Category: Arts & Crafts

Nature in Your Craft Box

By Mariah Bruehl, 10th March 2014

Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share some ideas and inspiration for encouraging the little makers in our lives.

Including natural objects in your craft box not only expands the creative experience but opens up so many learning opportunities with your little ones.

Humans have been creating and learning with natural objects for 1000’s of years. The planet is abundant with natural supplies – some commonly found throughout the world, others unique to one specific area.

When out collecting natural materials from your area, always remind your child how delicate the earth’s ecosystem is, and that you will only be collecting a limited amount, so that other creatures also have what they need.

What kind of supplies should you collect?

Here are a few suggestions:

different colors and shapes of leaves * pine cones * acorns * empty nut shells * fallen bark * moss * rose hips * skeleton leaves * seed heads * different types of rocks * abandoned shells * driftwood * nut shells * flowers for pressing * abandoned egg shells * feathers

Continue to explore nature throughout the seasons to observe the changes that have occurred and to discover new supplies that are found only during specific seasons. Collecting fallen acorn caps and ‘conkers‘ (horse chestnuts) is something that our family looks forward to every Autumn!

While out searching for your new supplies, ask your child simple questions to start a conversation. As you pick up each leaf, seedpod or shell remark on what the piece reminds you of. For example a piece of driftwood may resemble the body of a duck, or a pine cone the chubby body of a gnome. This invokes the creative mind to see objects beyond simply what they are.

Or you may comment on how a certain shell reminds you of a storybook that you have read with your child or an interesting fact that you learned on a field trip together. Having the child recall the information about the book or experience stimulates the analytical mind and sparks curiosity.

Now what to do with your new found treasures?

To stimulate the artistic mind, I have found the following craft books to be filled with great ideas, techniques and inspiration:

Seashell sorting using a Playful Learning

Mathematicians at Work #14 Printable!

To stimulate the analytical mind use the collected materials as learning aids:

pebbles or shells for counters in Math
create your own Nature Museum
test magnetic principles, buoyancy (does is sink or float?), or electricity (does it conduct electricity?)
botany (species of trees and plants)
life cycles (plant the seedpod to see what grows!)
early man (how they created tools from stones and branches or used berry juice and bark for writing)
birds (empty egg shells, bones, feathers)
paint letters or words on small stones for spelling and sentence structure
look at the items under a microscope

Continue to think about using natural supplies when shopping for additional supplies such as:

natural beeswax instead of paraffin wax
wool felt instead of synthetic fibers
cotton fabrics instead of polyester or rayon
wool or cotton yarn instead of acrylic blends
wool roving instead of polyester stuffing
natural watercolor paints instead of oil-based paints
glass or metal containers instead of plastic options

Weaving 101

By Mariah Bruehl, 3rd February 2014

Heather of Poppy Haus is with us today to share a DIY on a wonderful weaving project for kids and grown-ups… I can’t wait to try it!

In addition to being a mom and a DIY blogger, I am also an Interior Design student. Earlier this year I took a textiles class where I learned about fibers, fabrics, printing techniques, and weaves. One of our final assignments had us building simple looms from a piece of cardboard and string to create a wool tapestry using a variety of weaving techniques. For this post, I sat down with a couple of crafty 10 year olds, Ella and Amelia, and following the same steps, they built their own looms and tapestries. This is my favorite kind of project; the kind where math and art combine, and composition and craftsmanship influence the end result. I think they did a beautiful job! Here’s the tutorial in full. Follow along with the photos and it won’t feel all that complicated, I promise.

Materials:

1 piece of cardboard, at least 8 inches wide, and 15 inches long
Embroidery thread, or thin string, about 14 yards
1 piece of construction paper or cardstock
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
Yarn (multiple colors)
Wooden dowel or stick, cut to about 8”
Leather or twine for hanging

Step 1: Making the loom

Using a ruler, mark the center point of the width, and mark ¼” segments 10 each side of center, a total of 21. Repeat on the other end. Cut the segments ¼” deep with a pair of scissors.
Wrap the end of the thread around the outermost cut, winding in one or two spaces, then back to the outer cut to secure the thread.
Wind around, lengthwise, end to end, with decent tension (do not warp cardboard) until you reach the last cut on the other side, secure in the same way, by wrapping back in and out, and trim the end. You have made the warp! And you are ready to weave in the yarn, crosswise, this is called the weft.
Fold a piece of construction paper in half lengthwise, then fold until it is about ½”x 8”, insert under the strings on one end. This lifts them for weaving.

