Plaster Word Art

 Dick Blick offers a Topographical Typograhy lesson that I was happy to try out for our relief sculpture unit. My students who are Braille readers, don't spend much time thinking about how fonts each have their own vibe. But even blind kids can grasp the idea that text for a five year old birthday card, requires playful letters whereas, a wedding announcement might ask for elegant lettering. Now what that means can be different, but rounded letters are less serious than sharp edged letters. Calligraphic texts with the slanted letters and varied weight of line harkens to romance or tradition. So students began this assignment by picking a word and a style for their type.

My students wrote and  transfered their best idea to a piece of mat board using pencil, marker, or Wiki Sticks depending on their vision. Then they taped 1/2 strips of white posterboard on it's edge to follow their lines. The following day, a lot of the tape had curled up so I started hot gluing it for them the day they tacked it down with fewer pieces of tape. 

Then they took pieces of plaster cloth and dipped it in a bowl of water for just a second or two, smoothed out with a couple of fingers in the air to fill in some of the holes in the guaze-y fabric. Then draped it over the raised lines and smoothed it down. 

Some students stuck to an initial or two.

A couple Braille readers opted to make just one initial or a simple picture, since they don't read print at all. I was okay with that since a picture is worth a thousand words. Ultimately we were able to do 15 small projects (5" X 8" to 8" X 10" ) with a 5" wide X 3 yard strip  plaster fabric. Some students used watercolor pencils and some used spray paint to finish up the surface, but I liked the white, unfinished surface. It's a fun project that can be done somewhere between 15 minutes and 3 hours depending on how elaborate you want to get.