Creative Sari making

Jane from Walsall has asked about Saris (is that correct, or is Sari a plural?) Anyway the answer is yes, kids have made Saris from Koloron before. This picture is some years old and was, I think, taken in Wales during one of our workshops. So Jane, please let us see your pictures when they are ready.

The results above are wonderful; the kids spent the day painting Koloron as part of a fabric design workshop. At the end, a number of pieces were worn as Saris. These two are quite tame compared to some of the designs. Painting the Koloron Art Fabric was the easy bit -wearing it is more difficult. I understand YouTube has demonstrations so we none of us have the excuse not to try Sari making.

It requires somewhere between four and nine metres of unstitched fabric to be a Sari and we recommend that you use the large 10 metre roll of Koloron. It will give you a single piece of Art Fabric - plenty large enough for an adult Sari or possibly enough for two child-sized Saris.

Having got the practical bit organised you can enjoy the creativity. Brush paint, rollers and even spray paint will cover the largest areas quickly leaving the details to be drawn on or printed. There are literally hundreds of ways of decorating Koloron, just make sure you use colour that will be flexible when dry. If you are using powder or ready mixed poster colour it is a good idea to add a little PVA to the mix as it will ensure you don't get dry colour flaking off.

Also you can apply the design to the Fabric with gel paints or glue and glitter. Most things stick to Koloron and of course it is easy to cut with scissors and there is no need to hem. Koloron doesn't fray.

If however you want to be traditional the following link will take you to the Diwali page of the Koloron website and has a number of images that will help you design your own fabric for the festival. http://www.koloron.com/pages/actmenu-index.html

Have a go.

Gill

Our thanks to Berol for the picture

Really loud Art Fabric

Jonathan from outside Leicester said he had seen Koloron 'Flats' used in a demo against the building of an ECO TOWN close to where he teaches. Close to me too Jonathan. Anyway we were not aware of them being used to fight the proposed new town but I have pulled out a picture that has appeared in a Koloron leaflet we created for BEROL. It was a couple of years ago and shows school kids demonstrating. Perhaps not the most creative use of Art Fabric but effective nonetheless. I thought it was worth sharing.

The 'Flat' is particularly useful when demonstrating because it really gives a big area to write on and don't forget, it has two sides, a front and a back. And a Flat will also make a sandwich board. Simple wooden frames under each side and you have a lightweight and rigid pair of signs to get your message across.

One final thought on this subject worth passing on was the clever use of Flats as a background for a stage review I was invited to last summer. Six kids standing in a row became the backdrop. They had a pastoral scene painted on their backs and a seascape painted on their fronts. Stood with their backs to the audience when the curtain opened they spun around together to reveal the blue ocean. It got more than a round of applause.

All this said if you want to make a point paint a 'Top' with your message and put it over whatever you're wearing and get out there. Not enough of us say enough about our world.

Tabards take to the Catwalk

Nice idea this and really affordable. This uses readymade Tabards. They cost £1.60 each. Ten of these, a little paint and a lot of creativity and you're in the Fashion Business. Really quickly too.

We see some wonderful examples of students working with Koloron, often they put in hours of work and our web site has plenty of examples to show. However time is not always a resource readily available, sometimes overnight results are required. Well here's an answer for young fashion wannabes.

An instant Collection.
A pack of Tabards is all it takes and in a few hours you have a catwalk parade to stun the audience. Models wear a black body and black leggings and a tabard painted with creative artwork. Strong bright colours, sharp vibrant shapes, textures and finishes. And it's out in front of your audience with your first Original Collection. Beat that for a red-letter day.

Dolce & Gabbana 2008 Fashion Week Collection

included a lot of hand painted fabrics, inspiration

enough for anybody who feels for paint, colour and life.

We went to London to visit the Queen

Following on from the note about the Wall (see below) Steve sent this picture after a trip to London prompted the design of a mural. Penny is filling in with a big marker adding her contribution to the work 'What we saw in London'.

The kids were encouraged to sketch whilst there and to communicate their day to the rest of the school by producing a 60ft frieze that was taped along a corridor at school.

Steve from north London took a large roll of Art Fabric and split it down the centre, joined the ends together to arrive at a 60ft frieze. Starting with the begining of the day the children recreated the things they saw, with I suspect, Steve's guiding hand with the highlights.

Exciting stuff can we have more please, Mike

Koloron and the longest visitors book ever

Brian from Brighton asked about using Koloron Art Fabric as a tablecloth to help celebrate a school's special dinner. We were able to tell him that a street party used the same idea for a Millennium bash, we never actually saw it but the description was exciting. Everybody writing down their take on the day.

What we can say we saw, however, was the idea of using Koloron as a visitor's book. The UK launch of Koloron at the British Museum in April 2000. Across the steps of the main entrance we set up a giant roll of Koloron and rolled it out across a run of trestle tables. Everybody who visited the event was given marker pens to record their presence at The Big Draw.

As the length across the table became full of markings, drawings and comments we pulled more out and rolled up the artwork at the other end. We believe we created the longest visitors book ever. We had over 143 metres filled with hundreds of records of the day.

Hope you have a great event Brian but it's going to have to be a major event if you are going to beat our record. 143 metres is long.

Koloron on Squidoo

We have created a list of our Squidoo Lenses. Check it out following the link. So many creative ideas. Here is the link

Regards

Cornelia White

A really good offer – half price, no less

Thank you Richard from Swanage we’re glad you made such good use of the offer.


If anybody else wants to take advantage of our over production there are still garments left.

If you are not up to speed on this we have been offering A sized Tops, Tabards and Flats at half price. It is due to a stocking error and they are without wrappings and we’re selling them in bundles of 50. The garments are fine and in excellent order and correctly labelled. They are just in bulk and will suit any store cupboard for creative 3-5 year olds.

Click on the offer button on our Home page www.koloron.com

Regards,

John

Koloron

Isn't this a great wall?

Isn't this a great wall? I came across it in Barcelona in 2001 whilst on holiday. What I loved was the contributions made by such obviously different personalities. On the right hand side you can spot the influence of Picasso's Guernica.

Kids creativity is something we all love to see, trouble is it's not always in the most appropriate place. Yet a wall is a really good place to work. Urban artists think so too.

Koloron Art Fabric is one answer because it can be stretched and taped against a wall. Young artists can go mad and you can roll the work up and store it really simply. If you get your class to sign and date it first it becomes a great record. Taped up for all to see at a summer fete they're real talking points and because kids follow trends and fashions they are also historical records. Invite your lot to record a national event, perhaps their memories of the Olympics or paint a mural of the football crowd at a local game. Might even make the local paper.

Near where I live they want to build an Eco Town. I think I have enough to say to fill a 30ft x 5ft piece of Koloron.

John at Koloron, thanks Spain