A bunch of young ladies were recently instructed on the crafty caveats of creativity with the most unlikely of materials: duct tape, which according to Farmingdale Young Adult Librarian Natalie Korsavidis, is a surprisingly big hit among the students in her art classes.
“Duct tape is very, very popular,” said Korsavidis, who runs all of the programs for kids in grades 3-12. “If something is popular with my teens, third to fifth graders usually tend to like it as well. I’ve done duct tape before with older kids, so I thought I’d try it with the youngsters this time.”
The focus on the evening’s craft session was the creation of roses, which were made by simply folding sections of duct tape into petals and flowers using a straw for a stem; Korsavidis, who is also the library’s youth services supervisor, was fully supplied with a variety of colors and styles of duct tape so that the ladies attending her workshop would be ready to make whatever their young imaginations dictated.
“We have patterns of all types: tie dye, animal prints, flames, paint splatters, and I just bought gold, silver, and black as well,” she said. “It’s not just plain grey tape anymore… there are so many different styles available now, and you can do some really wonderful, creative things with it.”
In addition to roses, Korsavidis’ class also put together pretty much anything else they could think of, including bookmarks, hair bows, and lots of other neat and practical stuff.
“Other librarians have done it in the past, and I thought it would be fun,” she said. “There’s so much information online on how to make all this stuff, so I just looked it up. Plus, we have duct tape craft books here at the library, so there was plenty of info on how to do this.”
Korsavidis has been with the library since 1998 as a children’s librarian, and was appointed Young Adult Librarian in 2008. However, even after taking over her new position, she said that she makes it a special point to still take on the youngsters as well.
“When I get them in third grade, I get to keep them until twelfth,” she said.
She said she had recently been visited by her former students, who have now gone on to graduate from college.
“And they were orginally my thrid graders,” Korsavidis exclaimed. “You get to see them grow up, get married, have babies. But the time goes by so fast.”
For 9-year-old Kiley, this was her first-ever craft workshop at the library, and based on the fun she was having, she said it certainly wouldn’t be her last.
“Working with duct tape is a lot of fun, ‘cause it’s really sticky and you can make such cool stuff with it,” she said. “I’m having a really good time and Miss Natalie is a great teacher.”
Jenna, also 9, was having a little trouble getting her rose to stick together, but with a little hands-on help from Korsavidis, she was soon cranking out terrific tape-based blossoms.
“Putting together things out of duct tape is hard, but it’s really fun once you get the hang of it,” she said. “I really like to do crafts and I always try and get down to the library to attend classes like this. They’re so cool.”
Korsavidis noted that the summer time is a very busy period at the library, and invited kids of all ages to come down and experience the plethora of fun, creative, and educational programs that they will be offering all season long.