Step 2: Plain Weave (Tabby Weave)

To start weaving, wrap a few feet of yarn around your pinky and thumb to form a skein.
Starting from the left side, with the loom in front of you, lengthwise, paper side closest to you, insert the end of the skein in and out the first few warp strings, tuck the end down toward the paper.
Starting from left to right, weave over and under each warp thread, back and forth either side. keep it really LOOSE, if you make it too tight, it’ll pull the warp threads together and the tapestry won’t be straight. Do about 10 rows to make a full inch. Push it down to compact and make the weave tight.

Step 3: Sloping

After an inch or so of tabby, starting 4 warp strings in, anchor your yarn as you did with the plain weave, and work back and forth, plain weave, to the other side, 4 places in. Do this for 5 rows, the drop a warp thread each side, repeat for another 5 rows, drop another each side, repeat, until you get to just two warp threads, winding around 5 rows, cut off and tuck under. You now have a big triangle.
To fill in the sides of the triangle, tabby back and forth in different colors, varying the width of each row, to create a gradual sloping effect.
Follow with another inch (10 rows) of plain weave.

Step 4: The Swedish Braid

Anchor your yarn, and go over 2 warp threads, looping under the 2nd thread, repeat all the way across.
Go back and forth at least 4 times to create an inch of braid.
Follow with another inch of plain weave

Step 5: Dovetail

Working with three different skeins of yarn, create color block by interlocking weaves as they meet on warp yarns. To do this divide the loom into three sections, of 7 warp threads each. Tabby across, when, where they meet, twist the yarns around one another and turn back, the middle row will interlock on both sides, or one of the outer blocks can not connect, leaving a slot.
Follow with another inch of plain weave.

Step 7: RYA Weave (the fringe weave)

This one is fun! Cut yarn several (40-60) 1 ½ inch pieces of yarn.
Center the yarn over two warp threads and pull ends up through the warp. Go across one row.
On the return (right to left) drop the first warp thread so that your knot will offset from the first row. Repeat for 3-4 rows.
Follow with an inch of plain weave.

Step 8: Tie it Off

Pull the paper guide out of the loom, and compress the weave, it will be about 5”x5”.
Cut the warp threads (leaving 5 inches of thread on either side to tie off.
Use a square knot to tie 2 threads together at a time, trim flush with the tapestry.

Step 9: Tassels!

I made pom-pom tassels for the girls to hang off their tapestries. To do this just wrap yarn around the tines of a fork, about 50 revolutions.
Remove the looped yarn, tying around the middle with another piece of yarn.
Cut the loops and even out to make a perfect ball
Attach to the back side of the tapestry with a piece of yarn, just by knotting through some of the weave under the RYA tufting.

Step 10: Hang and Enjoy!

I attached the tapestry to the dowel by looping pieces of yarn through the weave, tying it off, trimming and inserting the dowel.
Knot a piece of leather cord around either end of the dowel and you are finished!

Ideas + Resources for Collaborative Art

By Mariah Bruehl, 30th January 2014

Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us today to share some inspiring resources for creating collaborative art with the budding young makers in our lives.

I just adore the concept of creating with your child. There are so many different ways in which you can create with the littles in your life. It just takes a little planning and preparation in order for it to be successful.

Below are a few ideas to help you free your creative side and spend some time exploring the imaginative side with your favorite little people.

Online Resources:

1. Busy Mockingbird blog. Particularly this most delightful post, which discusses the unexpected collaboration of the artist with her four year old. The line “ if you can’t share, we might have to take it away ” was spoken by her daughter one afternoon when Mica brought out her new sketchbook and made her change her mind about components of her art. The final products between mother and daughter are so very inspiring. I want to begin collaborative art with my little ones tomorrow! Keep an eye on the TED X talks as Mica Angela Hendricks is preparing for a talk at the moment.

