Clay Cartouche Project

Ancient Egyptian pharoahs and queens had their names carved into sarcophagi and palace walls in a language called heiroglypics. A small rope like boarder surrounded the name as a way to protect it from evil. The finished product is what is called a cartouche.

Students began the process of making their own personal cartouche by rolling a slab of clay,

They carved the pictures to represent their own initials or name.

Then they made a thing clay coil which they attached to the border using a score and slip technique, in which they scratched both sides, brushed watered down clay to each side, and then pressed them together.

They pressed a flat tool around the border coil to give it a rope-like texture. And finally, they poked a hole at the top so they could hang their piece on a wall. I love finding ways to make history come to life while simultaneously teaching processes and skills that will transfer to future art projects. I also love the idea that each of my students are important enough that they deserve a magic rope to protect them, as the pharoahs of old.

 

Indonesia Inspired Batik Project

Batik is the art of making images on fabric and it is so important in Indonesia that they have a National Holiday celebrating it: October 2nd. UNESCO recognizes batik as a world heritage of humanity. Wax is melted and than used in a special tube pen to draw on fabric, or metal images are dipped in wax and stamped onto fabric. The wax acts as a stop out when the fabric is being dyed.  I had large blocks of wax for my students to feel, but we didn't want to mess with trying to keep it at the right temperature all day for a week, much less worry about burns on hot plates, so we went even more low tech: Glue.

Some of my students with no vision opted to use stencils, rather than try to make a free-hand drawing. The trick with this is to use a sponge brush, dip it in Elmer's glue, and then dab up and down, rather than making strokes that might go under the edges of the stencils. Getting enough glue on the fabric is also important.

Other students drew pictures or patterns with the bottle of glue. The fabric was transparent enough to trace marker drawings on a light box, but some choose to just wing it.

The next day, when the glue was dry, students painted their images with acrylic. I think it worked best when they worked within the lines, but if the glue was thick enough to start with, it was OK to cover the entire thing in a couple of colors. The underside of the fabric, generally maintained the stop out. The paint has to dry completely before trying to rinse the fabric, for obvious reasons.

Day three, is when we soaked the entire piece for at least 5-10 minutes in water before rubbing and rinsing the rest of the glue out.

There was a little magic in the reveal, that their original lines never left, they were just covered and then revealed.

a low vision student uses a digital magnifier to paint his glue spirals with spring colors