[Nfb-krafters-korner] Cindy--making embossed lines cheap and easy

[Rovig, Lorraine]

Cindy, 
Let me tell you a true story...
Susan Povinelli, an NFB leader in Virginia, is blind and a materials
science engineer.  Some years back I found her at an NFB of Virginia
convention, off in a hallway, sitting on the rug with her two little
girls (the youngest is now a senior in high school).  They were coloring
in a commercial coloring book, which was a good trick since Susan could
not see the lines.  The trick was that the page had been placed on a
"screen" and the major lines had been traced with a crayon.  This made
ridges that stood up off the page and fingers could interpret. Susan
made the screen from the same stuff that keeps flies out of our
homes--window screening--cut to about 12 by 12 and then the sharp edges
all wrapped with duct tape (sometimes called plumber's tape nor gray
tape).  Place the page on top, have a sighted child trace the major
lines of the simple pictures in the coloring book, and Mommy can color
with the kids.

Susan used such a screen at work in her job at NASA.  Her assistant used
a crayon to trace the line of a 3-month flow chart that the engineers in
her unit used to delineate progress and Susan added regular clear tape
on which she had Brailed a word, a phrase, or a code number to mark
different goals that had to be met by certain times on the calendar.
I've seen one of her charts and can tell you the chart worked for both
the blind and the sighted.

Another idea for tactile drawings: have you discovered fabric paint and
puff paint yet? These are sold at all craft stores.

I wonder whether latch-hook with different thicknesses and types of yarn
would create a satisfying piece that both looks and feels good?


Lorraine Rovig

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of slery
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 12:43 AM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Welcome to Henry and Cindy!

Thanks for the welcome, Joyce.  I'm a little behind on some of my emails
but catching up.  I don't really have anything that I'm currently
working on because I am trying to find my niche with alternative
techniques.

Before becoming legally blind, I have a BA in Photography and I also
worked in charcoal and colored pencil and the occasional cross-stitch or
latch-hook.  Right now, I would love to figure out how to make tactile
drawings.  I'm not particularly interested in collage type drawings
(i.e.
gluing things to paper) but something where I can actually "draw".  I've
thought about maybe using screens with different size holes and/or even
layering these for different effects and placing paper over top of them.

I would also love to figure out a way to make embossed images.  In
particular, some of my favorite photos I would love to have embossed so
that as I lose more vision I can still "see" them.

Cindy

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org]On Behalf Of
Blindhands at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 5:39 PM
To: nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Welcome to Henry and Cindy!


Please welcome 2 new members of the list.  Henry and Cindy.  Drop  us a
few lines and introduce yourselves.  Do tell us what you are working  on
and what you hope to learn in the future with your crafting ventures.

Joyce



************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new
AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
_______________________________________________
Nfb-krafters-korner mailing list
Nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-krafters-korner