Dairy Delight Dogs

This is a book that I've loved forever, ever since I bought it for my oldest daughter from a book order:

It's a sweet little story about a dog who decides an ice cream parlor should be his home.  I've wanted to use it in my art classroom for years, and decided this is the year!  Reviewing neutral colors is part of our second grade curriculum, so it fit in nicely.
To begin, students used their sketchbooks to draw things (with crayon) that were neutral in color.  They brainstormed and shared and drew.  Then I gave each student a 12 x 18 white paper and had them write their name in the corner with crayon.  While they were writing, I gave each student a single half-sheet of newspaper.  We drew large bumps with our crayon on our newspaper (for a dog body), cut them out and glued them onto our white paper.  Next we drew large rounded edged triangles on our newspaper (for the head) and cut them out and glued them on.  Finally, we drew small rounded-edge triangles (two of them, for ears), cut them out and glued them on.  Once everything was glued down, it was time to paint the background.  Students got paint shirts on and we reviewed correct painting techniques.  I gave each table yellow, turquoise and pink, giving students the choice of mixing colors for the background or painting one solid color straight from the bottle. Two classes had enough time to read Lisa Campbell Ernst's charming book at this point, before art was over for the day.
The next time students came to art, they got paint shirts on immediately and reviewed correct painting techniques again before painting their dogs:

This student wasn't there for the background painting day,
but it's still adorable.

 At this point, the personality of their painting style and dogs really started coming through!  The last class got to read the book at this point (and laughed at all the appropriate places).
The only thing left to do was to use oil pastel for details and give each one of our dogs their own ice cream cones.  For the past few years my sixth graders have made their own sketchbooks using cereal boxes, and I had lots of leftover pieces I put to use for making the ice cream cone.  Students used patterns I made to trace cone shapes on the brown side of the old cereal boxes and used oil pastel to add details:

Finally, students used Model Magic and Cloud Clay to make the "famous vanilla-chocolate swirl." I don't know what happens with Cloud Clay sometimes, but this is what my light brown looked like when I opened it:

It's super sticky and is reminiscent of baby poop.

I decided to open another package, and believe it or not, it was even worse.  I really tried and showed it to my classes, and students decided vanilla was just fine for their dog:

This student added marker to make it a 'swirl'.

I love this dog so much!

It's a blueberry flavored cone with a double ice cream!

This dog has such a personality!

These are going to look ah-mazing in the hall!

Yarn Bombing Update

I spent many moments this summer crocheting and adding to the tree in my front yard:

It's like a project that I can't just be done with.  Also, it appears that I'm terrified of heights only if it doesn't involve being on a rickety ladder on a hill while sewing crocheted circles to a tree.  While on that ladder, I feel comfortable leaning very far and balancing on that step that says Don't Step Here Or You Can Lose Your Balance, even when my neighbor yells, "Maybe climbing the tree would be easier?!"
There's always a piece that needs replacing, friends.  There's always a little farther I can reach up.  

Maybe it's a life-long project?

Mini Modern Selfie Tins

Oh, blogging world, it's been so long!  The last school year was so hectic with so many classes and so much going on, that blogging got pushed to the back burner.  The new year has started, and it's a fresh slate, but first, a project leftover from last year's sixth graders:

This is a project that I was sure I'd blogged about, but I went a lookin' I apparently had not.  My original idea was for students to create a snapshot of themselves at this particular moment in time.  Thanks to having the perfect art teacher husband, I had plenty of Altoid tins--some the regular size, more of the mini size (which I ended up liking better).  To begin, I had each student choose a tin, and trace it four times in their sketchbooks to have a space to try out ideas (one for the top of the lid, one for the underside of the lid, then inside and finally the bottom).  
Most chose to do their name for the top lid, and then anything went for the inside.  

After the drawing our of their ideas, they had to show them to me and then get a new paper (which caused some complaining).  Students used pencil, then watercolor pencils for coloring.  Once all the drawing and coloring was done, they cut them one at a time and used Mod-Podge to attach the paper to the tin.  After some serious begging on my part, my principal kindly bought ArtResin for my classes (which is on the spendy side, but pretty darn amazing).  While she was debating on the purchase, my backup plan was Mod Podge covering all of it, but I don't think it would have worked as well.

This one had Mod Podge, and it remained pretty cloudy.

Then I had all this "stuff" from years of being an art teacher, years of collecting for "this would be cool" that got put to good use:

Oh, glitter, the kids love it, and it makes me crazy.

This is a beach, with sand and cut up feathers for seaweed.

Cotton balls for clouds, cut up feathers for grass.

So, students added glitter and beads and other items, then we mixed small batches of ArtResin and carefully poured it in to 'set' the items in place.  These are so amazing, and I hope students (or their parents) keep them forever for a snapshot of them at age 11 or 12.

