DIY: Air Dry Clay Vases!

Hey there, friends! 

I'm excited to share a little something I discovered with one of my favorite art supplies: Celluclay(this link will lead you to my Amazon list of supplies). As you might know...I've created a TON of creations with my students and for myself with Celluclay. It's a paper-based air-dry clay that really lends itself to a whole lot of exploration. HOWEVER...one thing I never loved about working with the stuff is painting my creation after the fact. It's got a rough, scratch surface which is difficult to paint AND you have to wait several days for it to dry completely BEFORE you can paint it. That is...until I discovered...you can TINT the clay! Let me show you how:

In this video, I'll share with you two ways of tinting your Celluclay with acrylic paint (although I've not tried it, I'm sure tempera paint would work just fine). You can prep the clay by tinting it ahead of time, wrapping it in plastic and storing in your fridge. This is what I'm doing for a 2-hour class I'm leading today. I've got all my colorful balls stashed in the fridge (ahem). OR...at another class I lead, I had the participants mix up their own clay! I demonstrate both methods in my video. 

What I love about this method of tinting the clay is that I also don't have to struggle to paint in the small areas. For example, painting around those squiggles would have been a struggle and definitely would have had me questioning my life's choices. Now...I can just create the color of clay that I want!

I did cover each piece with a layer of satin-finish ModPodge to help further anchor the pieces in place, give the vases a finish and waterproof them a bit. ModPodge comes in so many different finishes now that it's awesome! They make a sparkle finish, and indoor/outdoor finish...you name it! In a pinch...diluted Elmer's glue also works in place of ModPodge if you can't get your kitten mittens on any.

I have worked with Celluclay with my students in the past. It's fun stuff, especially if you don't have a kiln or you have sculpture projects in mind. For a smaller scale project, my second graders created these sculpted hearts. If you tap the link, you'll find a video of the lesson for you to share with your students:

This was a lesson we did in just a few 30 minute classes! We used foil that we shaped into a heart as our armature. I pre-prepped the Celluclay which made it so much easier! Once dry, the students used acrylic to add color. We hung these in a little popsicle stick frame.

My older students created these Celluclay taxidermy heads that were a blast! You can see all the details here. 

But back to the vases...I was going to include in this post all of the things I've created with Celluclay BUT...I've made so much that I think it deserves it's own blog post. So...that will be coming soon. I also have a ton of videos on my YouTube channel if you are curious about more Celluclay exploration. Check the playlist Clay Projects for Adults and Children for more. 

I will warn you: making these vases is HIGHLY addictive! I even thought for a split second that I was going to go into the vase-making business and started day dreaming about opening a booth at a local craft fair! And then I looked around at all my other half finished art creations which were giving me the evil eye and thought....well...let's just take it one day at a time ;) 

I don't know if you can see this but...look closely at the top of this vase. When the squiggles dried, they did pull away from the vase a little bit. I assume that is because I didn't have the squiggles secured to the vase well enough and they dried, thus pulling away, before the vase itself did. So really make sure you have your bits and pieces anchored down. That seems like a good rule of thumb for all aspects of life ;)

Please do let me know if you have any questions! You can always drop me a line on my YT channel. Unfortunately, due to spam comments, I did have to turn the comments off here. So sorry! 

BTW...I know I've only shared a little of this big news on my Instagram but...did you know I wrote a Decide Your Direction art adventure book for kids? That's right!! I'm so excited and I'll be talking about this more super soon but until then...yay! I always read to my students while they work but I could never find the perfect "art" novel...so I wrote one! This book introduces 7 different artists and the reader decides which adventures to go on. It has 32 different endings and over 80 illustrations! Like I said, I'll share more here soon but if you just can't wait, you can get yourself a copy here! It's perfect for the holidays...and I'll even sign it for you!

Back to School Banners for your First Days of Art!

Well, my friends. The time has come...it's back to school we go! 

For many of us, anyway. I know some of y'all kept on teachin' until, like, the end of June which is absolutely WILD to me. First of all, the temperature here in Tennessee during that time of year is literally the surface of the sun. I cannot imagine trying to teach, let alone put kids on a bus, in that type of heat. And, second, let's be real: I'm tapped out come May. Okay...I'll be for-real for-real...I'm tapped out the week after spring break. So those of you that teach into June, y'all deserve a break.

BUT for those of y'all that are heading back, I thought I'd put together a blog post of a simple, fun and IMPACTFUL project for your Back to Schoolin' days. 

Let's talk Back to School Banners!

One of the biggest back-to-school stressers for me was "what am I gonna teach on the first couple days?!" Because, honestly, that's not of great importance. What's VITAL is establishing Rules, Routines, Do's and Please-for-the-love-of-God Don't's. For that, you may want to check out my book, my videos or my podcast. BUT be sure and pop back here later this week as I've got more coming your way. 

BUT...I always want a project that gets the kids excited! AND that gives me something fun, vibrant and happy to hang up as soon as possible. So, for that reason, I'll be sharing my fave tried and true 

...Back to School Banners!

If you tap the link, I've got a video with more detail on these from how they are made to how I use them in my art room. Full disclosure: I usually create these at the END of the school year for my students to paint/color on field day. Then I hang them up in August to have some bright and happy color in the halls when students return. However, they could easily be created and utilized during Back to School!

Here's how I created these:

* Using large bulletin board paper and an ink filled bingo dauber, I draw the designs in yellow or peach chalk. 

(SIDE NOTE: If you'd like to see/read more about bingo daubers and the lessons I have done with them, check out this blog post!)

* The chalk makes it easy to adjust and erase my drawings before tracing them with the "paint marker" or ink-filled dauber.

* No time to create these? That's okay, I made some for you! You can purchase the banners I created right here. 

