Artist Profile: Kathleen Elliot

As I look through the World Art Glass Magazine’s Anniversary issue I am in awe of all of the great glass artists included. Kathleen Elliot’s work just jumped out at me. Her realism in her botanicals is fantastic. They’re almost edible. I needed to share it with everyone. She’s had many careers within her life with glass work being her most current and hopefully long lasting.

Kathleen was introduced to glass by a friend that did scientific glass blowing. He was sculpting and playing and showed her how. She obviously really enjoyed it. She started with blown beads and lampworking and jewelry making.

After taking classes at Pilchuck Glass School with Laura Donefer, Robert Mickelsen and Shane Faro she found her current and most fabulous style. It was after Shane Faro’s class that the move from bead making to art glass sculpture really took hold. She says she is most inspired by William Morris and Vincent Van Gogh. William Morris has integrity to his art and Van Gogh great feeling. These are traits highly important to her and her art. She shows in galleries all over, such as Pismo Fine Art Glass and if you want to get to know her better check out her blog.

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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