On August 7th, 2019, at the Wakulla County Extension Office in Wakulla County, Florida, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the unveiling of their courtyard mural. The mural was designed and painted by us here at Sacred Visions Studio, Arianna, Kai, and Avery Nakashima along with additional help from multiple volunteers.
Continue reading “The Creation of the Wakulla County Extension Office Courtyard Mural”
Hello again! I hope every one has had a good May so far, and that you’ve been able to be calm, creative and kind in the wake of all that is going on in the world right now.
As for the recycled craft of May, the star of this month’s project is bamboo!
I count this as recycling, in the case that we have so much of it popping up around our yard, it gets cut down anyway. And while of course it’s great to let it decompose back into the earth, it is also a very useful and versatile wood.
This started when Kai began attempting to carve bamboo flutes last month, and from there other ideas and inspirations came. Here are a few of the flutes, though only one so far is a working one, but that one is more so a whistle.
Using some of the pieces Kai had left over, I reused them to make a wind chime. It’s a little lop-sided (it is my first attempt at a wind chime) but it still makes a lovely sound.
I also made a drum stick, which I created by taking a scrap of quilt batting and canvas fabric, and tying it to the end of a bamboo stick with a length of yarn.
So these were the projects so far, and you can count on there being more in the future. We want to try some other more complex things using the bamboo, and we’ll be sure to show them to you when we’re done! If working with bamboo interests you, you can look it up on YouTube. There are lots of videos on creating all kinds of things out of this fast growing plant.
Or come up with your own ideas. A lot of us have trees and bushes that get pruned every so often, and rather than throwing away the yard debris, why not use the beautiful wood for a craft?
I hope you guys liked this recycled craft post, and maybe got some ideas and inspiration for something you could create.
So until next time, be well and continue to create.
-Arianna
It is finally finished – my first, full-length novel! I am both excited and humbled that this story is ready to share. The March of Stan A. Solve was roughly written as a young teenager, contemplating the ethics of society. This book is extremely painful for me to put into the world, but as I closed on it nearly ten years later, I realized maybe this was something that the world needed right now.
Other than my poetry books, this will also be the first book I’ve put out for an older audience; particularly teenagers, but I hope there are some adults out there who can relate to Jade’s starvation for a more benevolent world.
This tale touches on issues teens face in everyday life, while interjected with paranormal scenes to entertain a more fantasy-drawn reader. The main character, Jade, navigates his way through high school with a different outlook on life than most of his peers. He questions the way of humanity, how young people are treated, and rebels what he believes is not right, all the while aiding a suicidal friend away from darkness and towards his dream.
I almost couldn’t bring myself to finish this book, but something in me told me somebody needed to hear it. Like Jade, discover the rebel inside, and know that we were meant to follow our curiosities, not the expectations placed upon us. We all want to be the hero in our own lives. I won’t ask anyone to enjoy this story, as I must admit, it is not my favorite either, but rather, the inelegant adventure of an awakening. If anything, I hope you befriend Jade as I have, and cheer him on until the very end.
-Kai
Hello, every one! Hope you’re all doing well amidst all the craziness that’s been going on. I also hope you’ve taken some time to take care of yourselves and your loved ones, and stayed creative as well!
This month’s craft project came about while cleaning out our boxes of Christmas decorations. I found a nice ornament box (which was now missing its ornament) and decided to use it as the base for my next craft. This ended up as a piece that could be displayed on a wall perhaps, or if I chose, I could put a backing on it so it could be propped on a shelf.
I began with the box, which had foam padding on the inside. I cut a fabric square from scrap material and made a collage flower from other fabric bits, adding some metallic paint to suggest vines and leaves. A big button was placed in the center, and painted as well.
The piece was then tucked into the box, which was then painted with vines and flowers, also in metallic and a semi gloss paint. Also to note, I glued the collage flower on with an acrylic gloss, which I find to work well, if you don’t mind it darkening the fabric’s color a bit.
How do you think it turned out?
I would have liked the flower vines to have looked a bit neater, but this is how it got painted! I do like how the ornament box made for a nice frame, though. Just think about other old cases, packaging and containers we don’t use anymore! I’m sure there are plenty of similar projects that can be done with all kinds of these things, we just have to think creatively about it.
Hope you enjoyed April’s project, and I will be back next month with something else new!
Love you all and stay safe!
-Arianna
Kai: As the home school trend continues, I decided this month to release my new children’s book from my educational series; “Your New Friends”. The new book is about pet fish, though it also contains general fish facts for those who do not have pets, too.
This book was written by me, while Arianna and I collaborated on the art work. Avery was responsible for the digital design as usual!
Please check out the children’s book page for all of the “Your New Friends” titles, and additional stories, which are free to view and download.
Hi every one! Sorry this post ended up so late! I finally added the finishing touches on this piece, so here it is.
This is a small decorative tree I put together using things I had laying around, and it also incorporates some bits of nature. The only thing that was not technically recycled was the terracotta plant pot. The skeleton of the tree is a branch from an azalea bush. I would consider it recycled since we were pruning and using it for mulching in our permaculture garden, but I noticed how it looked like a little tree, which is how the idea came to me.
I glued the branch into the pot along with a small handful of pebbles I found outside. Acrylic gloss was used as a glue, but you could use any other glue for this as well. The blue and green leaves were cut from fabric scraps, and the gold wire was something unused I had sitting around. As a finishing touch, I attached some old earrings to the branches. My sister and I had made those many years earlier, but we had never done anything with them, so I’m happy they got re-purposed here.
I still have another branch I saved, so I will probably try this craft again in the future.
Thanks for checking this out, and I hope every one is staying safe and healthy at this moment in time. Keep calm, and keep on creating! Love to all of you!
-Arianna
On behalf of the month of Avery’s birthday, I decided it would be cool to put together my collection of sci-fi poetry to celebrate, as he and I are big fans of sci-fi art. While I wrote all of the prose in this book, and showcased some of my best sci-fi scenes, Avery contributed his awesome digital art and design. The cover was his design and painting, and I think it turned out great!
This creative project is a lot different than the other digital books we have done, and I do warn you – some of it is a little scary! (Hence, a collection of weird and wicked poetry) But my hope is to bring different audiences together, to a place where sci-fi meets poetry! As I say in the introduction of this book, enjoy it – before it becomes a thing of reality!
-Kai
Hello again, every one! It’s time for my recycled craft project for February. This month I painted two glass bottles.These were fairly simple, and I’m using them decoratively, as the way they are made is not necessarily suited to functionality!
Both were reused apple cider vinegar bottles (washed and cleaned out very well!) and they were painted on the interior with acrylic paint. I do think they turned out nicely, and I’m looking forward to doing more of these in the future.
As pretty as they are, I do have to say, if you are painting glass, you really should use a paint that is designated for use on glass. These bottles work with how I did them, but they are strictly decorative, and I cannot let them get wet or put anything inside them, because the acrylic paint is too easily damaged. When I attempt this craft again, I will use a glass paint.
An interesting painting tool I wanted to mention is the cotton swab! It came in handy for filling in the paint on the curved edges close to the bottle’s neck. Just bend the swab and you can easily reach the rounded part of the bottle.
So that’s it for February’s craft project! Next month I will have something more complex I want to show you, and it also makes use of some natural materials from nature. Thanks for reading, and I wish you all the best in your artistic projects!
-Arianna
