By Christina VanGinkel
Framing layouts is nothing new, and I think it is a great way to show off layouts with special meaning or some significance beyond your more ordinary pages. However, what if you think that all of your layouts are worthy of some special recognition, at least for a while. Maybe you just like the way a layout turned out and putting it away in an album feels too final. Maybe you only get to share your albums with those who appreciate them once or twice a year, like when your mom or sister comes for a visit. So just finishing each layout and tucking it into a protective sleeve in an album might seem more like an ending than a feeling of satisfaction that you have created something unique and worthy of being shared.
Moreover, not every scrapbook layout belongs tucked away in an album, at least not right away! After you have worked hard and laboriously on some of them, they should be framed and hung on the wall for all to see, or if not framed, at least displayed for a while. This is actually a great way to share your work with some people that might not otherwise have an opportunity to see what you do. So how else can you display those layouts, other than lining your walls with frame after frame?
One way to temporarily display your pages, until you are ready to put them in an album, is to hang them from a clothesline, or should I call it a layout line. It can be fashioned from any lightweight line you have or pick up a roll of thin cording from the craft department or home wares department at your favorite store. Keep it thin though, otherwise you risk leaving a mark on your pages that you do not want. Pick up a pack of tiny craft clothes pines, big enough to clip your pages in place, small enough that they also will not leave a mark. Paperclips will also work. Ideally, insert your finished layouts in a protective sleeve, and attach the clips to the ends, and not to the layout itself. Even if the album you plan to put them in does not have a removable sleeve, pick up a pack of inexpensive ones just for your temporary line of display. (Our local dollar store carries them in packs of ten for a dollar. At ten cents apiece, that is a hard price to beat.)
String your line in a place that you can hang your finished pages for everyone to admire, but where they will not be damaged prematurely by the sun or prying fingers of small children. If you have a dedicated scrap space, that can be the best place to hang them. Not only will others get a chance to admire your work, you will be able to be inspired during future projects yourself. As the line becomes filled, move the end ones to your album, that way you never have to worry about which ones to put away next.
If your pages just seem too precious to leave out, but you still like the idea of displaying them, scan each finished page when completed, store the original way in the album of your choice, and print a copy of the page. The copies can be life-sized, if you have a printer capable of this, or in a smaller format. I actually prefer to print them smaller, as the finished display is easier to leave about. An 8" x 8" is a good size as you can find protective sleeves in that size. Assemble a group of them together and make a coffee table book. The book does not need a cover, just slide each page in a protective sleeve, pinch some holes along one edge with a three whole punch or a simple paper punch, if the sleeves you use are not already made for insertion in some sort of binder, and slide a keychain styled ring through one or all of the holes. Visitors can flip through your book of layouts while your originals are stored away safely, and the book itself will stay looking new in its protective sleeves for many visitors to come. If you are concerned about the pages sliding out, slide a decorative paper clip over the top of each page or even use a decorative stapler to staple each sleeve securely closed.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
Stamp Collecting
Stamps have been around almost as long as letters have been sent out and collecting these little windows of the different countries has been a hobby for almost as long. Stamp collecting is a hobby that has been done by presidents, kings and other famous people to children and just about any average person. Also known as philately, stamp collecting can be a great hobby for learning about other countries. You can learn about their history, their geography and even receive a little snapshot of their countries. Children can also learn about the currency of the country by the amount of money that the stamp is worth.
While collecting stamps you can ask yourself, why is that picture on the stamp? Quite often it is a person of some significance to the history of the country or someone that did something remarkable in that particular country. Or perhaps it is a flower or fruit that is indigenous to that area. It is interesting to take collecting just that one step further and question why that picture is on the stamp and learn more about it and now with the Internet, that can be even easier to do.
Before you begin stamp collecting, you will want to look into purchasing a few basis supplies. One of the major necessities for stamp collecting is an album to hold and display your stamps. These can be purchased at specialty hobby stores and can come in a variety of styles and sizes. They can cover a specific area such as flowers; airplanes etc. or cover a specific country such as Great Britain. If you cannot afford to purchase a whole album you can consider purchasing separate sheets and mark each sheet accordingly to the country perhaps or the object that you want to collect stamps on (like bears perhaps). But whatever you do, you will want to make sure the sheets are acid free and will keep your stamps safe.
Next, I would suggest you purchase a magnifying glass. This will aid you in viewing your stamps. The smallest details on your stamps can mean the world of difference. The valuable of a stamp can depend on the smallest of detail.
