Mr. Boole Hocks a Loogy

I'm not crafty. I don't have fond memories of sitting on grandma-scented couches learning to knit. Or crochet. Or make those plastic, yarn covered tissue holders. I did learn to sew from my mother. She said, "Go get the stapler, we're going to hem the curtains." Incidentally this was the same week she taught my brother how to cook. To this day he overcooks the microwave mac and cheese in order to get a crispy crust. I don't darn socks either.

Papier-mâché is cool enough. It's kind of like back in grade school when there was cutting and pasting. One good smear of Elmer's glue on the palm of your hand, a patient three minute wait and voilà peeling zombie hand. Maybe papier-mâché is nothing like that. It does give me a chance to utilize my alt commands to get the fancy french symbols though.

Under the category Scrapbooking & Paper Crafts Papier-Mâché is subcategorized. So off I went. Instead of viewing all tabs at once I chose to navigate tab by tab. By far my favorite was the "Projects" tab. Though I will most likely not be papier-mâchéing anytime soon the step by step picture guides and materials lists seemed handy. I will have to remember to relay the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center to the elementary school art teacher who was in the library a few weeks ago looking for ideas. She will be thrilled. Mission accomplished.

Under the "Periodicals" tab the results seemed a bit wonky. The first couple of pages were spot on papier-mâchéish. After delving further, the randomness began. "Your ticket to Wally's Train World" and "The World's Ugliest Airplanes" were lacking in papier-mâchéitude. "New Kids on the Block: A Q&A with 9 New Teddy Bear Artists" had a single mention of papier-mâché noses. I suppose that might be in the realm of relevant but I could have lived without it. Plus now I have bad 80s music on the brain. (This whole MARVELous adventure is one long memory trip for me.) There was also, randomly, an article titled "The History of the Walnut". No papier-mâché there, I read every word. Also slightly off topic was a feature on the Camden-Rockport Historical Society art show. Nothing to report on papier-mâché to speak of but an interesting ceramic display of "polychrome goat-riding Staffordshire figures". Only $1,195.00 for the pair. In general, the search result felt like a well-intended but badly executed photo album. Smack dad between the photo of the great Christmas tree tinsel explosion of '02, and the shot of cousin johnny, clad in new holiday themed pjs, big goober smile plastered across his face, holding a shiny new bb gun, is a polaroid of the cute zoo pandas from the 2nd grade field trip. (P.S. this blog is looking for an editor. A. for content. and B. for comma use.)

I did find some interesting articles on papier-mâché. In Denver there is a working playground made completely out of newsprint and glop. There was also a feature on "Oaxacan Animals in Papier-Mâché". It's fun just to say Oaxacan. It's like hocking a loogy with speech. Is it kosher to say "hocking a loogy" as a professional librarian? Will they take away my pencil skit and my low worn glasses?

I'm beginning to see MARVELously similar themes of "create alerts", "save searches", and "project folders". Cloud research is the way to go it seems.

In general I found it preferable to utilize the PDF versions of the found articles as it seemed easier to navigate and included better formatted pictures.

The "find more like this" button was hit or miss. More than half the time I attempted to "find more like this" from a particular entry nothing would result. When I used the broadest articles to "find more" there were various mores but the original search option would have been just as efficient.

My home library has just a few craft magazines so there was no overlap in materials in physical library versus the virtual library. This proves once again how grand readily available web resources can be.

The Help section seemed like too much to browse just for giggles. I usually jam the square peg into the round whole without asking questions in order to manhandle my way to the answers I want. (I also tend to have parts left over after mantling anything mechanical; directions are a last resort contention not a plan to follow.) However I did learn something. I've managed to get this far in life without knowing exactly what Boolean logic was. Whenever the term Boolean was bandied about I practiced my go-to smile and nod. (It's a classic move.) I now know the ands, ors and nots about Mr. Boole. Thanks EBSCO help.

Now that I'm done typing papier-mâché for a while I can't believe I didn't think to look up piñatas.

I promise to create some sort of prized creature out of wire, flour, water and paper for the first person to bottle Grandma couch smell for me.

Happy Reading & Cheers!

(Hedgehogs have nothing to do with papier-mâché but we had one in the library this week and it was Über cute. Must get myself a hedgehog.)