Thursday, October 30, 2014

Gift Wrapping Workshop at College of San Mateo

My third year teaching repurposed gift wrapping at San Mateo College Community Education.
This time I am scaling up with adjunct ideas of taking some of the basic ideas I've taught and enlarging them in size for those special big gifts and special occasions. As always, excited to show how the most mundane everyday materials around us can be made useful and artistic when utilized for gift wrapping and packaging!  Come join me.


Fabulous Gift Wrapping: The Art of Repurposing 
Workshop 
Saturday, November 1, 2014
9:30am-12:30pm
San Mateo Community College
1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd 
San Mateo
Building 14  Room 213

** Walk in’s welcome 
For questions, please call 650-574-6149

Summer Wrapping @ Heath Ceramics

One of my wrapping highlights of the summer was being invited by HEATH Ceramics (Yeah! I'm a big fan) to collaborate with their visiting artist from KAMAWANU (manufacturer of beautiful hand dyed cotton cloths called Tenugui) to do a demonstration on how to wrap with Tenugui.  I am particularly drawn to the graphics (hand cut and designed templates) and the intricate traditional dyeing process. The simplicity and unpretentiousness of the cloths and its versatility (used as a hand towel, cleaning cloth, business card or simply as an art piece) is what appeals to me. The greatest challenge with Tenugui is the size and odd shape (35x 90cm) and the unfinished frayed edges. I felt particularly excited when I was able to figure out a few strategies to get around these challenges and share my tips.  It was an opportunity to talk about how even the most simple of objects like a lemon from your garden, a small plate or a bottle of olive oil, wrapped with cloth, can elevate the everyday by adding a layer of thoughtfulness behind gift giving.

Recommended reading:  I had a fateful meet up at Heath with another Gift Wrapper who happened to experience Scotch Brands Most Gifted Wrapper Contest experience like I did.  Nice to meet you Shasta Garcia!  Read (click below) her wonderfully summarized blog about the Tenugui demonstration.
Another recommendation is to read "A Rambling About Tenugui" (click below) found on the Kamawanu website for a history of Tenugui and the background behind the over 100 year old traditional dyeing technique.

A Heath Ceramic Platter revealed and wrapped with Tenugui 



Great working with you again Regina! 


Granola Box wrapped in Tenugui 



Olive Oil wrapped in Tenugui