2. Amag This is an online architecture magazine for children and adults to engage in together. It is part of the Open Educational Resources hub, which enables family access to educational content from around the world. This is such an intensive program. There are endless ways in which this site can foster creative development. The supportive education content that goes with each article is simply amazing. This is a concept I hope to share with my boys. An example of a learning experience can be found here.

3. Made By Joel Joel is an artist and designer who founded this wonderful site. He offers such an amazing range of activities which are often collaborative in nature and engaging. If the concept of drawing and creating freehand is intimidating at first, why not start with coloring pages to sit down and enjoy while dinner cooks on the stove? Some free coloring sheets can be found on Made By Joel’s site here, or you can purchase posters from other resources to color together. My personal favorites are these amazing Draw Me A Lion posters and the Giant Coloring Pages from OMY shop.

Hands on Ideas:

1. Projecteo Gather a series of images captured by your little ones from a nature walk, number search, LEGO creations, cooking, books shared or of favorite people in your life. Rather than have these image live in the digital world have them made into a mini projector at Prejecteo. The following code will give you a discount! FRIEND08ZT

2. Collaborative Weaving, which I shared about a few weeks ago. This is such a delightful project that knows no boundaries.

Reading Resources:

1. The Artist’s Way for Parents: Raising Creative Children by Julia Cameron, published by Allen and Unwin.

There are three key tools that Julia encourages every parent to incorporate into their lives and the lives of their children:

A. Morning Pages – Three pages of longhand writing that the parent does alone. A portable, private support kit for the parent, a safe place to process feelings, ultimately making you able to be more present in your day and with your child.

B. Creative Expedition – A once-weekly duel adventure that the parent and child plan, look forward to and take together. A creative expedition doesn’t need to be large, but it does need to be festive.

C. Highlights – A daily bedtime ritual in which the parent and child each share their favorite moment from the day

I believe so very much in Julia’s three guiding principles. I just need to be able to put these into practice. I can envisage Step 2 and 3, but Step one I am not so sure!

2. Big Kids Magazine BIG Kids Magazine is an Australian contemporary creative arts publication that features the work of children and artists side by side. BIG stands for Bravery, Imagination and Generosity. The magazine accepts submissions for their magazine throughout the year in regards to specific themes. This magazine is delightful in every way and truly values the relationship between artist and child.

Photo Credits: The Busy Mockingbird / Amag / Made by Joel / OMY Shop

Starting a Communal Loom

By Mariah Bruehl, 30th December 2013

Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us today to share a wonderful community building, art making activity—starting a communal loom.

Recently I have become interested in weaving. I have been inspired by the amazing Maryanne Moodie, who is an Australian artist now based in New York.

While Maryanne was still in Australia, I had the opportunity to work with her and was inspired by her communal loom, which was set up in a florist shop in Melbourne. See images here, here, and here. Isn’t it the most beautiful form of building a community that you can ever imagine? I just want them to pop up everywhere.

I decided to set about creating a communal loom for my home and my school. I am so pleased to be able to share with you the completed loom and the beginning stages of creativity, at the all girls school in which I work.

The loom was created very easily by using the frame of an old painting easel as our base.

Nails were added across the top and the bottom of the frame 10mm apart. Onto the nails I was able to string up my loom, or the warp, and voila! the loom ready for weaving was born.

The easel makes it portable and easy to set up in the garden, classroom, or even to take home.

I have introduced the girls to the basic tabby stitch and have added a few rya stitches in just for me. The loom is set up on both sides and we use it in the gardens at school, where all are welcome to weave.

The loom welcomes children before school on the front veranda and pops up throughout the day in the garden, library, or even classrooms. It is a communal activity that I have encouraged the girls to bring family members along to, as well as their own yarn. I can not wait to see the final product. We are, however, focusing on the process, rather that what we will do with the final piece.

Here are some You Tube links to a few stitches that will get you started…

Color Theory for Little Ones

By Mariah Bruehl, 25th October 2013

Randi from Swoon is with us today to share some fun tips for exploring color with children. Don’t forget to watch the video with your aspiring artists for a does of inspiration…

Whether we recognize it or not, color plays an important part in each of our lives. It can excite us, inspire us, or remind us of something important. Understanding how color works is both fun and useful. My girls and I have talked about color theory and mixing before, mostly in the midst of afternoon painting sessions, but recently we decided to get messy and play around with it a bit. We started with a nice sized piece of butcher paper and three bottles of finger paints: red, blue, and yellow.

