Advent 2022: Ode to the Backwards Feet People

A Celebration of Feet!

The Formula

Ingredients:

2 party garments from the thrift store; lots of tulle and beaded fabric from past projects; lots of custom artwork converted into tags and iron-on panels; and lots and lots and lots of foot-related goodies.

The Grand Plan

The Next Frontier in Advent Couture

Here are the completed advent designer gowns - the smaller, glittery one for an 11-year-old, the ridiculously long black jersey jumpsuit for a 13-year-old. An add-on beaded stretch of fabric has been converted into the sash of a tulle apron. Each day, as the appropriate numbered foot tag is found and the tulle unfurled, the garment slowly evolves and takes shape. Along the way the gowns dispense novelty socks, toe rings, ankle bracelets, toenail polish, custom t-shirts, and theme-related iron-on patches.

Elements

Foot-themed elements include the numbered foot tags for the days of December...

A tag for each day

Lots of iron-on additions

The Gowns

Gown A

Gown A breast panel

A bit of ribbon added to the back helps the gown adjust to body size.

Gown A back

A tag on each gown at the back of the sash offers post-Christmas deconstruction tips.

Deconstruction tag

Gown B

Breast panel B

Gown B back

Close-up of Gown B goodies

The Backwards Feet People

While deep-diving into the theme of feet, I googled "feet myths and legends," and to my amazement stumbled upon the backwards feet people — a pervasive legend found in disparate places around the globe very much like the stories of a great flood. A secondary goal for this year's calendar became a commitment to spread the word about these mysterious, elusive creatures. The following text accompanies the bundle containing the first of two backwards feet people t-shirts contained in each gown.

Click to enlarge

The legend inspired designs for t-shirts (purchased from the thrift store and embellished using iron-on images).

The backwards feet running girl

Running girl design

Backwards feet logo t-shirt

Backwards feet logo

The Instructions

The recipients received the following information sheet at the top of the package containing the gowns.

Operating instructions

Thus concludes the tale of the 2022 advent calendar. Hopefully it brings you inspiration and joy, which you are encouraged to pass right along to others.

Advent Calendar 2021: Life is a Giant Puzzle

The advent mystery bags: Which day is which?

This year's advent calendar for two young Colorado girls layers mystery upon mystery and puzzle upon puzzle. The calendar arrives as 24 sealed and decorated bags, and a long length of recycled lace for use as the advent garland. The bags attach to the garland using the glittery pipe cleaners that seal each bag.

The garland fixings.

But wait a minute!

There are no numbers on the front of the bags indicating the day of the month. What is going on? The puzzle starts at assembly and the first round involves a game for the whole family.

 

Note the little triangular tab labeled "clues" on the front of each bag. If you pull on the "clues" tab, a long strip of paper emerges with a set of clues that will help you figure out what day of the month to write on the bag. The clues start with difficult to "weirdly difficult," and proceed to get easier and easier as you continue to pull on the tab. Once you have figured out the correct number, you write it on the front of the bag.

 

The clues revealed!

Maker tip: Note that replicating this idea is far easier than it looks. Decorate 24 bags any way you wish. Cut a horizontal slit about a third of the way down on the front of the bag, the same width as your long question strip. Glue a triangular piece of paper with the word "clues" written on it to the end of the strip that contains the most difficult questions. Feed the other end of the strip into the slit on the bag, and fold the "clues" triangle down so it rests flush against the bag. To save you hours and yours of obsessive-compulsive computer time, I have created a PDF of all of the question strips that you are free to use. The link: Advent 2021 Question Strips.

Sample clue sheet (click to enlarge)

But at this point the fun has just begun. Once the numbers game is over and all of your bags have the correct day of the month and have been attached in order to the lace garland, participants are instructed to turn all of the bags over so the back of the bag is facing outward.

Whoa, a secret message!

A secret message is revealed! In this case the message reads: "When you have figured out these puzzles and think that you are done, you will learn to your amazement: The games have just begun." And yes folks, that is exactly twenty-four words, one word on the back of each bag.

