[Nfb-krafters-korner] Warm Welcome and Questions

[Diane]

Wow Jewel!
You are truly an inspiration!!!
Thanks for joining us!
Di
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jewel S." <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
To: <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 6:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Warm Welcome and Questions


> Dear Joyce and Cindy,
>
> I saw the listing for the Crafters group on the list of NFB discussion
> groups. I have been doing more and more crafts as I get settled into
> life as a blind person. As I said, most of my interest is in drawing,
> but I am also interested in other forms of art, including sculpting
> and scrapbooking. And any research you desire me to do, I'll give it
> my all, Joyce.
>
> Cindy, I have tried many different ways of drawing. A few have been
> successfully, but a few have failed. My first drawing experiment was a
> very successful, but extremely time-consuming project, and I have only
> made one picture in that manner. The way I did the picture, which was
> a tree with multiple branches reaching upward but no leaves, sitting
> on a line for the ground (green, of course), and a sky full of stars
> and the moon) was brads on a piece of black canvas. I took a piece of
> black canvas for the dark night, cut it to a small square, and placed
> each brad (such as you would find closing an envelope or holding a
> small pamphlet together) in the fabric, pulling it back out and
> re-doing it if it didn't feel in line with what I wanted. I used many
> silver and brass dots, but all of the stars are actually silver
> star-shaped brads I found at Michael's and I used green circles to
> make the ground's line. I have named it "Alone in the Dark" as a
> representation of how I felt when I first went blind, because my
> mother and her boyfriend gave me no assistance, blaming the accident
> on me, my husband of the time was in Iraq, and I had no friends in
> Virginia where I was. I had only my doctor and a kind lady who worked
> for $50 per week for 5 hours to assist me with mail and shopping. It
> really is a beautiful piece, and I'm proud of it, but it took over a
> hundred hours to produce, and I believe about 140 brads. My fingers
> were quite numb at the end of each session from pinching the brads,
> and I became frustrated several times because the tree wasn't looking
> like a tree, but more like a stump. I consider that project both the
> most successful and the least, because it has a great finished project
> but requires the most skill and time. I don't think I could ever do
> many of them, though I am considering starting a new one which will be
> a bouquet of roses and perhaps baby's breath if I can figure out how
> to do it with string or some other sort of flower.
>
> Another method I have used is the gold-ole Braillewriter. I am very
> inexperienced on it, but have been able to make a castle, a house, a
> building with pillars which was meant to represent the main building
> on campus at the Rehab Center, and a few other blocky sketches. A
> cat's face was a failure, and I was able to make the Eiffel Tower from
> another person's design (basically the equivalent of tracing). But I
> have a friend here who used to be a Resource Room teacher and can draw
> a great number of things. She once used a Braillewriter to draw a
> helicopter, though she didn't keep the design and she told us (me and
> her daughter) to never ask her to do it, because it was too hard. I
> hope to learn more from her. She has pretty much adopted me into her
> family, so I'm sure I will.
>
> To get basic ideas of shapes, I have a 10 by 10 pegboard that has
> large-ish pegs that fit in the whole. This board cost me $13 from
> Future Aids, and was definitely worth the small price, as it has
> helped me understand basic shapes and concepts, such as stars and
> houses. It is definitely not a drawing tool, but a rough-draft tool
> that will be great in the classroom when I become a teacher to teach
> children basic shape concepts.
>
> I have not yet tried a thermo-pen, as they are so expensive (I think)
> for someone on a low income, but I heard they are great for people who
> know how to draw to use like a regular pen. You use special plastic
> paper and use the thermo-pen to heat the plastic. The plastic raises
> up a small amount, and you have a tactile picture. They use this
> technique with thermoform pictures, using a scanned image.
>
> I enjoy looking at other people's work, too. I have a book called
> Florence and Michaelangelo. A small Braille book, plastic paper, it is
> nonetheless a true treasure. It gives great descriptions, but the true
> treasure is the two thermoform pictures, one of a chapel in Florence
> and one of Michaelangelo's David (a statue). I just wish it had more
> pictures!
>
> I have tried drawing with a needle and thread, but I never could keep
> a straight line! I have also drawn using cut-outs in different
> colours. Mostly this was abstract, for which I was well known for
> making with prisma-colours or markers in high school, but I have done
> a few basic others. There was a poster contest at the state convention
> this last year, and I joined in. My poster had pictures made of
> construction paper of a refridgerator that opened and there was a can
> label with Braille on it behind the door, and an explanation...there
> was also a barn with a seed packet that had Braille and its little
> sentence, a door with a Braille clothing label, and a few other doors.
> The top read "Braille Opens Doors" for the theme, which was what
> Braille means to you. It didn't mean, but I though I did a good job
> all the same for having done it all by myself.
>
> Let's see...what else have I tried? I play online text-based
> roleplaying games, and have made fantastic "paintings" by text alone.
> Not by shaping the letters, but just describing it. I shall
> demonstrate:
>
> Painting of a shipwreck
> Here is drawn in charcoal a picture of a three-masted galleon, its
> side open tto the elements and shadowy. It is leaning heavily against
> a large, sharp rock that juts out from the water just beyond a beach.
> The shore is teaming with small children, many pointing to the ship
> with excited looks upon their faces. Though the sky is clear and free
> of charcoal for the most part, in the far right corner opposite the
> shore and shipwreck, the viewer can see the faintest section of storm
> clouds moving away. The sunrays extend straight and long, a few nearly
> touching the wrecked ship, which looks to be deserted. One mast is
> leaning precariously, and the sails are all in shreds. Near the bottom
> right hand corner, among the smooth water's ripples, the signature of
> "Jewel" is visible clearly.
>
> That's the sort of thing I might do for a text game. It keeps my
> imagination flowing, and allows me to describe what I cannot draw on
> paper myself.
>
> One last question on my part, and I will end this long-winded reply.
> The question is for Joyce, the moderator. The classes you have...are
> the phone numbers long-distance, or are they 800 numbers? I don't have
> a long-distance plan is why I ask.
>
> Thank you both again for the warm welcome, and I hope you can tolerate
> my over-talking the subject of drawing. Do share with me what you
> enjoy drawing most, as well as your favourite photographs you have
> taken. What do you like to take pictures of most, Cindy? I love
> drawing horses and loved doing medieval painting before I became
> blind. Because I can no long see the tiny details of medieval
> illumination, I have given up that particular type of art, but I will
> not give up all!
>
> ~Jewel
>
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