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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

How to Make Foil Frames




I've been having so much fun on vacation. It's time to get inspired for a new year! Today I went on amazon and ordered some more art teaching books. I also reserved some through the library. I have so much to learn as I pursue excellence as an art teacher. Awhile back I said I would tell you about the foil frames we used for the Mexican Christmas project. When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time in Mexico. I loved the tin Christmas ornament we bought. Search for Mexican tin art to find some beautiful examples. I ordered a roll of 38 gauge decorator foil from Dick Blick art supplies. I also ordered a bunch of special tools, but came to learn that dull drawing pencils work better! I cut the foil with the exacto knife which I carry in my purse at all times. I found that if the foil is scored, it tears pretty easily. It might be good to tape the edges so the student's can't cut themselves. I know there are a lot of choices, including heavy duty foil that you can just buy at the grocery store. I'm certainly open to suggestions. This one I had to figure out on my own. I also used this foil for a lesson on Ghiberti and the gates of Paradise. In that case the foil was the whole picture, not just the frame.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Polymer clay Fimo Snow Globes





My last Christmas workshop yesterday was perfect. Nine children came and I was very impressed by their creativity! My last task for the year was to assemble my student's snow globes. It was a lot of work. I hope my students were half as excited about them as I was. Sometimes though, I wonder what I've gotten myself into! There are lots of great lessons out there to tell you how to make snow globes with baby food jars. However, I had always wanted to find "real" snow globes. I finally found the kits at National Artcraft. They come in several different sizes, and you can even add a musical component! I didn't use the rubber seal they provide because it was simply too hard to work with. I just made a base out of fimo and glued the student's projects with silicone glue (found at hardware stores, not craft stores). Supper-fine glitter works beautifully.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Fimo Teddy Bear and Present



Last Friday I had three students come to my Christmas workshop. We had so much fun! After class I overheard one of my students saying that her teddy bear was the gift that she was most excited to give this Christmas. Can't beat that! I snapped this picture when I was leaving. What a beautiful winter evening it was! Tomorrow is my last Christmas Workshop.

Fimo Stocking Stuffers










See the free tutorial page here.

These stockings don't need to be hollow. I have the students make a hot dog and then slightly bend it into the shape of a stocking. I inserted wire into the projects before baking so that they could hang as ornaments.

Monday, December 14, 2009

How to Make Bead Ornaments





Speaking of snowflakes, look at these sparkling snowflake ornaments. I make them with my students every year. Once year, for my Christmas workshop, I read the picture book Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant. It's such a lovely story, I hope all of you look it up! After I read the story, we wrapped our ornaments in silver boxes just like in the story. That was two years ago and my students still remember. This year I made these with the preschoolers. You may have to order beads online. I find most craft stores have a very limited selection. I search Westrim crafts, tri beads, or paddlewheel beads. Sparkling chenille stems are great for beaded ornaments. For the snowflakes, I took three stems of equal length and twisted them together in the center so that there are six rays. The students can choose any bead they want as long as the put one on each of the rays. The beads have to be equally spaced from the center. I thought I made up this craft, but I found another great version of it on Kaboose crafts. This blog isn't usually about crafts, but I just love these!
I made these up when I was just a kid. I would spend hours playing around with chenille stems (then called pipe cleaners!) and beads. I love leaving it open ended and giving the students a chance to make up their own projects. Just a package of chenille stems can keep kids busy and stretch their creativity.

Friday, December 11, 2009

How to Draw Intricate Snowflakes

I made the lines as light as possible so that they wouldn't show up as much when you design your snowflake!




I love snowflake patterns! I draw them on cards, paint them on my windows, cut them out of paper, and frost them on my cookies! Do an image search for Wilson Bentley or "Snowflake Bentley" to see some absolutely stunning photographs of real snowflakes. I give each student, even preschoolers, this basic template.

I show them how to make a basic shape, one at a time, on each of the "spokes". This is a great way to talk about patterns, symmetry, and design. This is also a great way to teach a very important concept in the creative process. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you work from simple to complex. One step at a time. If you continue adding one little detail at a time, such as a line, a triangle, an x, all the way around, you eventually have a very intricate snowflake. If the students are patient and keep with it, they won't be able to believe what they can draw. This makes a great challenge. Trying to be creative from a strictly graphic design point of view.


I used this as a warm-up for one of my oil painting class. It's fun to see how the blue and white mixes together and it's a great way to practice painting technique. I also used in on a lesson in pastels. I used pastels to make my Christmas workshop poster.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas in Mexico Art Project





This project has a lot of possibilities. These drawing are colored pencil. The first time I taught this, we used chalk pastel and smeared the pinata and the candy to show movement. This also could look great with acrylic paint or scraps of paper. If you use this, I'd love to see what variations you come up with. I love this book I found. It is a very authentic look at making pinatas. Of course actually making them would be the best, but the focus of the class is drawing. I will write about the foil boarders in a future post. Have fun!

Monday, December 7, 2009

How to Make Polymer Clay (Fimo or Sculpey) Candy

I used these for my miniature gingerbread house.
I made up this little peppermint candy tutorial. Here are two ways to make candy canes.
The first one is basic.

The second way I discovered by accident. By simply mixing up the colors you want, rolling them, and twisting them, you can always come up with realistic looking candy.


I bought shimmer powder at a local scrapbook store. It makes the candy look beautifully sugary!

Fimo Wreath



What a lovely day! Wonderful wintery clouds were rolling across the sky all day. Normally this would have made me melancholy, but our art room was full of light, warmth, dulcimer music and busy students. I was so proud of how well they all did today! I'll post today's project later. First, I have some catching up to do. My room mates and I were all invited to a Christmas party. We all needed an ornament to exchange, so we decided to make them together out of fimo. It was so much fun working together. One of my room mates was a little hesitant to try it. Adults have so much fear of art! This is the fimo wreath that she made. I think it would make a fun project for the students.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Stained Glass Lesson Plan






This project can be done with any glass frame or even a plastic document frame. The tin foil is slightly crumpled and wrapped around the backing. In this case, it would be the black cardboard that you see in the picture. The students design the image first on a white sheet of paper and then place the glass on top of their drawing. They trace the drawing onto the glass with a sharpie. Then I have the students turn the glass over and color the other side with prismacolor markers. The markers must be permanent. The students don't have to turn the glass over, but it helps not to smear the lines. I've also seen this project work beautifully with fall leaves.

Friday, December 4, 2009

How to Draw a Christmas Fireplace Lesson Plan








This is my favorite Christmas drawing! Unfortunately, I can't repeat it this year because most of my students have already done it!. That's why it's so much fun to share it with you! I love firelight. I start by discussing the example (feel free to print out one of mine). The students start to recognize the glow and reflections of the firelight. I tell the students that their goal is to make the fire look like it's really glowing. Another reason I like this project is because it offers so much freedom. Most of the students try to write the names of their whole family on the stockings including pets of course! Details are messy in chalk, so I it might be good to have colored pencils handy. Speaking of messy, I make sure the children are wearing paint shirts. High quality chalks do not wash out!
Oh, another art concept is the perspective on the mantel. A little step by step instruction will help the students create a shelf on which to place anything they want. Point out to them that if they draw the objects right on the line, they will be at the very edge of the shelf. Drawing objects above the line sets them right in the middle.
It's always good to let the students share with one another, but this one is especially fun to talk about. I have the students stand in a circle with their projects held out in front of them so they can all be seen at the same time.