Edgar Degas which have become art objects in their own right, with many pages showing finished studies as well as sketches. The term "sketchbook" refers to a book of blank paper on which an artist can, drawn sketches. The book might be purchased bound or might comprise loose leaves of sketches assembled or bound together.

The ability to quickly record impressions through sketching has found varied purposes in today's culture. Courtroom sketches record scenes and individuals in law courts. Sketches drawn to help authorities find or identify wanted people are called composite sketches. Street artists in popular tourist areas sketch portraits within minutes.

History of Crochet

Crochet is a process of creating fabric by interlocking loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials using a crochet hook. The name is derived from the French term "crochet", meaning small hook. These are made of materials such as metal, wood, or plastic and are manufactured commercially and produced in artisan workshops. The salient difference between crochet and knitting, beyond the implements used for their production, is that each stitch in crochet is completed before proceeding with the next one, while knitting keeps a large number of stitches open at a time.

Fashions in crochet changed with the end of the Victorian era in the 1890s. Crocheted laces in the new Edwardian era, peaking between 1910 and 1920, became even more elaborate in texture and complicated stitching.

The strong Victorian colours disappeared, though, and new publications called for white or pale threads, except for fancy purses, which were often crocheted of brightly colored silk and elaborately beaded. After World War I, far fewer crochet patterns were published, and most of them were simplified versions of the early 20th-century patterns. After World War II, from the late 1940s until the early 1960s, there was a resurgence in interest in home crafts, particularly in the United States, with many new and imaginative crochet designs published for colorful doilies, potholders, and other home items, along with updates of earlier publications. These patterns called for thicker threads and yarns than in earlier patterns and included wonderful variegated colors. The craft remained primarily a homemaker's art until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the new generation picked up on crochet and popularized granny squares, a motif worked in the round and incorporating bright colors.

Although crochet underwent a subsequent decline in popularity, the early 21st century has seen a revival of interest in handcrafts and DIY, as well as great strides in improvement of the quality and varieties of yarn. There are many more new pattern books with modern patterns being printed, and most yarn stores now offer crochet lessons in addition to the traditional knitting lessons. There are many books you can purchase from local book stores to teach yourself how to crochet whether it be as a beginner or intermediate. There are also many books for children and teenagers who are hoping to take up the hobby. Filet crochet, Tunisian crochet,tapestry crochet, broomstick lace, hairpin lace, cro-hooking, and Irish crochet are all variants of the basic crochet method.

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Crochet has experienced a revival on the catwalk as well. Christopher Kane's Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear collection makes intensive use of the granny square, one of the most basic of crochet motifs. In addition, crochet has been utilized many times by designers on the popular reality show Project Runway. Even websites such as Etsy and Ravelry have made it easier for individual hobbyists to sell and distribute their patterns or projects across the internet.