Ideas on how these banners can be used in your art room:

* So...you could go the route that you see above if you are feeling brave enough to bust out paint...on the first days of school. I would HIGHLY not recommend that. Trust me...I speak from experience.

* The above photo was taken before I discovered tempera sticks! These work far better than paint as they are less messy and the kids love them. That is what I'd recommend.

Now don't feel limited to creating giant coloring sheets as I have done. In fact, why not take it a step further and have students create a huge self-portrait banner?! 

How to make this happen with a room full of kids:

* Create stations! Have students rotate from table to table. One table could have a banner with frames like this where students can draw their self portrait. I provided construction paper crayons and Sharpies for this. A short selfie demo was given first by instructing students to use ONE frame only (ahem) and draw with their marker before adding color with Sharpies. We made the frames extra fancy by coloring those with metallic tempera sticks.

* The other table stations could include your banners! So students are always active, creative, coloring and moving around the room. This would also be a great way to get students acquainted with your art room.

* Why not include a Gratitude Banner where students draw portraits of their teachers and the faculty and staff in the frames? That's similar to a lesson that I did here and here. 

Now, let's take the Back to School Banner in a totally different direction and make Back to School table covers! In my book Art Teacherin' 101, I talk about how I have my tables color coded as I'm sure many of you do too. Each table is referred to as a 'team' and expected to work together. As they do, I give them points for their table in Class Dojo.

Here's where it gets interesting. On Class Dojo, where you would normally put in a student's name, I put in the table color. EVERY class has the opportunity to earn points for their table team. So...if the Red Team earns 5 points in Ms. Smith's first grade class, those points are earned across ALL of the Red Teams in ALL of my classes. This creates a School-Wide incentive to do well of the team. 

Does that make sense? Let me tell you...it works great!

During those first days of school as we get used to our table and the idea of table teams, I roll out (literally) these color coded mats. After hearing rules and routines, we often don't have much time left in class. So we spend that time adding color and kind words to our table covering. 

Students use construction paper crayons to add bright colors to these banners. 

In the past, I ALWAYS used paper to color code the tables on those first weeks of school. After a month, the banners were a mess so they were tossed. Usually,  I only had them to signify the table colors those first few days and after that, my students knew their table. 

However, when they made these, I really wanted to save them. So...here's what I did:

* Fold the table covering in half LENGTHWISE.

* Slowly put the table covering through the school laminator. Ours was the width of the paper folded lengthwise. 

* Once through the laminator, cut along the unfolded edges of the folded banner.

* And Ta-Da! You now have a banner that is laminated on one side!

Because of the crease, you do have to flatten a bit. I simply taped mine to the underside of each table. 

Added bonus: now you can draw on them with dry erase markers!

And there ya have it! Some ideas for creating fun and impactful Back to School art!

Stay tuned...I've got more projects coming your way!

AND if you are feeling like you need some classroom management tips...I would really recommend you check this out. 

Symmetrical Cicada Prints!

Hey, y'all! The cicadas are coming! Or...in the case of here in Nashville, Tennessee, they are already here. It's been many years since our last cicada summer and while at first I was totally grossed out by these big carcass-leavin' bad boys (and girls), I know rather ... well, I was gonna say "like" but that's a stretch ... appreciate is probably a better word. I appreciate their...gee, what do I appreciate? Their cool look. It's like seeing a bug under a microscope, they are so stinkin' big! 

I've shared several symmetrical printing lessons in the past and they are always a huge hit with all of my students. We've done butterflies (you can find the lesson video in the link)...

And this is kindergarten!

We've also done hearts (again, full video lesson in this link)...

And now cicadas! 

 

If you are interested in a list of supplies I used, here's a link!

Have fun and stay tuned! I have more on this project coming your way!

How to Design Your Own Fabric!

If you've been hangin' around this blog for a while (I thank you!) then you might know that I love to make my own clothing. It started with a desire to craft clothing to teach a lesson in (a la Miss Frizzle) and then morphed into wanting to make everything in my wardrobe. One thing I never seemed to be able to accomplish: Designing my own fabric.

Well...when my book Larry the Line came out, I was able to do just that! But it was easy as the pattern from the book was a stripe pattern. So it naturally repeated making for the perfect pattern. 

However, there were no stripes in my new book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes. So I thought it would be a good time to learn how to design my own fabric. I was so excited with how it turned out! When I shared it on my Instagram, I promised I'd give a tutorial...and, so, here we are!

I hope this helps!

Now I always get dress-making questions too...which I share a little about in the video. However, I'm no dress-making expert. I just know what I like and what works for me. 

For the bodice of my dress, I use a vintage Simplicity pattern #4343. If you search around on eBay or Etsy, you may find it. For the bottom, I use a circle skirt pattern and always add pockets. 

Creating a pattern was very hard for me to comprehend initially. So I thought I'd kick the video off with a little Post-It tutorial. I hope that helps!

And, of course, if you'd like a copy of my book, Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes, I'd love to sign one and send it your way! You can find my books here. And THANK YOU for supporting my small business! I'm an independent seller so...I'm the author, illustrator, social media person, shipper, handler, you name it! 

How to Read Children's Books in an Engaging Way!

When I was in art teacherin' school, I could have really benefited from a class about how to read books to kids. I thought that if the story was good, the kids would just listen and enjoy. Oh no...there's so much more to reading a book to children and keeping them engaged! So that I would never forget, I created an acronym: SIMPLE. And in this video, I walk you through it!

Reading and engaging students with books is a fine art but...I've cracked the code! If you follow these easy steps, you'll have em hooked and saying what every teacher wants to hear: READ IT AGAIN!

AND...if you are interested in my books...you can find both Larry the Line and Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes here! I'm working on a series of books on the Elements of Art for kindergarten through third grade. 

Thanks for stopping by!