In the Art Room: Leafy Spring Prints

Negative leaf print by one of my second grade students earlier this year.

 Hey, guys! This post has been very popular on my blog...if you are interested in other leaf-y projects, look at my Leaf Relief project and my Pressed Leaf Project as well. Thanks!

I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in Tennessee, we are experiencing spring-like weather. For the most part. I mean it did snow the last two Saturdays (and, in Tennessee, "snow" means just a few flakes and a couple of inches) but the other day it was 78 degrees. Crazy, right?

For that reason, I've got touch of spring fever. You too? Well then you might enjoy this leafy printmaking project I did at the beginning of the year with my second graders. It's simple, scientific, beautiful and fun...okay, enough talking about me (!), on with the lesson.

For this project, you'll need the following:

• gelatin, not Jell-o. Most grocery stores carry a brand called Knox which sells in boxes of 16 pouches.
• cookie sheets
• printmaking brayer, sold at most craft stores
• printing ink
• variety of leaves
• paper

Print pulled from the same printing tray, this time the positive version.

The night before you begin, you'll need to prepare your sheets of gelatin. To do that, bring about 3-4 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, whisked one pouch of gelatin into the pot. You don't want any clumps of gelatin, so whisk like there's no tomorrow. You'll end up adding about 12-15 pouches of gelatin into that one pot. Sorry, I'm not into exact measurements. Which could explain a lot about my cooking. If there are any remaining unwhiskable clumps, remove them with a spoon.

Pour mixture into a cookie sheet filling it about 1". Leave uncovered over night. If you see any bubbles in the cookie sheet, pop them or remove with a spoon. For my class of 20 students, I made three trays.

Pulling the first print always managed to get oohhhh's and aahhhh's aplenty.

The following day, we were ready to print. The surface of the gelatin was squishy yet very firm, perfect for holding our printing ink. I think I can explain this best in steps, so here you go:

1. Using a brayer and printing ink, cover surface of gelatin in ink.
2. Place leaves onto the ink-covered cookie sheet with the veiny side down. I don't recommend using anything with pine needles because that will puncture the gelatin. But experiment, you never know!
3. Once leaves are in place, lay paper on top of cookie sheet and rub (er, we call it  "massage") the paper. 
4. Pull paper off, as you see in the above photo, and viola! You have your first print!

Notice how clear the gelatin looks. All of the ink that was once on the tray is now on the paper.

I love her dainty fingers pulling up the second print. So sweet.

Now for the second print:

1. Gently remove all of the leaves from the tray. It's best to pull them out by the end of the stem.
2. Place a new sheet of paper over the now-empty cookie sheet and rub.
3. Pull second print which will be a positive image of the first.

Looks like a black and white photo, don't you think?

Once both prints have been pulled, re-ink the tray and begin the process all over again. With a class of 20 students and 3 pans of gelatin, about 10 kids were able to print per half an hour class. The pans of gelatin can last about two days with an endless amount of printing. I tried to cover the gelatin and keep it for a little longer, but condensation droplets created strange little craters on the surface. If left uncovered for too many days, it begins to dry and crack. For that reason, if you plan to do this project for longer than a couple of days, you'll just need to prepare more gelatin pans the night before.

Our second go-round of printing involved using white ink on black paper. Just as pretty.

This project is so easy and the results so stunning that everyone is successful. I've now had a couple of craft get-togethers and this is always a hit. Once those leaves start growing in your neck of the woods, I do hope you'll give it a shot!

I love the photo negative quality of this print.

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DIY: Wishful Winter Wonderland

Let's just forget that it's spring in less than a month, shall we? 'Cuz this winter mural is finally finished! Note to self: start winter mural on first day of school.

Well, Happy Wintery Day to you! And, if you are here in Tennessee, this year's wintery has meant rainy, tornado-y, and weirdly warm. Nothing like our winters of the past two years which managed to produce enough snow to provide us with some delightful snow days. Not that us teachers like snow days. Oh no! We just spend the whole day missing the children...in our pajamas...in front of the t.v. ...with a tub of ice cream...catching up on Jersey Shore. Sigh.

But I digress. I'm here to share with you the mural that the artists at my school just finished! For which I can take little credit. I originally got the idea for a winter mural over at this website http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/; the woven houses were seen on pinterest; and the ice skating figures was a lesson taught by my incredible student teacher. So, basically, I just did what I always do: watched my little artists work and be amazed by the results.

We hung the mural on Monday just knowing that it would bring us the luck of a snow day the weathermen had been predicting. No such luck. Next week we are creating Weatherman Voo Doo Dolls.

The bulk of the work was done by my wee little kindergarten friends. We studied van Gogh and his love of lines and texture. Using the cold colors and water color paint, we created our own night sky. The following art class, we chatted about texture and creating tints of color. They created the ground pieces by painting their colored construction paper white and using a textured comb on the white paint.

Er, is that green smoke coming out of that chimney?

