Gavi and her Organic Armor Arts sketchbook and puppet
Back in Los Angeles in 2007 we taught kids’ classes in the Organic Armor Arts. We homeschooled our son and were part of a big community of cool parents who were always looking for creative outlets for their children.
The kids made swords and shields and headdresses and loved it. “What are we going to do now?” they asked excitedly.
We got our next idea from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Connor was very impressed with the Monster Book of Monsters, the textbook in Hagrid’s “Care of Magical Creatures” class. So we bought some hardback sketchbooks and made book covers. The kids decorated them with teeth and claws, jewels and flowers. They came out great.
That was almost 9 years ago, but I decided to play around with book covers again this week. That’s because the fabulous Teesha Moore, mixed media artist, teacher, and founder of the Artstronauts Club, is going to promote our course to her creative peeps! Teesha’s focus is mixed media and her classes and art retreats often revolve around artistic journaling. So I wanted to show a way that the Organic Armor Arts could be used to make a beautiful journal cover, in addition to costume design.
Here’s what happened:
There are a million other ways these materials and techniques could be used outside of costuming. I’ve had an idea for an Organic Armor chandelier for years! One of these days I’ll get to it. Paul is determined to make an Organic Armor dragon puppet this winter.
I hope that the folks thinking of expanding their tool box to include the Organic Armor Arts will take note of that, and decide to help us push the envelope of this new art form!
On a different note – this numerically magical day of 11/11 with a new moon in Scorpio, is Veterans Day in the US. It marks the Armistice of 1918, the end of WW1, thought at the time to be the “war that ends all wars”. Today our family gives honor to all veterans and active military members for their service.