Quilt Making: Art project for Students with Multiple Complex Needs

My students with multiple complex needs are not able to sew their own quilt or even to participate in our wire quilt like some of my other art students. But that doesn't mean I couldn't differentiate the lesson to allow them to understand how contributing a square to a larger group project helps create art and community. They could understand pattern through some exercises that involved clapping and word patterns. They made choices of colors, shapes, and placement for their square, and they glued their shapes down. Origami paper was perfect for this assignment because each shape had a front color and a back color to try out in the arrangement. I pre-cut all the shapes and they used glue sticks to attach them. Many of these students are non-verbal so they would point to the color when I'd give them a choice or two, or I would give them two shape choices up front and then individually a second time for each of those choices (Do you want a rectangle? Yes or no? Do you want a triangle? Yes or no?) and then wait for a response such as an nod or an attempt to say "yes."

Using squares of pre-cut fabric that were actually made for quilting is another great way to introduce students to the idea of piecing a quilt together. Students made decisions based on similar colors and themes and were encouraged to space them in a way that created balance. The range of abilities varied, but what mattered most to me is for students to be able to understand a little bit of what goes into quilting in the real world. For this one they used liquid glue on the back before flipping, placing and patting each square. Quilts can be made using an collaborate or individual process, but I hope the next time they climb under a quilt they get a cozy feeling, remembering these projects and knowing their art teacher loves them.

 

Wire Quilts

My students love to hear stories about the lives of the Quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama. Their quilting knowlege was handed down from mothers to daughters since before the civil war. They just wanted to keep their children warm with scraps of worn out clothing, but their aesthetics were similar to those of modernist painting giants. Once someone recognized the aesthetic value, they were exhibiting their work in museums across the country. The majority of the talent in the world goes unnoticed, but it is not the fame that makes something beautiful. It's the work itself, and of course, the love that goes into it.

After talking the purpose and construction of real quilts, each student started making their own quilt squares to contribute to a class quilt, except this one would be made from metal.

How to fill a square? It was a problem to be solved, and the room was full of solutions: wire, pipe cleaners, beads, buttons, tape, upholstery swatches; if we had it, they could use it. Students chatted about their day as they twisted and taped, and strung things together. This isn't the kind of quilt you'd want to curl up in, but I hope the process gave my students a sense of how communities come together in the form of quilting bees. 

Origami Trees and Diamonds

It's nice that basic folds in origami are the jumping off point for lots of different projects. Paper Christmas trees and diamonds start the same way as the classic fortune teller. 

You begin with folding a square piece of paper in half to make a vertical rectangle and than open and fold it in half to make a horizontal rectangle. Opening to leave a plus sign in the middle of the square. Flip the paper upside down.

Next you fold it in half in diagonaly to make a triangle, first in one direction, than the other, to make a multiplication sign. 

With the right side up, push in on opposite diagonals until a square (1/4th of the paper size) is formed and push down. Keep the open side pointed towards you on the table. 

Bring the right folded side to the center line, making sure the top stays pointed. Than do it on the left side. Flip to do the right and left side on the back. It should be shaped like a kite.

Slide your finger up from the inside to open up one of the flaps, moving the inner fold to the opposide sides to open it up and make the triangle span the whole width of the kite shape. Do the same thing on each of the 3 remaining flaps. From the top point, the folds should be going in and out and in and out, 8 times, the whole way around. Than you'll make 4 slits on each side. Each tree bough is formed and held into place by folding the upper corner down and in to make a point on the lower outside of the branch. You'll do it 4 times for each of the 8 sides. I tried to always do it on the right half for radial symmetry. These can stand on their own or they can have a ribbon or hook attached and used as an ornament.

Now if you want a diamond shaped ornament you'll need to do this on a second piece of paper with a contrasting color or pattern.

You'll flip one upside down so the opening is going up while the other is going on. You'll tuck each of the long pieces into a short piece of it's partner. It helps to use a drop of glue to keep it from coming undone as you move to the other parts. I like a drop of hot glue or two at the beginning and then maybe one or two at the end of the process. No scissors needed.