I Love This Clay Project

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for new clay projects.  And in 18 years of teaching (HOW did THAT happen????) I've never done fifth grade the same way twice.  
With my fifth graders this year, I decided to look at some modern ceramic artists and found Christy Keeney and Liz Scrine--two working British artists.  Go ahead and look them up, their work is ah-maze-ing! I also had some designer silkscreens from Mayco that I really wanted to try out (I like the bugs best, but my students liked them all).
Our first step was to design and build a slab person, here some of them are after firing (apparently I was too excited about the next step to take any photos of that).  So here's some photos of them after we silkscreen'ed on them:

It's very obvious that she was inspired by Christy Keeney's work.

This student has done NOTHING all year,
ceramics may be 'his thing.'

I do love this one!

This is a special needs friend, and he did the BEST on his silkscreen.

  
The process for this is pretty simple, you draw around the image and cut it out (larger than your outline).  Then USE TAPE ('cause that wet-it-and-it-will-stick that it says on the directions totally does not work) to attach the silkscreen (smooth side down) onto the bisque fired clay.  Next, mix a small amount of glaze (we used Stroke & Coat) with the silkscreen medium powder (it's about $4/container and I forgot I had some and ordered two more, so it's obvious that I now have enough for the next 150 years) and use your finger to smoosh it through the silkscreen.  I did this at one table with small groups of students as they were working on another project, then put them immediately in the kiln for a second firing.  When done correctly, the detail is awesome!
So, after they were all fired again, we used tempera block paint to paint them:

Here they are all done, dry and ready to go home:

Hard to see in this photo, but the spider is amazing!

There is a silkscreen'ed ladybug under the rainbow.

I just love this one, even though she missed silkscreening.

Gotta have some rainbow hair!

It's Hillary Clinton.
Because of course it is.

Silkscreen 101

This is my second year silkscreening shirts with my sixth graders, and I think I've worked out some of the bugs from last year (though I still have a way to go).  Disclaimer: this is what I do and it works for me, but it's not what I learned in college, it's more jerry-rigging things I have around the house.  With that in mind, let's get started!
Step one, get some screens:

The larger one was purchased from Nasco,
the smaller ones I'm borrowing from a friend.

I had to clean mine out from last year.  The kits of emulsion that you purchase come with screen clean-out, but of course I didn't remember that so I just used bleach and a scrub brush.  And yes, my bathtub is baby blue.

Step two, coat the screens:

Just follow the directions on the bottle, mixing the stuff from
the small bottle into the large bottle.
Have a magnifying glass handy to read the directions if you're over 40 like me.

Pour a healthy amount.
I do all of this step in my basement bathroom,
and I do it with the light on.

Spread it around evenly.
This is where I had my biggest problems when I began--
in college we use a scoop coater, and I don't have one.

Then I found out the squeegee works nearly as well.
(Though honestly it's not as even, or it's harder to make even)

Step three, shoot the screens:

I do this step on top of my washing machine with a simple light from Home Depot clipped to a shelf.  I use glass out of a thrift store frame, and a black blanket from my couch.  Make sure you lay it on the screen backwards or it will print backwards. Through trial and error, I found 45 minutes works the best for me.  At the end of the 45 minutes, I quickly pull off the glass and transparency image (more about that in a minute) and run the screen upstairs to wash out with the sprayer at my kitchen sink.  I couldn't take a photo of that because time is of the essence here.
Now, for the transparency image part: I have my students turn in their ideas to me electronically (my district uses Schoology) and then students vote.  Once an image or quote is chosen, I have learned to make adjustments (all those fonts they like can be quite distracting!).  I then have them printed twice on transparency, and it is VITAL that you tape them together exactly right.

See this?  I had to re-shoot the screen because that corner of text wasn't perfect.

Once the screens are washed out (with the non-exposed emulsion--ie what was under the black sections of the transparencies dropped out) and they've dried you are ready to print.
For the printing part you only need a squeegee and screen printing ink for fabric.  I allow my students to bring their shirts in any time, and after they've printed them, they dry in my room.  Then I send them home for heat setting with this document.
I'm sure I've left out some need-to-know things, so please comment if something is unclear.
Keep on bein' awesome, art teacher friends!

Eight A Day

It seems like I haven't been a' bloggin' forever.  And I haven't written anything in months.  We've been doing so many amazing new projects, friends (if you're in Missouri, you should TOTALLY COME to my presentation at Spring Conference)! It's just that I teach eight classes a day.  Eight different grade levels (that's K-6 + adaptive, three different sections of adaptive). About 500 students, every three days. It's a whirlwind, and the art show was Tuesday night (first year doing Artome') and I'm just trying so hard to focus on the important things.  
It's like this poster, but only more school-related:

So I haven't forgotten you, blog readers, I'm just working.  Lots.
But I promise to make a better effort, and get back to blogging :-)