The Basics:

Most adults know and take for granted the fact that all colors stem from the three primary colors-red, blue, and yellow. This fact alone is fascinating for children, especially when they can see the colors being “made” right in front of them! Mixing the primary colors to make the secondary colors of violet, green, and orange is a great activity and starting point, especially for young children. I placed a portion of each primary color in a triangle shape to start with, and then my daughter used her fingers to carefully mix each color with the one next to it to make up the secondary colors: red+blue=violet, red+yellow=orange, yellow+blue=green.

This transformation was not a surprise to my daughter, as she already knew these simple concepts, but she was delighted to make the process happen herself using her hands. We recreated this scenario many times before moving on! In fact, we made a fun little video…

Color Theory for Little Ones from Randi Edwards on Vimeo.

If you have older children, or a young child with an excellent attention span, here are a few more things to explore:

Advanced Concepts:

Tertiary Colors: Mix each primary color with the secondary color next to it to create the tertiary colors, which are: blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, and blue-violet. Talk about the differences in these colors.
Make a Color Wheel with all 12 of the colors you’ve created. Talk about which colors seem warm, and which seem cool (see an example here).
Complementary Colors: Two colors directly across the wheel from one another are said to be complementary colors. Because of their opposite natures, they have a striking appearance when placed near one another. Spend time playing with these colors next to each other. Mix them together to create gray/black.
Shading and Tinting: Mix white with a color to create a lighter tint (for example: make pink out of red), or add black to make a darker shade. You can also add a small amount of the colors complement to darken the shade.
Color Harmony: Experiment with placing and playing with different color combinations. Which ones seem to work well together? Which combinations are your favorites? What do different colors and color combinations mean to you or remind you of? How do they make you feel?

*A note about materials: My daughter and I used finger paint, which was a lot of fun, but does not carry a lot of pigment. To make a bigger impact, or to explore some of the more advanced concepts, you may want to switch to acrylic paint as it is more pigmented and heavy bodied. You can still use your hands!

A few of our favorite books about color:

1. Color Dance by Ann Jonas

2. The Game of Red, Yellow, and Blue by Herve Tullet

3. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Printable Bookmarks Two Ways

By Mariah Bruehl, 23rd October 2013

Monique of Green Acorns is with us today to share useful bookmark printables to inspire the young readers in our lives…

There have been so many lovely book lists recommended here at Playful Learning, it’s clear that we all share the desire to instill a love of reading in our children and that our children do enjoy books, whether they’re reading to themselves or being read to.

In raising life-long readers, it’s important that children comprehend and can interpret what is being read, that they feel a connection with the stories and are engaged, and that they can respond in meaningful ways. Having three children ages five, eight, and ten, who love to read, there’s a range of reading skills to be mindful of in our household. Perhaps it’s similar in your home.

My oldest spends a lot of time reading on her own and, knowing that she has strong skills, it’s easy to leave it at that. She just about devours books, however, and I feel it’s important to have her pause occasionally and spend some time reflecting on what she’s just read. My middle child also has strong reading skills but as his book selections become more advanced I want to make sure what he’s reading is still a good fit for him. I also want him to practice summarizing what he’s read in his own words. And my youngest… she’s SO eager to read and wants to read chapter books on her own just like her big brother and sister. We’re currently reading the Little House series with her and she will often get out the book and “read” ahead on her own. She clearly wants to feel independent with her reading.

While reading with children, it’s a good practice to stop occasionally and ask questions and make meaningful connections (that reminds me of… remember earlier in the story… etc.). Sometimes, though, when life gets hectic, it easy to forget to check in and just keep on going. A tool that I have found helpful for keeping up with check-ins is a sort of “reader’s response” bookmark. This bookmark has questions right on it to ask after reading and serves as a reminder for me and my children to take time to review and summarize what has been read (the questions can be simplified for younger readers).

I also noticed, with my daughters especially, that when they pick up their books for reading the next time, they are scouring the page to find where they left off. My youngest just chooses a random spot. My oldest, carefree and ever industrious, will leave off right in the middle of a paragraph. So, I created a book mark with an adjustable indicator. When they open their books, they can clearly see where they left off last time. As all my children usually have more than one book going at a time, both bookmarks get well used.