How to Marble Paper

As part of my unit on traditional art forms I thought I'd introduce my students to bookbinding, and the part that decorative paper plays in it. I started by handing them each a book and having them point to the front, the back, the spine, the head, the foot, the endpages. I showed them a book, mid-binding to show them what a signature was, a text block, let them feel uncovered book board. We looked at various hand-bound books: pamphlet books, link stitched books, accordian books, book boxes, and portfolios. THEN we talked about types of books: novels, poetry books, dictionaries, alphabet books, comic books, quote books, journals, sketch books, autograph books, pop-up books, the more you discuss it, the more types you remember. I showed them books I have that use marbled paper. Then we were ready to marble paper, and within the hour lesson, 4-5 kids had a completed project.

The idea of viscosity is really important in this process. The water must be thicker than the paint in order for the paint to sit on top. There must be a thickening agent such as starch or a little geletin for it to work. I got a kit from Dick Blick that had a powder called "water thickener."  The hotter the water the better when  whisking in the powder, and it's better to add it little by little is better than plopping in a couple stable spoons, as we soon found with too many lumps. You'll want to wait half an hour before using also. Which is why my first period started with this (calculating, measuring, mixing) before our book discussion.  The paper must also be prepped by sponging it with a water and addisive powder also found in the kit. Be sure to do this at least 30 minutes ahead as well. I had students each class period prepare paper for the following period. Pay it forward and it saves everyone time.

Finally the fun part! Choosing and placing colors is an interesting process. Each little drop expands quickly and takes over the majority of the water. It's a good idea to start with the light colors, but patterns of dark and light also work well. We liked to create dots in concentric circles to make bullseyes because they make twice the lines when it comes time to swirl them. Long lines inside of lines works really well too. It's important not to squeeze too much paint at a time, because it will all sink to the bottom.

Swirling is even more satisfying than dropping the paint in the water. We combed through the circles trying to keep the teeth moving perpendicular to any lines that needed crossing. This is what gives it a nice marbled effect. Some students moved to quickly and things got a little messy, but most enjoyed the process. Once the swirls are how you'll want to catch them quickly by placing your paper, treated side down on top of the water. (I tried to put an X on the back side of paper before treating it because once they dry it's hard to remember what side was treated. It's also important to write student names on the back of the paper before marbeling because it will be to wet to write immediately following and lots of students can make lots of paper pretty quickly and get confusing later on).

You can use knives and forks, or combs that you find around the house, or you can make your own combs. We stuck bamboo skewers into cardboard at different spacings for different effects. A piece of tape keeps them from sliding up and down through the corrugations.

Then comes the most exciting part. Pulling the paper out of the water. There were always gasps and oo's and ahhhs during this part. If you're making a lot, you'll probably want to use latext gloves. Drain off the excess, and you can lay it down face up for a minute or two before gently rinsing off the extra sizing under a thin stream of water. It feels slimy from all of the starch so try to get off the excess without power-blasting it. Holding the paper with the water running down like a waterfall is better than holding it flat. You don't want to get the back too wet because most paper will get soggy and start falling apart.

It was fun to see the choices of color that students used. Some only choose two colors (like blue and white) while others wanted to do every color a bunch of times.

We experimented using colored paper, and it was fun to see how the paint colors came out differently depending on the under color.

A couple students opted out of combing and swirling their paint at all and that made for some fun images as well. 

Ultimately, this assignment had a big "wow" factor and my students became so obsessed with making marbled paper that I had other teachers telling me that they were hearing about it in their classrooms. We covered ELA (books), science (viscosity), math (measuring, doubling, ratios), and Art within the matter of an hour before letting students play with their own ideas for the next few class periods. It only took me 13 years to try this out, but we may have to do it again some time.

 

Origami Tree Ornaments

These fun 3D paper diamond ornaments don't take long to make. Start with the side of paper you want to show, side up on the table, and fold it diagonally in half, one direction and then another to make a big "X".

 Then put the fight side down and fold the paper in half horizontally, open it, and then fold it in half half again, vertically to make a cross (or plus sign)

With the right side up, push in on opposite diagonals until a square (1/4th of the paper size) is formed and push down

Keep the open side pointed towards you on the table. 

