Garden Kites

I wanted something else for the Zensical garden. Something fun. I thought I'd like something like a Weathergram or a Tibetan prayer flag. Something that would bring a little movement into the garden.

Weathergrams are written on a 10 inch long by 2.5 inch strip of craft paper or paper bag. Two inches at the top of the strip is folded over with a hole punched in the folded portion. A piece of twine is looped through the hole and tied to a tree or support. A short poem or quote is written on the strip. The first letter of the poem or quote is usually written with vermillion ink. The Weathergram is hung outside from a Solstice to an Equinox or vice versa. If it survives the elements, fine, and if it doesn't that's fine, too.

The Tibetan prayer flags are written on special colored papers or cloth. Blue, white, red, green, and yellow. To represent the elements. (Sky/space, Air/wind, Fire, Water, and Earth. There are also special symbols on the papers. The prayers and thoughts written will be blown by the wind to spread good will to all space.

So something fun. No rules, could be hung out in the elements for however long it lasts (hopefully longer than an hour), and would biodegrade. Well, not too many rules. (-;

I had some brown lunch bags ( Kraft paper), cheap and sturdy. I cut the top and sides off. The top of the bag had a built in fold. The bag measures 5 .25 inches across so I thought I would use a square piece. Except the square might look like laundry when it's hung outside so I decided to hang it like a diamond.

Writing was done with sumi ink which is supposed to be waterproof. Illustrations were colored in using colored pencils.

The first, was written as a thanks for The Eldest finding a good job after many months of searching. From the Irish Blessing: May your hands always have work to do.

The second was written during an art Skype date with my friend, A. When we are able, we chat over Skype and work on small art projects. I met A. 19 years ago through Masscribes, the Massachusetts and Rhode Island calligraphy guild. We became fast friends, and I'm grateful for her friendship. From the Girl Scout song: Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.

Pleased with how they turned out, they seemed a bit bare. I have a box of embroidery floss from the days when I embroidered samples for a woman in town who had a needleshop. The embroidery floss turns the plain into a fun, kite tail.

Oh, holes for the floss and twine were reinforced with reinforcement labels for a bit of stability. If/when the paper disintigrates, the twine and the floss will be picked up by birds and critters for their nests.

Not sure what to call these things. Gardengrams? Garden Flags? Garden Wishes? Garden Kites? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?