Another suggestion would be to purchase tongs for moving around your stamps. By using tongs to pick up your stamps, the grease and other unpleasentries that are naturally on your skin will not rub off onto your stamp and thus damaging the surface and possibly affecting the value. You will not want to use house hold tweezers as these could damage the stamp. Look for tongs that have a flat head and thus make it easy to pick up stamps.
One thing that is quite important is stamp hinges or mounts. Horrors of horrors if you actually glue your stamp to the paper it is being displayed on. Hinges are little scraps of paper that have glue affixed to them. Hinges do disturb the back of the stamp somewhat, so they can be used for used stamps but mounts do not affect the back of the stamp at all. So, if you have a stamp that is worth quite a bit, consider purchasing mounts for your valuable stamps.
Stamp collecting can be an individual or a family thing. You can start by asking friends and families for stamps (I am lucky, I work at a company that gets mail from all over the world!) You can soak them off the envelopes and there you have it; an addition to your stamp collection. You can go to your local post office and choose some new (or mint) stamps or go to a coin and stamp store (some larger cities have such stores.) There are several places you can go to get stamps if you search.
Is stamp collecting a thing of the past? While stamp collecting is not currently as a popular hobby as it perhaps once was (it would seem the children and possibly adults are seen as nerds, geeks or kind of weird). I am here in defence of stamp collecting as it can teach you so much about different countries by the picture on the stamp. It can also teach children organizational skills (they have to sort and keep their stamps organized). But with letter writing quickly becoming a thing of the past because of emails and faxes which seems to be the way to send just about everything these days, I wonder if stamp collecting will soon go the way of the dinosaur.
While collecting stamps you can ask yourself, why is that picture on the stamp? Quite often it is a person of some significance to the history of the country or someone that did something remarkable in that particular country. Or perhaps it is a flower or fruit that is indigenous to that area. It is interesting to take collecting just that one step further and question why that picture is on the stamp and learn more about it and now with the Internet, that can be even easier to do.
Before you begin stamp collecting, you will want to look into purchasing a few basis supplies. One of the major necessities for stamp collecting is an album to hold and display your stamps. These can be purchased at specialty hobby stores and can come in a variety of styles and sizes. They can cover a specific area such as flowers; airplanes etc. or cover a specific country such as Great Britain. If you cannot afford to purchase a whole album you can consider purchasing separate sheets and mark each sheet accordingly to the country perhaps or the object that you want to collect stamps on (like bears perhaps). But whatever you do, you will want to make sure the sheets are acid free and will keep your stamps safe.
Next, I would suggest you purchase a magnifying glass. This will aid you in viewing your stamps. The smallest details on your stamps can mean the world of difference. The valuable of a stamp can depend on the smallest of detail.
Another suggestion would be to purchase tongs for moving around your stamps. By using tongs to pick up your stamps, the grease and other unpleasentries that are naturally on your skin will not rub off onto your stamp and thus damaging the surface and possibly affecting the value. You will not want to use house hold tweezers as these could damage the stamp. Look for tongs that have a flat head and thus make it easy to pick up stamps.
One thing that is quite important is stamp hinges or mounts. Horrors of horrors if you actually glue your stamp to the paper it is being displayed on. Hinges are little scraps of paper that have glue affixed to them. Hinges do disturb the back of the stamp somewhat, so they can be used for used stamps but mounts do not affect the back of the stamp at all. So, if you have a stamp that is worth quite a bit, consider purchasing mounts for your valuable stamps.
Stamp collecting can be an individual or a family thing. You can start by asking friends and families for stamps (I am lucky, I work at a company that gets mail from all over the world!) You can soak them off the envelopes and there you have it; an addition to your stamp collection. You can go to your local post office and choose some new (or mint) stamps or go to a coin and stamp store (some larger cities have such stores.) There are several places you can go to get stamps if you search.
Is stamp collecting a thing of the past? While stamp collecting is not currently as a popular hobby as it perhaps once was (it would seem the children and possibly adults are seen as nerds, geeks or kind of weird). I am here in defence of stamp collecting as it can teach you so much about different countries by the picture on the stamp. It can also teach children organizational skills (they have to sort and keep their stamps organized). But with letter writing quickly becoming a thing of the past because of emails and faxes which seems to be the way to send just about everything these days, I wonder if stamp collecting will soon go the way of the dinosaur.