Whatever stage your reader is at and whatever their style, I hope one or both of the bookmarks will be as helpful to you and your children as they have been for us.

Click here to download bookmarks. Print and follow directions to assemble and use!

Crafts for Kids: Painted Stick Mobiles

By Mariah Bruehl, 9th October 2013

Monique of Green Acorns is with us today to share a lovely craft that puts all of the cool sticks we find on our nature expeditions to good use!

Today I thought I would share a craft that my kids and I recently enjoyed: painting sticks and stringing them into a mobile. I think I have mentioned before that my children love to collect things, especially bits of nature found during our walks and hikes. Well, that includes twigs and sticks. For whatever reason they find some attractive and must bring them home. I do try to respect their collections but must balance that with some guidelines. Some items get displayed on our nature table. Others, like their sticks, get used in a craft that they can proudly display and enjoy.

Here’s what you’ll need for supplies if your children also have a collection of sticks that need a purpose (or if you would just like to make a lovely mobile from bits of nature with your children).

We chose to paint our sticks “as is” but you can also give them a brief sanding before painting. Each child painted three, which is a good amount for young ones, and we found that acrylic paints worked well.

Since there has been a lot of talk about patterns found in nature around our house lately, my children wanted to paint representations of some of those patterns on their sticks. It turned out to be a wonderful activity for looking at patterns in more detail and inspired some interesting observations. This post provided some lovely inspiration. Of course, you can just enjoy the process of painting on some pretty colors. Aren’t these lovely?

Once the painting is done and dry, it’s time to string them together. Lay out your sticks in an order that you find attractive and space them as you like. You can then estimate how much yarn or string you’ll need, making sure to have extra for tying around each stick. We used yarn and embellished with beads so I added a piece of tape at the ends to make threading beads easy and to prevent fraying as we did so (this is a great fine-motor activity for little ones). The process looks something like this:

At this point you have a finished mobile but feel free to hang decorations off the lowest stick like pressed leaves, dried flowers, tassels, etc. Now you can hang and enjoy your lovely mobile!

Crafts for Kids: Needle Felted Acorns

By Mariah Bruehl, 4th October 2013

Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share an inspiring fall craft activity, needle felted acorns. I am already picturing a big bowl of these little lovelies on our coffee table!

Needle felting is a fun handwork activity that is suitable for most children 7+.* Taught in Waldorf Schools all over the world, needle felting has become popular with many fiber artists as a form of sculpting with wool.

*Note: In order to be successful with this craft, children should have the maturity to respectfully use the required tools. This craft must be supervised by an adult until the child has mastered the technique.

A highly tactile experience, needle felting uses carded sheep’s wool called roving, a special needle felting needle and a foam pad to work on. For this beginner project you will also need a clean acorn cap, and white glue or hot glue.

To start you will need a piece of roving about the size of a child’s palm. Avoid cutting roving with scissors, instead gently pull the wool apart piece by piece separating the natural fibers until you have the amount that you need. Have the child roll the roving between their hands into a loose ball shape.

Place the ball on to the foam mat and help your child hold the barbed needle and gently poke the ball repeatedly in an up and down motion until the fibers start to tangle and hold together on their own. Start off slowly and take care not to twist the needle as they are somewhat delicate and will snap off. Continue poking the fiber until it gradually becomes firmer and less “hairy”. Roll the ball in your hands periodically to maintain the round shape. Repeat these steps until you and your child have formed a fairly tight round ball.

Once your child is happy with their needle felted ball, apply some glue to the inside of the acorn cap and press the wool ball up into the acorn cap. Hold in place for a minute and leave to dry for a couple of hours if using white glue.

Needle felted acorns can be:

:: used in nature table displays

:: used as counters for learning games

:: gathered in bowls or vases

:: drilled and made into a bunting to decorate your child’s room

:: made into necklaces

:: tied onto packages

:: made in any color to suit the season

To see more examples of needle felted fiber art check out my Pinterest board.

Some of my favorite needle felting books:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

This is a great activity to do with your child on a chilly Autumn day or when you want to make a small gift for someone special. Put on some soothing music, take it slowly and have fun with this wool sculpting craft, the possibilities are endless for what you can create together!

