Henna Hands

Henna is a natural dye that is used to decorate the body especially the hands for special occasions such as weddings in many Asian cultures. The designs are intricate patterns of shapes, flowers, spirals, waves and lines.  For this project, I show my students lots of examples or patterns and designs, we also practice a few on paper first.

You may want to cover your tables with newspaper to make clean up easier.  To make the hands, each student needs a latex glove (be sure to use thick gloves NOT the thin food service type), then mix up a small batch of plaster and pour it into the glove while the student holds it open. Once their glove it full, have them pinch it closed and hold it up until the plaster hardens (about 10 min).  The stiller they can be holding the plaster, the less chances of fingers breaking off once its dry, I have my students tell jokes or riddles while they wait.   HINT: You may need to mix up multiple batches depending on the size of your class, try not to mix up to much at one time or it will harden before you get to pour it into the glove.  If you have never worked with plaster before, I recommend trying it out on your own before attempting with a class--it's a very manageable classroom material if you know what to expect!

When the plaster hardens you can lay the gloves down on the table and carefully cut the glove off with scissors.  You should have a perfect hand shape which may stand up if the bottom is flat enough ( you can sand it flat if its not!).  I let these dry completely over night.  To clean up any plaster disasters, let it harden and then break it up with a scraper and hammer, through the hardened chunks away.  If you want to get it out of the bucket you mixed it in, let it harden and then flex the plastic bucket to pop it off the sides.  DO NOT LET PLASTER GO DOWN THE SINK!!  I set up a 5 gallon bucket of water for students to wash their hands and any tools in, then just dump that water outside.

Once the plaster is set, use watercolor paints to paint the entire surface of the hands, the plaster will absorb the paint quickly.  You can use this as a time to tie in a color theory lesson explaining the differences between warm colors and cool colors or just give them primary colors and have them experiment mixing.  Once the paint is dry, give students a selection of fine and ultra-fine sharpie markers to start their henna patterns with.  I encourage students to do at least 10 different patterns and to cover the whole surface.  They can use the patterns they drew earlier as references on their final pieces.

HINT: If you have broken fingers, they can be fixed!  Take a small drill bit and drill about 1/2" into the finger that is broken and also into where it connects.  Cut an inch long (or shorter) dowel of wood, such as a shish kabob skewer, dip the ends into glue and fit it into the drilled holes.  You can also add a little bit of glue to the plaster surfaces, push the broken pieces together gently and let dry!  

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Nesting Bowls

Pinch pots are simple to make, but nesting them is a great challenge for students to get them just right!  I ask students to create 6 nested bowls in whatever shape they'd like (hearts, circles ovals etc..) using just the pinch pot technique to create them.

Have students start by making 6 spheres of clay that gradually get smaller and smaller (the first one can be about the size of a grapefruit). Starting with the largest sphere, have students stick their thumbs into the sphere and squeeze around the sides until all the clay is stretched out into a bowl shape.  Form the bowl into the desired shape and start on the next one, as each bowl is stretched out test it for fitting into the larger one.  Once they are all nested let them dry and bisque fire them.  I gave a color theory lesson on tones and tints for students to think about when painting their bowls.  You could also have students create a pattern of colors or use only warm/cool colors when glazing.

!!! B CR8IV!!! 

Wire Trees

These copper wire trees are simple and beautiful. Start with at least 15 strands of wire (or more!) all the same length (at least 6" long), this will be the height of your tree.  Bundle all the wires together and twist tightly in the middle to create the trunk.  Little hands may need help with this part, you can also use pliers to help twist.  Next we'll build the roots, so decide which end is the bottom of your tree and divide up the 15 strands into groups of 3 or 4 wires.  Twist each of those groups a little bit and then divide them into groups of 1 or 2 strands.  The single strands can be left alone and the double strands can be twisted a little more.  Then separate them into single strands so that it appears your roots are thicker towards the trunk and thinner towards the tips.  The same process is repeated for the branches.  Bend the branches and roots to simulate natural tree shapes and to balance the tree on its roots.  You could also find a small stone to wrap the roots around and anchor the base of it.
Next I used small seed beads on the tips of the branches and bent the end of the single wire strands to hold the beads in place.  The beads could be a lesson in color theory using on warm or cool color beads.  Or you could have students pick out colored beads for the birth stone of each family member and make these family trees.  Or use pink and white beads for cherry blossom trees.  Or celebrate Arbor Day with these wire bonsai trees!  So many options....

