The final projects in the final week

 We've been practicing as much as possible and it's sounding pretty good. All is almost ready for our dress and tech rehearsal on Friday evening, and then Saturday is the show! 

It's hard to believe we made this out of nothing. I love how when a bunch of creative people get together it just gets funny and wild and sweet in the room. I hope people don't get too tired from the march and can make it to see us.

More props. For some reason I just did not want to buy a cheap nylon flag from the internet so I made one from paper and posterboard. It was fun. I have this three-sided ruler that has six different measurements on it, like the real inches, then scales of 2X, 3X, 4x, 5X and 6X. So it is easy to measure the little nylon flag I do have, and quickly convert it to the size of the posterboard. And then all of the components are practically exact. With a few adjustments. Anyway, it looks great!

Today's project was gluing up a banner to hang at the back of the stage. I had cut the letters and their blocks out but I just don't have space in my house to spread it out so it was a pain until we got the nice weather today and I could do it on the deck. I've made a lot of big set pieces on that deck. 

We're using a lot of big Amazon boxes for set pieces this year, in an ironic way of course, (it's Jamazon) and today on the way home from the store I walked by a really big one all broken down. I know it was maybe someone's potential bed out there, but I can put it back out when we're finished with it I suppose. I thought I shouldn't pass up another serendipitous gift from the universe.

 Here's the banner:

 I still have one big project that seems hard so I've been putting it off, but tomorrow is going to have to be the day to get it done. It's likely to take more than one day. Almost all of the small projects are finished and if I get everything ready, I might make some plants and maybe lanterns, not sure. Probably just wishful thinking. I also have to dust off the pieces I will be taking from the past, and figure out how to fit it all in my car. 

 

Hope it's a good week for all of you making Jell-O. You can do it! There is no bad Jell-O Art, just challenges and the overcoming of them.

See ya! 

Getting There

 I got the shirts done on Monday, a perfect day to hang them in the sun to dry as I printed them. I am pretty happy with the results, though I had to order a darker blue shirt than I wanted. Also had to change the ink to a purple for those as the light blue didn't show up well. It was ambitious to print two colors with a blend for my first day back in the shop, but I managed. Guess I'm still a screenprinter.

Apparently my No ICE reference was too obtuse for everyone who has seen it so far. I'm sort of anti-Disney as well, but that's just an unpopular stance that no one wants to consider valid. Fine, whatever. The good thing about the Jell-O shirts is that they are only needed for one night, so if no one likes them, over the next few years they will sell at half-price and gradually go away. People want something to buy at the show, something I should capitalize on much more.  I'm just not a good capitalist.

 I've just been plugging along on the three or four main projects I still have to finish, and I'm sure I will get them finished, because I have to! I put the sticks on these banners today. I spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring out the colors and sequence of them and of course in this photo they are not even the true colors. I think they'll be great on stage though.

 What about you? Working on your Jell-O piece, or still thinking about it? You still have ten days or so, but you had better do some experiments soon.

Message me by email at dianemcwho@gmail if you have questions. And remember, there is no bad Jell-O Art!

Only two short weeks left!

 Had a long bike ride out to the dentist today, which I love because it brings all the endorphins to balance the stress. I wish I'd taken my phone because I saw some Jell-O roadkill...and it was a flat package of Lime. Unlucky Lime I guess. After you see our show you will get the joke. 

I'm slowly accomplishing what I want to get done. I really love having five or six different types of art projects going at once, one of the best parts of Jell-O time. Writing, singing, sewing, drawing, screenprinting, paper crafts, sets, props, costumes! It's all such a fun blur of time. 

It's gone by way too fast. Only two more weeks now. The fire took a great leap toward completion this week:

 I want to put a light underneath it somehow, and I found some optical fibers I may add as well. I knew I would want to have those boingies for this so I'm glad a made a lot of them.

 

Then I also thought I'd make this into a fascinator to wear at some point. It isn't all glued together yet and looks like it might be one of those that is hard to wear and doesn't hold up well in action. We'll find out.

I've been taking posters around town and that's fun, too. Sometimes people  remember me from last year and sometimes they haven't heard of the Jell-O Art Show even though this is our 37th one. Restaurant people usually know about esoteric Jell-O culture but not in our town!

Hoping some of them will show up. 

 

Every Day is Jell-O Art Day Now

 I wish I were being more productive toward this year's show because my anxiety is mounting and work is the antidote to that...but yesterday I sat in the sun for so many hours because it was one of my last free Saturdays before the market season starts up. And you know, that show on March 28th. The sun was way too seductive to resist.

Our script is almost in its final version, though we keep thinking of ways to make it tighter and more nuanced which we always do right up until the last minute, though we know that is a vexing habit that makes us less polished in the end. But with how fast the world has been changing, we want to stay current and we don't always know that what we are doing is not going to play well so we sometimes have to drop things that will sound insensitive. We can be that flexible but this year we are especially trying to get it together better as last year was a circus with too many clowns and we can do better. 

But as far as props go, that's a part I love so I've been literally picking off the low-hanging fruit by making a bunch of fake food for one scene. And working on the campfire. It's kind of working, though I have many more plans for it and I found some optical fibers yesterday I may try to fix up to add some interest. I'm told to keep it simple every year but that is just not how I operate, so I try, but I layer things up when no one is looking. Then I am reluctant to ask other people to handle props so I make myself in charge of way too much. But every year is an adventure. 

Jell-O Art in progress is next to impossible to photograph in any coherent way but I do like to document my progress and I think the fire is coming along pretty well. 

It's got gold in the flames so ought to look pretty good when I get it all glued up. It wasn't that hard to get it to this stage but there is a lot more to the concept I am struggling to even attempt. But I will do it!

Meanwhile the fake food is pretty fun so I'm roaring along with that, which I can do in the evenings out of scrap materials and some felt I bought because it was there. I'm sewing and glueing and plant to bag up lunches. Come and get it!

 I know these are kind of crude, and the limes look more like really bad pickles but the carrots are great! I like the pizza galettes too, and the apples or tomatoes will do the job even though it's not apparent which one they are. The baloney sandwich was the most time-consuming but I do think we will need baloney sandwiches so I'll attempt more. I don't guess I'll make potatoes for everyone...

I can't tell you how these fit into the narrative but you'll find out when you see the show. One of the most fun parts of our performances is that we start in January (December this year) and brainstorm repeatedly, just choosing songs we want to learn that are sometimes only tangentially related to where we think we're going, and over the ensuing months we somehow make it into a molded salad that works. We have some uncanny way of channeling the zeitgeist in good years though we have to resist a lot. But articles keep appearing in the newspaper that just feed right into what we're doing. IYKYK. Sorry I can't say more.

We're not going to use the Kristi Noem is a bird-legged ho chant, not because she should be let of the hook, but because it is sexist and body-shaming and just a bit too overt. And we don't want her in our show. We put those demons in our show last year and it was fun, but we're over it. Although it will be No Kings Day, so we hope we get some political art. 

Working on the shirt design too. Kind of need to print those this week if I can...I can! I just have to quit sitting in the sun of an afternoon, reading novels. At least if I'm going to be outside I need to be practicing the songs.