DIY Tear Off Notepads

By Mariah Bruehl, 3rd October 2013

Around here we are pretty serious about paper. It seems as if we never have enough! Like most families, we love to have notepads handy to make lists, doodle, and to jot down ideas. Although my children are just beginning to write, they love to practice their letters and are constantly asking for page after page. I recently learned how simple it is to make your own bound notepads with easy to tear off sheets. I decided it was time to add a few to our art and writing center so my girls would always have the tools they need when inspiration strikes.

These notepads can be made in any size and it only takes about an hour to make a whole batch of them. The best part though, is the option to customize the cover, especially for little ones.

To make one notepad you will need to gather:

25 pieces of card stock cut to desired size (we used two sizes: standard letter 8 1/2″ x 11″ and A2 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ which you can buy without the need to cut)
1 piece of chipboard cut to the same size
1 piece of watercolor paper in same size
Watercolor paints/paintbrush
Paintbrush or Foam Applicator
PVA Glue or Padding Compound
Rubber band or binder clips
A heavy book

Step One: Make a beautiful cover for your notepad. Use watercolor paints to decorate your piece of water color paper. Allow your design to dry fully before moving to the next step.

Step Two: Stack your notepad. Chipboard goes on the bottom, then your card stock, then the cover. Line edges up by tapping the top edges on a hard surface. Use a rubber band to hold pages in line (for larger designs, you may need a binder clip instead).

Step Three: Line the top of your notepad up with the edge of a table or other hard surface and hang slightly over the edge so your notepad will not stick to your table (we learned our lesson after this photo was taken!). Stack a heavy book on top of notepad to ensure the pages stay in place. Paint a coat of PVA or Padding Compound along the edge of notepad, making sure to cover the entire surface. Allow to dry and apply 1-2 more coats. Once your final coat is dry, you are ready to use your notepad! If you’ve done a good job gluing and are careful when tearing pages out, your cover should stay in place.

Now that we’ve made a nice stack of these, I’ve been thinking of all the ways you could use them. I think they would make a lovely gift for a teacher or a Grandparent. You could also personalize each page by choosing to print a monogram or message on each piece of card stock before binding the notepad. You could even use this idea to make fun flip books with your children.

Picture Book Project: The Dot

By Mariah Bruehl, 24th September 2013

Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us to share some creative project ideas for one of our favorite children’s books, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.

I often encourage and nourish the notion of individuality and uniqueness in my children and by chance this week I stumbled upon a delightful picture book to assist in this process.

Have you ever read the book The Dot? The book by Peter H. Reynolds is about a little girl on a journey to discover her self worth and that she does have a talent to offer the world. Sometimes a little praise and encouragement is all that is required.

Here is a link to the story The Dot on You Tube and the book is available here or at your local boutique bookstore or local library. I shared the story with my littles and it opened the door to so many delightful activities. I would actually like to create a version of this video featuring my littles reading the book together with our dot art as the accompanying images. I think this would be a delightful gift for Grandparents or even for a class to do at school.

Here are some activities I plan on doing based on book. Do you care to join in? Do you have any ideas to add?

Set out a morning provocation of water color paints and ask your littles to create their own dot masterpiece. Present paper in a variety of sizes, textures and colors.

Set up a space outside with chalk for dots to be created. Capture these moments of playful learning with your camera. Print out the images and make cards to send to family (send as an email or make a virtual card with an app, such as RedStamp).

Create a Mandala.

Play with confetti.

Make pom poms.

Create a family piece of dot art on a large canvas.

Experiment with color mixing using primary colors.

Create a color wheel.

Make woven dots.

Encourage your children to make their own dot gallery. Invite family and friends over and host a dot exhibition selling your children’s art to family and friends to raise money for a charity. Prices could be as little as $2. Maybe even a silent auction could take place?

Search for dots in nature and take photos or go for a walk in the city and capture city circles.

Collaborative circle art

The littles and I created some adorable silk screen printed dots. The process is long when using a silk screen as you need have patience and wait for each layer to dry before you can add another dot, however it is a lovely activity to have going throughout the day, adding to every now and then.

If you’re looking for some Dot-Art inspiration, check out the work of Rachel Castle here.

You can also check out an interview with the author, Peter H. Reynolds, here.