[Nfb-krafters-korner] Warm Welcome and Questions

Sun Mar 7 20:43:20 UTC 2010

Jewel,
You are bringing new work to this division.  I don't know how many of us 
draw or want to, but you are definitely giving us ideas.   There are some 
other blind artists, but I am not the best one to give you names.  I think 
one is from Colorado or spent some time there.  Perhaps Diane knows how to 
reach her.  I understand her work is quite good.  Angela Wolf, President of 
the NFB of Texas is an artist.  She is a teacher and has a brand new baby, 
so I don't know how easily you can reach her right now.  But she will be 
around.

There are two other techniques you might want to investigate.  One is using 
paper over screen.  Braille paper is good, I think if it is not too heavy. 
Then take your stylus to make your lines and designs.  Of course, the 
tactile part is down, so you have to turn it over to feel it.  However, I 
understand that some people take pens and pencils on the lines with pretty 
good results.

The other thing you may want to work with is good especially for teaching 
concepts.  It is the velcro boards available from the American Printinghouse 
for the Blind in Louisville, KY.  Both travel teachers and computer teachers 
use them.  You can buy quite a number of shapes with them, and you can also 
make your own shapes with felt or velcro strips.
We will all be interested in hearing more about what you figure out.

Ramona

----- 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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