!!B CR8IV!!

Nature Fossils

These fossils are made from plaster poured into a clay mold and then finished with watercolor paints and bees wax. This is a two day process to allow the plaster to dry throughly.

First I have students choose a selection of natural objects, we may go on a walk to find these pieces.  Shells, leaves, twigs etc. all work great for this project.  I also let them choose from some plastic toy bugs, frogs or dinosaurs I have in the studio.  All of these pieces are pushed into a slab of clay so that they leave a texture and fairly deep indent in the clay.  This is a great opportunity to discuss negative and positive space in art. 

Next students build a wall around the sides of their slab, attaching it on so that there are no holes or weak spots on the edges where plaster may leak out.  Then I mix up the plaster, I don't generally measure the plaster to water ratio, but try to get a consistancy similar to pudding.  If I have a large class, the plaster is mixed in batches (maybe 5 students at a time).  I then pour the plaster into their mold filling it so that the plaster is about 2 inches deep.  Students are asked to gently tap the sides of their mold and the top of the plaster to wiggle out any air bubbles that may have gotten trapped.  Once the plaster has started to hold its shape but it still soft a wire loop can be placed in so that the fossil can be hung on the wall when finished.  The plaster takes about 20 minutes to set but 24 hours to cure completely.  Once the plaster has set, the clay can gently be removed from the sides and the "rock" of plaster can be flipped over to remove the clay from the bottom.  This will reveal the positive shapes of all the nature items that were pushed into the clay.  Write students names on their plaster and let cure until the following day. 

Once the plaster is cured you can paint it will any type of paint, I like to use watercolors for this project.  This is a great opportunity to pull out your handy-dandy color wheel and discuss warm and cool colors.  I usually let students choose which they'd like to use and then challange them to mix up 10 colors that are either warm or cool to use on their project.  Once painted, the plaster will dry rather quickly as it sucks the water out of the paint and then I like to use a bees wax furniture polish to seal the surface.  It also gives the surface a semi-gloss sheen to it.  If you've included a wire hanging loop on the back of your plaster, you fossil can be hung up for display!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Clay & Copper Sun

This summer sun is a great project to build in two stages.  The face of the sun is built with clay while the rays are made of a thick copper foil.  I had my students cut out the shape of their sun's face and then we talked about 3-D shapes that we could add on for the features (spheres for eyes, pyramid for the nose and a cylinder for the mouth), we also created texture with the clay tools on the surface of the face.  I also added a kanthal wire loop in the top of the clay so that it could be hung later.  The clay pieces were fired and then in this case I had students use watercolor paints to add color to the clay, they could be glazed just as easily.  We looked at a color wheel and discusses the various names for the different colors.  I had students use a palette of warm or cool colors to paint their sun faces with.  For the rays of the sun, each student was give a retangle shaped piece of thick copper foil, a stack of newspaper and a dull pencil.  If you use the dull pencil and push into the foil using the newspaper as a cushion underneath, you can tool the foil with a variety of patterns and designs.  I have my students divide up their rectangle into 5 or 6 different shapes and then each shape is filled with a different pattern.  The result is a textured surface on the opposite side of the foil.  Once the entire piece is covered with designs, student will cut up the foil into their rays.  PLEASE NOTE: The foil can have sharp edges when cutting, younger children will need help with this part.  Each ray is glued onto the back of the sun using a hot glue gun and a ribbon can be looped through the wire loop at the top to hang your clay and copper sun!
!!!B CR8IV!!!