Caldwell College book signing
Meet the: Le Petit Corsaire Danseurs!
These are small ballet dancers that are made from cat toys, which I up-cycled from my cat's toy collection, and have given them a new look!
The inspiration for this project actually came from a project I made for my art book:
Altered Art Circus, Quarry Books, Feb. 2009. The original project was made from recycled rubber toy animals, which were similar to circus/carnival toys that you might have won at the circus or amusement park, using your tokens or tickets to redeem them.
Circus Toy Animals are getting harder to find, so I used rubber and plastic animals I purchased from a Dollar Store and Michaels Craft Store, which I further painted and embellished with crepe paper, trims and jewels, as a result Jeannie The Giraffe and Alaister the Lion were born.
To update this project, show variation and recycle at the same time I tried the cat toys I had from my cats toy box, these were less played with and in great condition, so I decided to transform them as I had done with the carnival toys in my book.
For the "Le Petit Corsaire Danseurs" I used a stuffed mouse toy as the base, then embellished them with layers of crepe paper, sequins, trims, mini tree ornaments, tiny pearl strands, white floral wire, recycled Christmas tree light bulbs for the crowns, and either my home made mica flakes or a variety of glitters.
Then I had to name them, their names are: Muffy, Matilda, Miranda and Millie!
This project could be done using tiny stuffed bears or animals, plastic animals, felt animals, clay animals, wood animals, pet toys or what ever you have calling for a tutu or crown.
For complete instructions on this project look for Chapter 5, Carnival Toys,
Pages 92-95 of Altered Art Circus!
Hope this project has inspired you to make your own ballerina's and artful toys!
Magic and Joy!
Lisa!
