monster-on-a-leash

This past Sunday, our organization, Curious Jane, sponsored an activity at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Ghouls & Gourds festival. This is a family-oriented event with activities, author visits, music stages, and crazy puppets on stilts. The festival lasts throughout the afternoon, ending with a parade around the garden and drum circle in the esplanade. The weather was stunning and the turnout tremendous.

Challenges (parameters) for designing our project: accessible to young participants, including wee-ones; no electrical outlets (no hot glue guns); simple set-up; limited budget. We especially wanted participants to make something that could become a costume accessory, of sorts, with which to march in the parade.

We brainstormed a few ideas, including Story Scepters and Geodeisic Jack-O-Lanterns. Monster-on-a-Leash was the favorite! The event's MC was a Liza Minnelli impersonator; I made her a sidekick to get things started.

On the morning of the festival, we spread our bins-o-stuff across six tables. Supplies included 'bricks' of low-density upholstery foam, a huge variety of fabric scraps (in larger pieces and thin strips), florist wire in different gauges, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, beads, styrofoam pieces, netting, cellophane and other odd bits. And of course - the leashes (plastic-coated 16-guage wire). We hung some inspiration monsters in the trees above the work tables.

To create their monsters, participants started with a block of foam, draped it with some favorite fabrics, and tied these around the foam securely with fabric strips (creating the 'neck' of the monster). The more fabric strips, the better. Everything was fastened by tucking fabrics, bits and bobbles under the tightly-tied strips. Bits of florist wires and pipe-cleaners were also used to secure elements; the wire ends could be pushed directly into the foam. As creators moved around the table and dipped into supplies, monsters took shape! Last stop - a leash.

Design Challenge: No glue (and no sewing). Consider the fastening – use materials for their appearance as well as their function. Attaching an eyeball with wire, asks the designer to think about how the wire can also become a creative element, rather than merely an attachment mechanism. 

Bride-Monster floating in the breeze, late in the afternoon. 

And – a coincidental treat at the festival – Johan Olander was one of many visiting, children's book authors. His book "A Field Guide to Monsters" is spectacular! See www.johanolander.com or http://monstrologist.blogspot.com...