So what is inside? Puzzles! Turns out that buying batches of puzzles online is very affordable. I alternated between 3-d wood puzzles, 3-d metal puzzles, and blank jigsaw puzzles they may embellish with their own artwork.

Inside the bags: more puzzles!

And more puzzles...

...and more puzzles.

And of course, each bag also contains a small piece of candy for each girl each day.

But wait, there's more...

Just to completely wow my little audience of two, I decided to throw in a few rounds of mail art, which will arrive throughout the month of December. Using the book, "Tricks and Puzzles," by Silver Dog Press, 1973, I used their muddy, black and white images of old German picture puzzle postcards from the turn of the century and recreated them at full postcard size by recreating the images using water colors. (Note I have searched far and wide on the internet for examples of these puzzles but so far my only source is this book, which is available used on Amazon). The idea is to randomly send one postcard every few days from an assortment of four different picture puzzles so that the recipients have to guess what the total picture will eventually look like and which postcard fits into which puzzle. I offer just one example below.

Sample puzzle postcard: What could it be?

The answer becomes apparent when you receive all four of the postcards that are part of this picture postcard puzzle.

Full set of four postcards

And that wraps up the 2021 version of the advent calendar.

Advent Calendar 2020: Virtual Culinary Tourism

 

A garland of exotic goodie bags

This year’s advent calendar is tailored for a fun-loving, globe-trotting family with adventuresome tastebuds. After being trapped like rats for the bulk of the year, it is time for them and their tastebuds to have some fun. This year, the eleven- and nine-year-old recipients have been instructed to assume command of daily taste testings for themselves and their parents.

Step One: The Bags

The focus this year in terms of materials was tapping into old supplies on hand, including your standard brown paper lunch bags left over from my early-pandemic paper bag wall, lots and lots of Chinese good luck paper used in rituals for the dead, and metallic puffy paint to jazz things up.

Lots of paper collage for bag fronts

For the bag backs, I collected an assortment of interesting food facts from around the world on the internet - from a research finding that hot chocolate tastes better in an orange cup, to a culture that eats giant fried spiders, to the fact that goat is the most-consumed meat in the world. The bottom of each bag identifies the contents’ country of origin.

The backs: weird food facts

Step Two: The Contents

To my amazement it turns out that international snack assortments are a thing. Apparently some people have been going on virtual tastebud tours for a while, ordering different snack packs from foreign climes for entertainment. Simply google “international snack packs” on Amazon. I settled on three:

Japanese “dagashi” (classic snacks) assortment

Russia/Ukraine assortment

Turkish assortment

Each advent bag contains two to three snacks from a single of origin. Because the labels are in the language of the country of origin, the recipients have no idea what to expect. For added thrills I decided to make December 15 a high-challenge snack day and threw in the following cricket assortment.

Flavored crickets!

Step Three: The Garland

For the garland I used a long stretch of recycled lace from the Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland. In accord with the exotic food theme, I dyed it in a pot of boiling water with turmeric root. At about this stage in production I realized my predominant color theme seemed to be orange, which is decidedly un-Christmasy, but I figure along with stretching their tastebuds they can stretch their aesthetic sensibilities as well. So a very orange Christmas to all! Each bag has a hole punched through the top, secured with a twist of gold or silver pipe cleaner, which is then used to secure the bag to the garland.

Turmeric-dyed lace

Pre-Advent Kickoff Event

Because this has been a trying year and we need all the amusement we can muster, I also included a pre-advent kickoff event. In China people burn offerings to send them to dead ancestors and loved ones on special occasions. Paper replicas are used to duplicate just about anything the dead might desire, including food. I picked up this seafood feast at a store for the dead in Oakland’s Chinatown. It includes the seafood ingredients, a wok, seasoning bottles, and an electric burner - all made of paper. For their kickoff event - to take place any time prior to December 1 - the recipients are instructed to use their backyard fire pit, invite all of their dead relatives who would really enjoy a seafood feast, burn the offering, and merrily sing a song of their choice.

