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/

Clay Bowl Art Project

I would have died of happiness at the chance to use the potter's wheel when I was in high school, and am tickled I can give that opportunity to my students, now. The only way to learn the vocabulary on our pottery test is through hands on experiences. First wedge (kneed) the clay to make it consistent, elastic, and free of air bubbles. Then we mount and center the clay before opening the hole and pulling the walls.

For this assignment we were making bowls. I know that it is generally best to start with a cylinder when learning how to use the wheel, but we only had 2 weeks and 2 assignments, so we didn't have the time to dedicate to really mastering skills. When I took my first ceramic class in college, my first assignment was to spend 40 hours throwing cylinders...all of which were sent back to the clay pile.  But as an introduction to the wheel, a bowl seemed like a good solution, as it requires less skill for the top of things to flare out.

Most of our students chose to trim a foot when the clay was leather hard, which is another great skill to practice. I love how wet clay doesn't stick to the hardened clay very well, allowing us to use balls of wetter clay to ahere the upside down bowl to the wheel, before shaping and trimming off the exess clay.

Finally, students caved out patterns and designs on the outer surface of their bowls. I love how this assignment can be done by my students who are totally blind. They just needed to make sure their finger was on the inside of the bowl to gauge the width and keep from carving holes. After bisque firing, students glazed their pieces and we fired at cone 5, which, on the Georgia red clay, gave a very dark look, but the students were all happy with the results.

 

Clay Celtic Knot Trivets and Wall Hangings

Celtic Knots may be trending in tattoos and jewelry lately, but these interwoven designs have been around since at least, the 7th century. These knots are woven lines that have no beginning and no end, and studying them gives us a peak into world culture and history, as well as the use of symbolism in art. My students were especially interested in how the meaning of things can change with as the people change. The Trinity Knot now represents the holy trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in pagan times, the same knot represented birth, death, and rebirth, or youth, adulthood, and old age.

After learning about various knots, the students produce their own knots, not with drawn lines, but clay coils. This is a great way for students to merger meaning with ceramic techniques and skills . The fact that the finished product can function as a trivet, is yet another bonus.

 

I printed a bunch of various famous knots, laminated them and hot glued the edges to make templates that my blind students could use. They could also choose to make up their own knot design and symbolism.

One student laughed when I told her that rolling a coil was a skill, so I let her try to roll one without any instruction. Her first attempt took a long time to get a dried, flattened slug like shape. With a few tips she made a longer, rounder coil in a fraction of the time. The trick is to start with your fingers and hands together and and roll them from the tips of the fingers to the bottoms of the palms while spreading the distance between the hands and fingers to stretch the length. Most people beginners just roll the length of their fingers, and they are not creating distance between hands and fingers before coming back to the middle to roll and stretch it again. It's important to be sensitive to where the thick parts are and apply more pressure, while lightening pressure at the thing parts. If the coil does flatten a little, twist it like a candy cane (minus the hook) and continue rolling.

Once the coils are made, the weaving can begin. Wherever there is overlap, or ends joining together, score each side (scratch using a needle) and apply slip or water before pressing them together. The clay should be wet enough that the coils don't crack when lifting and bending during the weaving process.

A simple knot of two verticle loops and two horizontal loops can be made by keeping the loops open until the weaving is done with one side of the loop and then the other. I like to close the loops where there is already going to be some overlap with another coil. Here you can see me in the beginning stages of starting a knot that has 3 loops going each direction. It's a good idea to tent it with some plastic over night so that the drying process is slow and even, otherwise you'll get some clean breaks at the spaces between overlapping, where the coil dried too quickly. Enjoy the process and enjoy the product. 

Monster Pencil Cans

I have a clear memory of a youth fundraiser at the mall in the 1970's or '80s. What was being sold that was so memorable? Monster pencil holders. Specifically a furry fabric covered tin can with big blue feet and beady eyes. I thought students might enjoy a chance to express themselves by choosing felt, pom-poms, foam, feathers, and yarn to create their own friendly monster. Scissors and tacky glue (or hot glue) are all it takes assemble these fun crafts, and within an hour, kids walk away with something they can put on their desk or give to a parent as a gift. We began by brainstorming about types of monsters found at halloween (Frankenstein, vampires, goblins) and then sharing our favorite famous monsters (Grover, Sully from Monsters, Inc.) Kids can sketch out their ideas before they start and give their character a name and backstory. Whether you make this a quick rainy day craft, or an elaborate character development exercise, it's sure to get some smiles.

 

My First Goal Ball Tornament

Goalball has been called (by a T-shirt I bought) "The coolest sport you've never heard of." It was created after World War I to give soldiers, coming home without their vision, a sport of their own.  