Bring the top right folded edge to the center line, making sure there is a point at the top, and then crease. Repeat on the left to make a kite shape, and then flip it over and repeat on the that side. You should end up with an upside down diamond shape. 

Slide your finger into one of the into one of the of the side folds to open it up in a cone. You are basically moving one of the inner folds to the opposite sides.

 

Once every fold alternates in and out, in and out, going around, cut off the bottom part of the triangle, which is the back of the paper, leaving only the long triangle. Then take each corner on an outward fold and push it to the inside to make another counter fold, these little diamond shaped folds are where the glue will be applied. 

Two contrasting folded pieces can be fit together loosely before using a hot glue gun to work one section at a time. It is a little tricky, so be patient. I find it is a little more sturdy if one of the pieces is made of cardstock.

The pieces won't fit perfectly, but don't sweat it. The more of them you make, the more consistent the angles of your folds will be.  I ended up hot gluing a bead to the top of each ornament to string a loop of twine or yarn. I can't wait to see them all hanging from a tree!









 

Candlestick Assignment

Candlesticks aren't as hard to make as I thought they would be. My students learned to center and open a hole when we made bowls on the potter's wheel the previous week, so this was just a matter of making a tiny cup at the top of the centered clay and then adding some height by applying pressure under the cup. The trick was getting the cups the right size for a candle to fit. We found a wooden spoon handle to place in the top cup while it was spinning to open it to the perfect size. Once the candle sticks were leather hard, students carved out the inside. That promotes even drying and heating and keeps them from blowing up in the kiln. After the glaze firing, students were excited to be able to take their piece home for a fancy meal or to give as a gift. This would be a great fundraising item since they don't take long or cost much to make.

 

Homemade Moravian Star

As a native of Pennsylvania Dutch country, I grew up seeing Moravian Stars shaped lights hanging from porch stoop roofs and I have never stopped loving them. The Moravians were a Christian religious church that is about 500 years old and began in the the Czech Republic. The famous star, was said to have been born out of a geometry lesson at a Moravian boy's school in Germany in 1830. The Moravians settled places like Bethlehem and Nazareth, PA, and brought with them, their stars. They have become associated with the the Christmas season (Star of Bethlehem), but a lot of people hang these stars year round. I'm not sure if original star probably had 20 points or 26 but I was thrilled to find a template to make my own star from paper on lovelyetc.com

This tree topper actually has 19 points because there is a hole where the final point is missing, and that's the place where you can slide it onto the top of a tree. Each point is a pyramid of 3 triangles, each with a 2.5" base and 3.5" sides. There are 2 flaps on the bottom and one on the side. I used card stock of various colors and some patterned paper to cover most of the pyramids (before assembling). A strip of hot glue is all it takes to make each pyramid. 

You start with 5 pieces each attached on 2 sides to make a 5 pointed star. Each pyramid base will be attached at two sides.

The second layer will require a pyramid to be added at each of the remaining sides of the original star. Because each of those pyramids will have two remaining sides, there are a total of places to attach the next 5 pyramids. The 3rd layer will zig zag. You'll glue two sides of a new pyramid between each of the 2nd layer. The 4th and final grouping will fill in the final 5 pyramids at the bottom like the star of 5 at the top. Unless, like me, you'll need to leave a hole to make it a tree topper, in which case, you only add 4 pyramids. This picture, of my second star (this time I used glittery gold card stock) shows what it will look like after adding the 3rd group of 5 pyramids. You will have 5 tabs (or places to put a tab from another pyramid) at the opening.

I made more than one mistake my first try so I had to keep reminding myself to have pyramids coming together to make a star in every direction. Just play around and don't lose your temper, it will all work out. I cut a few little rectangles to make a tab on each side for the places where I had to cut them apart to add an extra pyramid here and there. 

I wasn't crazy about the little gaps that were left at the intersections, so I hot glued little beads to fill the holes. and I think the stars turned out really cute. I can't wait to see perched on a tree,  or a mantle.

For detailed instructions AND free template use this link below. Thank you, Carrie at Lovely etc.

https://www.lovelyetc.com/diy-christmas-tree-star/