Using Masks in Theatre
In my theatre background, I have learned a lot about working with masks. I believe that this is an integral part of actor training. I believe that using masks allows an actor or actress to be able portray a character with their entire bodies. By having a mask who’s expression does not change, an actor or actress does not have facial expressions to work with. Because of this, they must rely on their movements and voice. By not being able to USE the face as a tool for expression, an actor must learn how to portray emotions through body moments, such as running, walking or sitting.. and also through the expression of the body, a sloping of the shoulders or a quick, solid walk as opposed to a slow, lanky walk.
After learning these techniques, an actor is able to play a part without relying on their use of facial expressions. This allows an actor to act with their whole bodies. Therefore when the masks are no longer used, and an actor HAS the use of facial expressions, he still uses his body in a more stylized way because he has been trained that acting SHOULD use the whole body. When the facial expressions are added to the bodily expressions, actors are more fully able to act with their entire bodies, and NOT just their face. I feel that when an actor is able to use their ENTIRE bodies, INCLUDING their faces, they will be much better at their trade.
Neutral dialogues are included in actor training because they, too, are very important. From the use of them in our class, I learned that it isn't always the WORDS that are most important, it is the delivery of the words, and the premise behind them. The dialogues have words that in essence do not matter. It could even be repeating the same word over and over again. When an actor must create a situation and a reason for saying these words, the premise that he is basing his dialogue on becomes much clearer. The audience is able to discern his or her motivations from the way the lines are delivered and the actor is able to make a conclusion about the motivations of the other actors by listening to the way the other dialogues and lines are delivered. If an actor does them correctly, neutral dialogues can be extremely meaningful.
When an actor can create meaning from words that HAVE no meaning, he or she is truly presenting an idea to the audience, instead of simply words. By training with neutral dialogues, actors learn that yes, perhaps sometimes the lines they deliver ARE important, but they must not rely on the lines to create meaning. An actor must go into a scene with reasons and a purpose in mind. They must follow through on their reasons and purposes for the duration of the scene.
I feel that improvisations are done for a number of reasons. We do improvisations to loosen the body and the mind, and to create an atmosphere where actors are comfortable ACTING. In this atmosphere, an actor knows that anything goes and they can be free to make choices on the spot, choices that feel comfortable and that make sense in the scene, but are not necessarily DIRECTED by the script. Improvising also teaches an actor to make moves that are realistic and believable. When an actor improvises, they are creating a scene out of the top of their head, and this scene makes a lot of sense in relation to the other actors and the other ideas that are being presented.
Improvising teaches the performer to think on their feet and create situations which are realistic. This allows them to transfer these skills to acting with scripts. When they are using scripts, actors might have definite lines that MUST be said, and definite ideas that MUST be presented. However, they are still able to think on their feet and make movement choices that seem natural and realistic to the audience. Even when a director gives blocking to actors during a scene, the actors can still use the techniques they have learned with improvisation to appear real and natural when they do the movements they have been assigned.
The audience gains a lot from the improvisation techniques. When an audience is watching a group of actors that have learned to improvise, the movements they are doing on stage feel real and feel purposeful. The audience also benefits from witnessing the fluid movements of the characters.
Actors gain a lot from improvisation that they could transfer to standard plays. They learn the art of creating reasons for their movement. They also learn how to use their bodies to create a character and perform roles based on what the character is thinking and feeling, including their motivations for the actions that are not apparent with the lines and dialogue.
My favorite improvisations include the improvisations that entailed working with emotions and figuring out the emotions that the other people were feeling. I feel that these were my favorites because they allowed me to grow as an actor and gave me a chance to real feel out the roles I could create using my improvisation skills.
I think that theatre and theatre exercises relate very much to many aspects of my life, and the things that I have done. Like sports, acting requires a training of the body and a preparation for each day, such as the correct clothing and tools and mindset, as well as a general enjoyment of the tasks at hand. I think that action also relates very much to music, in the idea that it is a way of expressing your emotions in a creative sense. By allowing your body and spirit to become involved in the creation of the different characters in acting, you are creating reasons behind these lives and ideas. The exercises that you carry out in the theatre relate very much to the ideas behind sports and dance and martial arts. You have to be fluid with your body and allow the ideas behind your movements to drive the movements and create a physicality of the ideas themselves.
