Check this out, y'all: on Thursday, it was a balmy 68 degrees in the Nashville area and they were calling for snow and ice the next day. Our weather-predicting/school DJ/head custodian announced that we'd be out. Now, despite those warm weather conditions, I KNEW we'd be out because our weather-predicting/school DJ/head custodian is NEVER wrong. So y'all better believe I was excited to spend my day off working on this needle felted color wheel coat ida that I'd been kicking around in my head.
Not too long ago, I found myself in Old Navy where I discovered this jacket on the sale rack. I'd already had the idea in my head and this style of jacket was exactly what I was looking for...one with a large flat backside that would serve as a big blank canvas for my color wheel.
If you've been hanging around this blog for even a minute, you know that needle felting is one of my favorite things. In fact, early this week I shared my Top Ten Needle Felted Sweaters. I've needle felted every type of fabric: jersey, knit, wool, wool blend, canvas, big ole winter coats, you name it. I've managed to acquire a beautiful assortment of wool over time which is great to have on hand when an idea like this strikes. I created a video of myself working to help explain the process:
The tools I used in the video, the pen tool and the cushion, are both by Clover and they are my favorite. However, I will say that because this jacket is a fleece or something, I totally busted all three needles in my pen tool immediately. The pen tool comes with very fine needles...but I have a stash of the thicker needle felting needles. I replaced them inside my tool and, once I got the hang of the surface, I was fine.
I simply tacked the roving down with the plan to further felt with my machine. However, if I didn't have a needle felting machine (see video) I would have just had to do it by hand. It probably would have taken twice as long. I rarely bust out that needle felting machine but when I do, I'm always happy I have it!
Of course I had to take pictures of it in front of all the new colorful areas in my art room. Seriously, my art room is my happy place. There are SO MANY projects I want to do...but I'm glad some are finally coming together. I have a self-appointed deadline for my art room but the date is pretty much pushed back to the end of the year. One of these days, I'll get my life together. Meh, prolly not. You can check out more details of my Mary Blair Mural here.
I decided to pair my coat with my needle felted palette beret...more deets here.
When I needed a break from all the stabby-stab, I decided to embroidery-bomb this broken Anthro necklace I'd had sitting in my stash. You can check out this blog post to see just how much I'm loving all things yarn-bomby right now.
I needed a little bling to go with the jacket, right? I'm thinking of painting the wooden beads that hang from the necklace...or maybe not. I kinda dig it right now.
My jacket tho is pretty much giving me life. I went to grab pizza after working in my art room this morning and dude at the pizza placed thanked me for my jacket. "Thank you for bringing a rainbow in here." I thought that was so sweet!
And now for a bunch of picks of my backside. Ahem.
If you look closely, you'll see that I had to do a little color blending to achieve a complete gradation. You can kinda see it here: check out the purple and pink sections. To blend, I just had to pull and tuft the rooving repeatedly to get it completely blended.
By the way, this is what the inside of my jacket looks like. Notice how the fibers have been pushed through.
I liked the necklace before but I am loving the rainbow makeover!
And of course I had to take pics of my jacket in front of the rainbow wall and the rainbow tree! If you've not tried your hand at needle felting, I encourage you to do so...then we can be color wheel coat friends!
In second grade we are working like crazy with our short 30 minute art classes to try our hands at two different paper treatments: floating chalk prints and shaving cream marbling. My goal has been for all of my students to attempt both processes twice before the end of class. It's a go-go-go kind of class but it's a lot of fun. When I shared a couple short videos of my students working on these papers, I got a lot of questions about the process. So I created a video that will walk you through each. I'll also go through the supplies needed in this here post. Here's the how-to video:
Supplies for floating chalk prints:
* Paper. I used 6" X 9" papers. These will be used for the covers of their Rainbow Book. I only order between 80- 90 lbs paper for the art room.
* Chalk. We used Freart Chalk by Prang. I like this chalk because it's high in pigment and thick like sidewalk chalk.
* Tongue depressors. We used the big ones which you can get cheap at the Dollar Tree.
* Tub of water. I made it so each my students had their own tub to save on time. I see my second graders at the end of the day so this meant I didn't have to hustle to move the tubs for my next class.
If you watch the video, you'll see just how easy this process is...and how beautiful the results are.
I have a feeling the kids are going to have a hard time deciding which beautiful papers to use for the covers of their Rainbow Book!
The best part is, you don't have to "set" these creations as you would normal chalk pieces!
For shaving cream marbling, you'll need the following: * Shaving cream. We used cheap dollar store stuff. * Liquid watercolor. * Paint brushes. * Tongue depressors. * Paper.
This process required more steps so some of my students would get excited and forget those steps. I made sure to appoint my Art Teachers in Training who did a wonderful job reminding kids of the steps. Yay!
I did not change out the bins of shaving cream or water. For the floating chalk prints, it was not necessary. For the shaving cream, it just meant that the following prints had more color.
Again, so pretty! I can't wait to see these on the covers of their books. Here are the books they are creating:
I have done shaving cream prints before...but never in a closed container. I am never going back, y'all! The mess is contained...like, literally.
Have y'all done these kind of prints before? I'd love to hear about it! I'm also curious to know what you did with your beautiful papers.
I'll be sure and update you with our completed Rainbow Books!
Don't forget about tonight's MAKE AND TAKE! Supply list and details here. See you at 8pm CST right here! Hey, y'all! Recently I hosted a PD at my school that was taught by a couple of my favorite art teacherin buddies, Debbie Flynt and Kim Shamblin. They shared with us how to do many paper treatment techniques (more to come!) and create unique books. One of the books they showed us to make was this pop out one. As soon as I discovered that the book had six pages, I realized I could create a rainbow book. Perfect for reteaching my second graders the order of the colors in the rainbow!
I think they are gonna love this one! Here's the how-to video I'll be sharing with them next week. Feel free to use this lesson and video in your Land of Art Teacherin'.
Because I see my second graders for 30 minutes twice a week, I'll probably break the lesson down like this: Day 1: Book covers. Decorate cover if time allows. Day 2: Folding papers. Use peer tutoring to help those kiddos who initially struggle with the fold. Store in envelopes marked with the kid's names. Day 3: Gluing papers into the book in Roy G. Biv order. Day 4: Finish books!
The magic of a pop up book is aways exciting. We are going to look at pop up books and learn about book making as well. Early finishers will be introduced to other pop up techniques.
Dunno about your kids, but mine are OBSESSED with rainbow order. Their weavings were full of them!
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