My first grade buds helped by creating the little collaged houses for the background and the snow covered trees. This was no small task for these guys as cutting out small bits and pieces can be a bit tricky for the under-6 set. But just look at 'em! I'd totally live in that pink and yellow casa.

I love the little cat in the window...reminds me of my house! 'Cept the cat looking out my window has a 15 lbs weight advantage.

Second grade was about to begin their circle loom weaving unit. I thought it might be a good review for them to create these little woven houses. Because they had woven before, they were able to whiz right through it. This allowed them to have more time to work on their houses...and it proved to be a great pre-assessment for their circle loom weavings.

Our school has the best P.E. program around with two incredible teachers. These ladies are absolutely devoted to the health of our students. I have learned so much from them...I just cannot say enough good things about them!

This year, our students spent two weeks learning how to roller skate. The students had an absolute blast. I knew I wanted to get my fourth grade artists in the gym to sketch the skaters...I just didn't know how to make it happen. Thankfully, Lauren, my awesome student teacher, created a gesture drawing lesson. The kids spent one half hour class creating drawings of the skaters.

Tiger-striped skating pants? A girl after my own heart.

These drawings were then used as the starting point for their figure drawings. Students learned how to draw a figure in proportion and in action. Ice skater details were added to complete the look. Once the drawings were finished, they traced over their lines in skinny sharpie, added color and cut them out.

I loved watching the kids create gesture drawings. Many of them resembled the gesture drawings I created in college.

Lauren assembled the mural -- thank goodness. I have this terrible habit of starting a project and petering out when the work becomes unfun. And gluing the whole thing together seemed very overwhelming to me. But she dove right in and got it put together. For the ice, she used foil painted with a thin coat of white paint for a frosty, less reflective look.

This would be me on skates. All wobbly limbs and "woah-woah-wooooah!".

Two proud art teachers.

Our last contribution came from our third grade students. They have been studying Wassily Kandinsky with Lauren. They created the miniature concentric circles that you see along the sides of the mural.

FYI, I just checked the extended forecast. The weathermen are predicting thunderstorms and 50 degree temps. I am so looking forward to those Voo Doo Dolls!

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In the Art Room: Weird Science

The kids always know when we are going to perform a science experiment the moment I slip on the lab coat I picked up at Goodwill.
 

When we began our study of Ancient Egypt at the beginning of the school year, I stumbled upon a lesson on how to mummify an apple. Despite our short art classes (30 minutes), I decided that we would make the time for this "science experiment". So, I picked up a bag of apples, baking soda and salt from the grocery, brought in my food dehydrator, and donned my lab coat. The kids enjoyed that experiment so much that I've managed to tie in several during the course of this school year.

Lady Liberty. Did you know there are 168 steps to the top? And that she has chains under her feet to represent the stomping out of slavery? Also that one of her fingernails is as big as your lap top? Me neither. She's quite fascinating. 

Our most recent experiment ties in with our study of the Statue of Liberty. We learned that she is made of copper and that when copper oxidizes it changes from the color of a penny to a patina green. I noticed the kids where a little more than stumped by this concept. They needed to see it in action to actually grasp what in the heck I was blabbering about.

Turns out the P.E. teacher at my school is just as nuts as I am. Here we are as Lady Liberty and Frederic Bartoldhi, the sculptor behind the statue. We appeared on our school's morning sharing info on the artist and his masterpiece.

So I did a little research online and found the supplies needed for oxidizing copper could be picked up at Home Depot. When I went there, I found a couple more-than-curious employees that helped me find my supplies. I guess they don't have too many crazy art teachers coming in with requests for "just a little copper tube and some stuff to make it turn green". They sold me a tube but then referred me to Michael's for a patina kit. Muriatic acid is what is normally used to patina copper but it is highly toxic. Thankfully Michael's came through with a patina kit...however, I recently learned that Windex may have worked just as well.

The collection of pennies I happened to have in my wallet. They were a great example of the oxidation process to show the kids.

Right before the kids walked in, I decided to dig through my change for a couple of pennies. I know they handle pennies daily, so I thought that showing them the change would hit closer to home for them. I struck gold, er copper, with my collection. I love the varying change in oxidation as did the kids. We chatted about how the surface of the Statue of Liberty was covered in copper just like the pennies.

The copper tubing I picked up for a couple of bucks at Home Depot before the patina chemical was added.

Then I showed them the tubing. Using a sharpie, I divided the tubing into sections so each class could see the results of their experiment. I explained to them that the chemical I was putting on the tube would oxidize the copper, changing it to a patina. They were told that we now had to wait a week to see the results of the experiment.

After this first step in the experiment, I asked the kids the following questions: what supplies did we use? Who can trace the steps of the experiment we just performed? What do you predict the results will be? What they dictate to me is always fascinating. We have had interesting conversations on why the copper patinas instead of rusts (which I got a little lesson on from genius hubs); how chemicals cause a reaction and how this all relates back to our Lady Liberty being green like The Hulk.

