This years school auction item turned out beautiful!

This year my sons elementary school held their second PTA auction.  My girl friend and I were in charge of our children's 3rd grade class project. Last year I spent many hours and many $$$$ on creating a piece so this year I was really happy that one of the kids in the class grandfather offered to build us whatever we wanted out of wood! We decided a table that we could have tiles in the middle for the kids to decorate it. We really wanted it to be something that although it was kid art it didn't look like KID art.  Since this year the kids are studying Australia we decided to do a little lesson on aboriginal art work and had the kids create some aboriginal artwork of their own.  .

The grandpa created the most beautiful out door table for us and I went to Home Depot picked up 24 4 by 4 black tiles for the kids to decorate.  

We used acrylic paints and cotton swabs.  They started with making dots for the small inner circle and then used another color for the next circle. They were told to go around no more than 5 or 6 times and to make different size and colored circles . They were also told not to let any of the same colors be next to each other and to have the circles go off the tile if needed.  After the tiles dried I sealed them with a varnish and glued them to the table.  The kids really enjoyed making their tiles and I think they did an excellent job!

The auction was held last week and the table sold at the live auction $350! I am really happy how easy it was and how beautiful it turned out.

Summer fun project....Kid friendly Batik.

I wanted to share with you a fun project that is very kid friendly.

Kid friendly Batik, uses clear Elmer's glue instead of hot wax.  This sample I used is a canvas bag that I picked up at Michaels for under $5 but this can be done on tee-shirts, aprons, muslin,or any white or off white fabric. 

What is Batik?
Traditional Batik, a decorative art form from the island of Java, uses wax as a dye resist. The artisan draws a pattern directly on fabric with melted wax. The wax creates resist patterns where dye is not absorbed.

Items needed:

1. Some type of white canvas, bag, tee-shirt etc.
2. Clear Elmer's washable glue.
3. Fabric paint or you can use watered down acrylic paints.
4. Stencils or you can free hand draw with the glue.
5. Sink with running water to wash out the glue when finished.

1. Lay your canvas on a flat surface. (Note: If you are making a tee-shirt or something that you don't want the back side to get glue on it, put a piece of wax paper inside to protect the back side but will be easy to remover once the glue is dried.)  Once the glue is dried on the front turn it over and continue to make your design on the back.

The glue will be used as a resistance where ever you put the glue the paint will not show. 

Here I used the glue with peace stencils. I also drew flowers and dots free hand. You can make any design you like, just remember that where ever the glue is will be white or the color of the canvas when you have finished this project. 

You don't need to use a lot of glue, just enough to cover. If your child put globs of glue on it that's ok it will just take a little longer to dry and a little more washing/rubbing to get the glue off.

2. Once the glue is dried you can spray paint like I did with fabric paints. If you don't have fabric paints you can use watered down acrylic paints in a spray bottle or just paint straight on the canvas with a paint brush.

Cover your canvas with the paints and let dry. This is were you can get very detailed if you like. With most batik fabrics there are many colored used.  For kids a keeping it simple with only a few works.

 

3. When the paint is dry take the canvas to the sink and rinse. Use your fingers to rub off the glue. You will be able to see and feel the glue. I will be shiny and tacky.

 

4. Let dry and TA DA! You have a Batik style canvas that was simple, safe and fun for the kids.

If you try this, please post pictures I would love to see them. Enjoy your summer!

Happy Creating!

 

Auction piece is finished.

It's finished!  I just got back from the framing shop to pick up the art auction piece that the kids and I made for the PTA auction.  It turned out wonderful, I am so happy with it. The kids are so proud of their work.  Here is a picture of them smiling so proud, I blurred the faces because I didn't ask their Parents if it was OK to publish their faces on my blog.

The auction is February 8th and I look forward to seeing how it does. I really want to bid on it myself! I have the perfect place for it in our family room!

The Auction Piece!

Continuing with using Resin, here are two pictures of the Auction Piece, Mrs. Norwalks 2nd grade class and I are making to be auctioned off for Maywood Elementary School PTA Auction.  While the kids were creating their butterfly pieces I would pull a few kids over to trace their hand on a piece of plywood that I stained.  Then they took an assortment of dried beans and created their hands. I have it at home right now where I have painted, stained, stamped and what not on it. Tomorrow I will be putting resin over the top. When dry I will add a black frame. It is very aboriginal looking, I wouldn't mind it for my house!
I will post a new pic when it is complete.  Hope it sells!

