Arts & Entertainment

Decoupage Draws Creative Crowd in Elkridge

The Elkridge Library held an arts and crafts event Dec. 6 and 13 for teenagers to create gifts for their families. If you're in need of a last-minute gift, you can do it too!

Sarah Russo, who works in teen services at the , wanted to do something for the younger demographic to celebrate the holidays. She knew that money was tight for everyone this year, especially for teenagers whose usual part-time jobs were no longer available to them as the economy headed south. When a coworker mentioned she had a bunch of her husband's cigar boxes to get rid of, Russo knew just what to do with them.

Decoupage, as she explained to the 20 or so attendees at the Dec. 6 session, is the art of making collages on the surfaces of things like boxes, mirrors or ornaments. It can transform ordinary objects into mini masterpieces with just a little glue, water and paper.

Russo had the decoupage mixture of glue and water ready for participants. Ornaments, cigar boxes, wooden snowflakes and styrofaum bowls were the canvases. All attendees had to do was coat their objects of choice with the gluey mixture using paintbrushes. Colorful, glittery tissue paper and festive rolls of wrapping paper were on hand to paste atop each box or ornament. There was also papier mache so attendees could make bowls. View the pictures to see the creations.

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And while Russo initially presented the event as one for teens, a group of older folks was interested in attending; without any hesitation, she welcomed them. They came through Humanim, a human services program for people with disabilities. She wasn't sure how they would get along, and it turned out she didn't have to worry. In the conference room of the library, the two age groups worked at tables side by side, loosely associated but bound together by the spirit of imagination and the season, just like the artworks they came together to create.


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