I've played myself once, but like the low-vision or totally blind athletes, I had to wear eye shades that don't allow any light in. 

The point of the game is to make more goals than the other team. The goal, is wider than a soccer goal, in fact, it's as wide as a. basketball court, which makes it hard to block. The ball has bell and so when it comes you throw you body in the way to keep your opponents form scoring. Then you take the ball and roll it back to them. This may not sound very challenging, but when you realize that it's like doing burpees for a 12 minute half, you'll understand. There are a lot of core muscles at work with the blocking and the going up and down so many times. There's also a challenge of making sure you roll the ball the right direction. There are tactile markings on the floor to help you play your zone, and it helps to back up to the goal before rolling, in order to orient yourself.

I was able to help chaperone my school's goalball team this past month and it was very interesting to watch the tournament. We competed against teams from Canada, Florida, Arizona, Utah, and South Carolina. It's not like football where there are teams in every high school in your area. You need to travel to find someone to play against. But with the tournament so close to the ocean, I asked if there was anyone who had never been to the beach before. A couple high schoolers admitted, they hadn't had that experience despite growing up a couple hours from the coast. One of girl asked, "What's a beach?" There's something about experiencing the difference between walking on loose hot sand and hard wet sand, smelling and tasting salty air. Feeling the water moving the earth beneath your feet. Just ten minutes and the stresses of the trip and the previous week, were swept away. Sports teaches more than athletic skills, and these trips teach more than how to compete. I'm so glad I get to see life through the my student's, even the eyes that don't see well.

 

Clay Beads

I love using clay for art projects for little kids and multiple complex needs students. It's good to give them sensory experiences that help improve fine motor skills. For the clay bead project, I had my students pinch of tiny pieces of clay to roll into balls. Some started with a coil and cut off uniformly sized chunks as well. Something the size of a Tootsie roll or smaller is a good place to start.  I taught them that to make a ball they could put their hand on top of the clay and roll it in a circular motion, but to make a cylinder, they would roll forward and back with the same piece of clay. We poked a hole large enough to allow for shrinkage, and even went back with tooth picks when the beads were leather hard to make sure the holes hadn't closed up. 

Kids pushed cards, metal embossing tools, or skinny paint brush handles into the sides of the beads to make interesting textures and patterns. One day we worked with porcelain and another we worked with terracotta. The colors were so beautiful that we decided not to paint or glaze them. We used Twisteezwire to string them, and it was the perfect size to fit over an adult head )with some overlapping twisted part int he back) for a necklace. The moment that a child realizes that they just made a piece of jewelry out of basically mud.

Conference Art Contest

 I started submitting my student's artwork for the national Insights Art Contest in conjunction with the American Printing House for the Blind Conference. Every year, I had at least one or two win awards, which was pretty exciting for me because it meant getting to see kids fly on a plane for the first and possibly only time in their lives. They also rode on trains, escalators, elevators, and walked for miles using their canes in an unfamiliar city.

This year, there was no Insights Art Contest, but the Georgia Vision Teachers Educators Training (GVEST) conference committee offered me a venue to showcase my student's work at a state level. I'm always looking for new venues and chances to show off what they've been working on, so I set up a table, and put out a voting box for the hundreds of attendees to help choose a favorite.

The results are in and other than a cash prize for the first place, it was just certificates and pats on backs. I don't discount the value of a pat though. Students need a chance to be recognized even if it is just in front of their class. They need a chance to show off their work. This is a line on a resumé, and it's the 3rd college campus some of my students have shown their work in the past 2 years, which is something I would have loved to have done when I was in high school. Letting otherwise marginalized kids have a chance to shine makes my heart happy.

Tactile Caulk Painting project

To wrap up our relief sculpture unit, I had student's create tactile images by using caulk on canvas or wood. Many of them started with a drawing in marker or Wiki-Stix, if the students were totally blind. Then these were traced using caulk from the hardware store. Once the paint was dried, Under paintings were completed and by the 3rd day my students were able to paint work on the top layer of their painting.

Some students placed their canvas on the potter's wheel and squirted the caulk down onto the base. By touching the tip of the caulk gun to the surface, there was more of a mechanical feel, where as just squirting it from the air, felt more organic. The colors reflect the nature of the line. 

Some students used masonite (the back of scraps of bead board from a home improvement project to be specific), and used spray paint for their under painting.

The tactile quality allowed for my blind students to feel where to paint. Because this spider web was black, my student spray painted the entire image black, and then filled in the negative space with white, so the black lines would feel more like the foreground. She finger painted acrylic, dripping tiny strands as she went. There was not a single student who wasn't happy with their finished painting.