What do Butterflies, rice, food coloring have in common?

A DECORATIVE PLATE IS WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON:

Here is a fun project that I did with my Sons 2nd grade class. 

Every year Maywood Hills Elementary holds a Gallery Night along with the Science Fair.  As an Art Docent for Jackson's 2nd grade class I get to help them create a piece of art for Gallery Night.  In second grade they study Butterflies so I thought in keeping with the theme we would create some butterfly displays.
Below is how we did it.

What you need is a old plate (I bought 25 salad plates from a second hand store), a butterfly template and a sharpie marker. 

Trace the butterfly on the center of the plate.  This is for a second grade class, they could have traced the template on their own but I was doing two projects at the same time with them and for the sake of time I did this step before I went to school.  I let them choose the plate that they wanted to decorate. Make sure to put their name on the bottom of the plate BEFORE you start the process! I don't know how many times I forgot to have the kids put their names on the bottom of there art piece before we started.  I also pre-made the colored rice below.

 

First off let me tell you a little goes a long way! I made so much rice that I could have done this project with at least 4 other classrooms! 

 

What you need to make the rice is the following:

1. Long grain uncooked rice
2. Rubbing alcohol
3. Food coloring
4. Large freezer bags
5. Freezer paper

First you put a cup or so of the rice in the freezer bag then pour a cap full of the rubbing alcohol into the bag, close it and shake it around for a second or two.  Next, drop in 6 to 10 drops of food coloring (the more you put in the brighter more saturated the color will be) close the bag and shake around till all of the rice is colored.   Lay the freezer paper on your counter (I put mine in baking sheets) and pour the rice on it spreading it out to let it dry. It dries pretty quick.

 

This is the supplies I brought to class with me:

1. salad plates (butterflies already drawn on them)
2. colored rice
3. clear Elmer's glue
4. swabs (Q-Tip)
5. small paper plates

The kids tables were in groups of 4 so while I spoke to the kids about today lesson a print by Sekkyo called the Eagle my assistants (Mike and Devon) step up.

Here is the link to the frameworks that I used to talk about Sekkyo.

http://www.nsd.org/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=R3IyLVRoZV9FYWdsZV9ieV9TZWtreW8ucGRmOjo6L3d3dy9zY2hvb2xzL3NjL3JlbW90ZS9pbWFnZXMvZG9jbWdyLzU4NzVmaWxlMjIzNzYucGRm&sectiondetailid=34550

The kids and I talked about how Sekkyo made thing look like they had texture with just using ink and a carved block.  We talked about Visual and Tactile textures.

At each group of desk, there were small paper plates each with a different color of rice and one paper plate with clear glue.  Each kid got a swab to use for the glue.

Before they went back to their seats I explained to them how the process was going to work.

1. They would pick their plate and Devon would write their name on the bottom of it.
2. They would think of the pattern they wanted to create on their butterfly. Butterflies are symmetrical so they should be making the wings look alike.
3. Dip their swab into the glue and put it ONLY on little sections at a time. Do not put it all over the plate.
4. Sprinkle small amount of rice over the glued areas.

When they were finished, we gathered up the plates putting them in freezer bags so they would not stick to each other and I took them home for the final process.

The last process is to put clear resin on top of their butterflies so they would stay that way forever.  Resin is too toxic to use in a classroom so this is best left to complete at home.

I bought "Parks Super Glaze" from Home Depot. This is mainly used for Bar Tops etc. but it has worked for me in the past.  I have used it over artwork that I have created on paper, wood and canvas.  There are some great Art Resins out there but I didn't have time to order it.  http://www.artresin.com/  Art Resin is a great place to watch videos and to buy art resin.

Just make sure whatever resin you use it is 1:1.  It's much easier to mix up that way. The most important part of using resin is, make sure you mix it correctly!  Also, take precautions by using gloves and a mask. I didn't think it was a big deal till I watched some video's from artresin.

For the bubbles I got to use a fun new tool that will be added to my art supply belt!  A "Hand Held Blow Torch!"  Very inexpensive and fun! It's amazing how it works out all the bubbles. After pouring you run the torch over the top of the resin and you can watch it blow the bubbles away! Fun stuff!

Here are some finished plates. They are still in the curing process but you can see how they look.





These plates will be decorative only. They will be fun to display at Gallery Night.  Gallery Night is held in March I will take some pictures and post them.  Until then Have an Artful Evening!