Seafood feast for the dead (foot included to show scale)

Step Four: The Tastings

Recipients are asked to sample, share, and discuss each snack during their daily tastings, and to consider the following questions:

Before tasting, guess what you think it will taste like. How close were you?

How odd, unusual, unexpected is it on a scale of 1 to 5?

How much do you like it on a five-star scale?

What would you compare this to if you were trying to describe it?

Let the holiday merriment ensue! For more ideas, including everything from advent calendar ballgowns to advent calendar time machines, see Past Advent Calendar Posts.

Advent Calendar: Mistakes were Made

This is the ninth in a series of decidedly secular advent calendars. This year's theme is climate change since the recipients, now ages eight and ten, are becoming increasingly concerned and even skipped school to go see Greta Thunberg at a protest rally. Thus the title: Mistakes were Made — by many humans over many years, including probably you and me. 

However, it is also a double entendre —I made more than a few mistakes myself in the course of making this advent calendar (like forgetting to put something in one of the ornaments before sealing it closed with several layers of papier-mâché). This led to a number of weird little notes that direct you from one ball to another ball, and a lengthy, two-page "Advent Manifesto" explaining how all of this works. For you rugged readers who make it to the end, you will find the manifesto there.

I started off with one  papier-mâché ball because the idea of using recycled paper seemed to suit the theme, without thinking much about what kind of commitment that would entail when I needed twenty-four, one for each day of December leading up to the 25th. My work room was awash in flour-water sludge for weeks.

The larger balls hold climate-change-related projects, while the smaller balls hold a chocolate, foil-wrapped "coin" along with a climate change joke. And believe me, climate change jokes aren't easy to come by. I got most of the ones below from a German site, Die Klimaschutz Baustelle. 

Climate change jokes - click to enlarge

Just to make things a little more difficult I decided to add some papier-mâché birds, thinking in terms of the planet earth and the "fowl of the air, fish of the sea" sort of vaguely biblical thing.

Crazed polka dot cardinal

Little yellow bird

A pigeon so gorgeous it warrants several photos...

Pigeon close-up

Pigeon closest-up

And on the twelfth day arose the problem of the fish of the sea. Happily (and it took me half-way through the project to realize/remember this) I have an entire school of papier-mâché fish suspended from my bedroom ceiling. It was simply a matter of reeling in a few, gutting them by cutting a little hatch cover in their bellies, stuffing them with goodies, and papering the hatch cover back in place.

The fish of the sea

The trout

The goldfish (which is truly huge)

The objects inside the larger balls, fish, and pigeon were all accompanied by copy explaining the objects. They included things I've featured on this blog in the past, like DIY Seed Bomb Bangles and Living Mold Jewelry, and futuristic baskets made from recycled plastic and soda top tabs.

Inside of the gorgeous pigeon are several little bags of vintage buttons with the following copy:

While in the midst of making all of this, I spotted and bought two whoopee cushions at the Dollar Store, stuffed them into one of the larger balls and accompanied them with this copy:

Other items included bracelets and necklaces made of corn, peas, and beans that you could plant or eat, a shrine for old sewing needles, pins made out of rusted metal found on the railroad tracks, bee pins with copy about the importance of bees, and much, much more.

My original plan had been to create a garland out of recycled lace, with the objects hanging from the garland. As the project progressed I realized trying to assemble and pack a garland with so many unwieldy objects at this end and having them try to unpack and hang it somewhere at the other end seemed insane.

The garland idea

As a result, and because I was exhausted and had to get this in the mail, I decided to make it a "some assembly required" piece, including all of the lace and hanging supplies, but leaving the decision about how to hang it up to them.

I could not resist accompanying the entire package with the following manifesto. And yes, I hand-drew a picture of the chandelier-style hanging option on page two of the copy I sent. You will simply have to imagine it.

Manifesto page one - click to enlarge

Manifesto page two - click to enlarge

And great good luck to the recipients at the other end!