From doing theatre, I have grown in my self expression and imagination. By re-writing a script, creating ideas that go along with it, and doing many other things with the theatre as a whole, I have learned a lot about group dynamics and the reasons behind using collaborations to create something that is wonderful. By working together on an artistic project, I feel that I have grown as a member of a theatre troupe, which also makes me feel like I grew as a person as well. I am never afraid to try very difficult or very new things.
After learning these techniques, an actor is able to play a part without relying on their use of facial expressions. This allows an actor to act with their whole bodies. Therefore when the masks are no longer used, and an actor HAS the use of facial expressions, he still uses his body in a more stylized way because he has been trained that acting SHOULD use the whole body. When the facial expressions are added to the bodily expressions, actors are more fully able to act with their entire bodies, and NOT just their face. I feel that when an actor is able to use their ENTIRE bodies, INCLUDING their faces, they will be much better at their trade.
Neutral dialogues are included in actor training because they, too, are very important. From the use of them in our class, I learned that it isn't always the WORDS that are most important, it is the delivery of the words, and the premise behind them. The dialogues have words that in essence do not matter. It could even be repeating the same word over and over again. When an actor must create a situation and a reason for saying these words, the premise that he is basing his dialogue on becomes much clearer. The audience is able to discern his or her motivations from the way the lines are delivered and the actor is able to make a conclusion about the motivations of the other actors by listening to the way the other dialogues and lines are delivered. If an actor does them correctly, neutral dialogues can be extremely meaningful.
When an actor can create meaning from words that HAVE no meaning, he or she is truly presenting an idea to the audience, instead of simply words. By training with neutral dialogues, actors learn that yes, perhaps sometimes the lines they deliver ARE important, but they must not rely on the lines to create meaning. An actor must go into a scene with reasons and a purpose in mind. They must follow through on their reasons and purposes for the duration of the scene.
I feel that improvisations are done for a number of reasons. We do improvisations to loosen the body and the mind, and to create an atmosphere where actors are comfortable ACTING. In this atmosphere, an actor knows that anything goes and they can be free to make choices on the spot, choices that feel comfortable and that make sense in the scene, but are not necessarily DIRECTED by the script. Improvising also teaches an actor to make moves that are realistic and believable. When an actor improvises, they are creating a scene out of the top of their head, and this scene makes a lot of sense in relation to the other actors and the other ideas that are being presented.
Improvising teaches the performer to think on their feet and create situations which are realistic. This allows them to transfer these skills to acting with scripts. When they are using scripts, actors might have definite lines that MUST be said, and definite ideas that MUST be presented. However, they are still able to think on their feet and make movement choices that seem natural and realistic to the audience. Even when a director gives blocking to actors during a scene, the actors can still use the techniques they have learned with improvisation to appear real and natural when they do the movements they have been assigned.
The audience gains a lot from the improvisation techniques. When an audience is watching a group of actors that have learned to improvise, the movements they are doing on stage feel real and feel purposeful. The audience also benefits from witnessing the fluid movements of the characters.
Actors gain a lot from improvisation that they could transfer to standard plays. They learn the art of creating reasons for their movement. They also learn how to use their bodies to create a character and perform roles based on what the character is thinking and feeling, including their motivations for the actions that are not apparent with the lines and dialogue.
My favorite improvisations include the improvisations that entailed working with emotions and figuring out the emotions that the other people were feeling. I feel that these were my favorites because they allowed me to grow as an actor and gave me a chance to real feel out the roles I could create using my improvisation skills.
I think that theatre and theatre exercises relate very much to many aspects of my life, and the things that I have done. Like sports, acting requires a training of the body and a preparation for each day, such as the correct clothing and tools and mindset, as well as a general enjoyment of the tasks at hand. I think that action also relates very much to music, in the idea that it is a way of expressing your emotions in a creative sense. By allowing your body and spirit to become involved in the creation of the different characters in acting, you are creating reasons behind these lives and ideas. The exercises that you carry out in the theatre relate very much to the ideas behind sports and dance and martial arts. You have to be fluid with your body and allow the ideas behind your movements to drive the movements and create a physicality of the ideas themselves.
From doing theatre, I have grown in my self expression and imagination. By re-writing a script, creating ideas that go along with it, and doing many other things with the theatre as a whole, I have learned a lot about group dynamics and the reasons behind using collaborations to create something that is wonderful. By working together on an artistic project, I feel that I have grown as a member of a theatre troupe, which also makes me feel like I grew as a person as well. I am never afraid to try very difficult or very new things.
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