Delaney Herzing was in the middle of a sticky situation.

"I need help," said the dark-haired 10-year-old from Smithton.

"What do you need help with?" said Tammy Burton, 50, who was teaching 10 kids how to make Duck tape flowers that attached to the ends of pens.

"How you put on (the petals)? I don't get it."

"I will show you," said Zoey Malacarne, 7, folding pieces of colorful tape. "You just put them on the pen like this."

"Oh, Zoey, you make it look so easy," said Delaney.

"It's all about practice and how many times you do it," said Peggy Wade, owner of New Art Legacies in Fairview Heights.

The little house turned art studio hummed with activity. Teachers and students gathered around a table filled with solid and print tape. They pulled, tore, cut and pulled some more until they had enough to dress up a mirror frame, make a photo frame, and then create a layered flower.

Josh Hulliung, 10, was king of camouflage.

"It's good being the only boy," he said. "Nobody wants my camouflage Duck tape."

His 13-year-old sister, Gabriel, favored black-and-white mustache print.

"Mustaches are in," said the eighth-grader at Holy Childhood in Mascoutah. "For Christmas, my friend got me mustache socks."

She likes Duck tape's versatility, that it's fun and practical.

"I used it at summer camp to keep my shoes from rubbing my feet."

Abby Wade, 8, finished her mirror with a mustache in the middle of the glass.

Why?

"So I can look into it and have a mustache," said the second-grader who was on a cross-country move with her parents. Peggy is her grandmother.

The two-hour class flew by. When they needed to share tape, they rolled it from one end of the table to the other.

"Remember when (Duck tape) was just for camping trips and guys?" said Peggy, who opened the business in December 2011.

Peggy and husband Neal had moved to the metro-east eight years ago for what they thought would be an 18-month stint.

"My husband was at Scott," said Peggy, 64, originally from Ohio. "I started taking art classes for fun. They were all on the other side of the river. I figured I might as well open one on this side of river."

The studio offers classes (texture for furniture refinishing, Jan. 10; wine and watercolor, mixed media, Jan. 23; contour drawing, Jan. 12; and painting for children), schedules girls nights out and birthday parties, and sells supplies (paint, canvases, brushes, mosaic tiles, Annie Sloan chalk paints, Duck tape and more).

The Duck tape class was Tammy's idea.

"There's not a kid that comes in that doesn't want to leave with Duck tape," said Tammy, of Millstadt, a bookkeeper turned instructor.

"I got my feet wet (in art) and now I am taking a swim. I made my Christmas presents this year."

They included watercolors and resin necklaces.

"She went from part-time bookkeeper to full-time everything position," said Peggy.

Both women seem naturals at keeping the kids involved.

The challenge of the layered flowers got the young artists talking.

"Mine's so big you can put water in it and use it as a cup," said Olivia Prindable, 10, of Shiloh.

She and friends at Governor French Academy make and sell Duck Tape wallets, ties and bags.

"The easiest and my favorite is ties," she said. "All the money we get goes to Life Network, a charity."

She's a regular at New Legacy. A still- life cupcake class was a favorite. First, she painted the cupcake, then she ate it.

Next to her, Elle Malacarne decorated a pink and black frame with jewel stickers and a butterfly.

"I guess I have a logo now. I put this butterfly on everything I made."

Sophia Smith, 10, of Independence, Mo., had an eye for color and design. The flower was her favorite project.

"You got to pick any color out and make the flower how tall or short you want it," she said. "It's fun and hard. It's fun to have a challenge.

"I will probably make them for some people when I get home.

"She's going to teach her best friend," said her mom, Christina McClain.

"And my sister Maddie who's 5."

Gabriel is more comfortable in the kitchen than the art studio.

"I like to bake, so I do cake decorating classes," she said. "I am not very artsy."

"It's just a different kind of creativity," said Tammy.

What: New Art Legacies

Where: 5605A N. Illinois St., Fairview Heights

Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

More Information on classes: 618 257-0705 or www.newartlegacies.com and Facebook

Want to buy a roll of Duck tape? Prices range from $3.50 to $5.25, depending on design

Duct tape or Duck tape? It was first called duck tape. During World War II, the U.S. military needed a waterproof tape to keep moisture out of ammunition cases. They enlisted Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division to manufacture the tape. Because it was waterproof, everyone referred to it as duck tape (like water off a duck's back). Military personnel discovered that the tape was good for for Jeep repair, fixing stuff on their guns, strapping equipment to their clothing ... the list is endless. After the war, the booming housing industry found the tape was great for joining the heating and air conditioning duct work. The color was changed from army green to silver, and people started referring to it as duct tape.