After seeing this result, I realized I needed to sand the surface of the pipe to scuff it up a bit. This helped the chemical adhere to the tubing better and made the patina more even.

 One week later, we returned to our tube to find that it had indeed changed. As a wrap-up, the kids answered the questions on the second half of the sheet. You can see some of their answers below.

In all, I think it was a good experiment. It was inexpensive, short, educational and fun. Aside from this experiment and the mummified apple, we've also tried our hand at making papyrus out of rhubarb. And I've already got our next experiment in the works: dying yarn with Kool-Aid ice cubes, an idea pulled from pinterest, of course! I'll keep you posted on those results.

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In the Art Room: Egyptian Style

Portrait of the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis created by one of my fourth grade students. I love that the artist embossed the goddess' name in hieroglyphics at the bottom of the frame.

For the record, let me just say that this lesson is not mine. I found it on pinterest, which lead me to artsonia. The image I found there showed that the middle school-aged students had watercolor painted their gods and painted their frame with metallic paint. As you can see, I altered the lesson some. It has taken my fourth grade students quite a bit of time but they are finally seeing the light at the end of the Never-Ending-Project tunnel. The kids and I are both pleased with the results so I though I'd share my version of the lesson.

Don't let the picture fool you. This photo was taken at the begin of the year before the dementors, er, students entered the scene. Now there's a drum kit where the rugs were and the third grader's half-painted sarcophaguses (sarcophagui?) drying all over the floor.

Our year long theme is the study of Ancient Egypt (really? I had to tell you that? I'm kinda like Mrs. Obvious, if you've not noticed). I chose this theme because of the Egyptian exhibit at the local art museum that the majority of my students field-tripped to.

Portrait of the Ancient Egyptian god Horus.

 This particular unit began with a sit down in Ancient Egypt where the students were told the story of the two gods portrayed on my window, Isis and her son Horus. In case you don't know the story, it goes something like this: Jealous brother Seth decides to take down his brother Osiris. Builds him sarcophagus, convinces him to climb inside and suffocates him. Wife of Osiris, Isis, sends her eagle-headed son Horus to avenge his father's death. That's what she's chatting with him about on my painted window. Confused? Well, the Ancient Egyptians believed in hundreds of gods, some animal, some human and some a combo of both, all with strange tales of their own. Needless to say, to the average 10 year old, the stories are fascinating.   

Ancient Egyptian god Osiris who is often depicted the color green. We're guessing it has to do with all that suffocating business.

After learning about the Ancient Egyptian gods (with an emphasis on the fact that these are false gods), students were given a handout with a list of about a dozen gods, their back story and their image in profile. After they chose one that piqued their interest, they began to sketch out their god in pencil and trace their lines in sharpie.

Learning the fine art of metal tooling.

From there, I introduced colored pencils. I briefly chatted with the kids about coloring and let them have at it. It was a total disaster. After creating such beautiful drawings, I was disappointed that their coloring skills were lacking. Or, rather, their art teacher had failed to teach them some important things about shading, value and blending.

So I backtracked. I created a colored pencil coloring sheet (don't stop reading, hear me out) that involved creating a gradation of values. There was also a little review on color theory. Some got it and applied it to their drawings and some didn't. But it did improve their application of colored pencil greatly.

Once the gods and goddesses were complete, I introduced the kids to Ancient Egyptian symbols. We looked at symbols we see and recognize everyday (hearts, peace signs, smiley faces, etc.) and discussed how the Egyptians used symbols as well. Using a 3" by 4" piece of styrofoam, the kids chose a symbol that they felt related to their god and engraved it into the foam.

I love the tooled metal design on this frame.

As you can see from these drawings, the ankh was a very popular symbol with the kids. When printmaking, I set out two trays of ink and brayers for each table of four students. Working with a partner, the kids printed for several art classes. One day we printed with metallics and the next, we tried our hand at rainbow printing, which they loved. It was an absolute mess and sometimes frustrating for both the kids and myself. But by the last day, they were printmaking fools.

Anubis.

Last week, we started the metal tooled frame. I have five rolls of tooling metal in red, blue, green, gold, and silver. We chatted about embossing, looked at Egyptian patterns, recalled hieroglyphics and symbols. With dull pencils and a foam board for cushion, the students managed to complete their frames in just a few classes. I've been dangling the carrot of weaving over their heads, so they are more than ready to move on. I began assembling the works of art yesterday in my excitement to see what they would look like. 

I don't know if you can tell, but the images of the gods are three dimensional. Pieces of foam core were glued underneath to raise them up. I also hot glued the metal frame to the construction paper because the edges are sharp and that metal gets as hot as a mother with hot glue on it. Oh, convection, how I hate you.

In all, I thought this was a pretty successful project. We managed to learn about drawing, shading, printmaking, metal tooling and just a smidge of Ancient Egyptian history. I am so thankful for pinterest and the art teacher behind the original lesson.

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