Love Bugs

For this Valentine's Day project we started by making pompoms using the 'doughnut' method. I have made pompoms with my group before and it is a nice activity which students find quite absorbing. I pre-cut lengths of wool and also provided plastic needles. The needles are easier for students to hold and their weight makes it easier to pass the wool through the hole. It is important not to make the hole in the doughnut ring too big or else it will take all day to finish. A smaller hole results in quite scruffy looking pompoms but students can give them a haircut at the end to neaten them up if they like. To turn them into lovebugs students used templates to cut heart-shaped feet from felt and made eyes from white felt circles which they drew on with black markers. You could use a glue gun to attach the feet and eyes but I find the best method is double-sided carpet tape (which is VERY sticky). I pre-stuck tape to the back of the felt before they cut out the shapes.

Painted Paper

Time to make more painted paper!
For some reason, this workshop didn't work as well as the last session we spent making painted paper. The last time round it was a relaxing, therapeutic session and the students were really absorbed in the painting. Today it felt more like a competition to see who could paint the most paper in the shortest time. After only 30 minutes I could see that the students had had enough. On the upside, I now have LOADS of painted paper for future classes!

Chinese Dragons

In this workshop we celebrated Chinese New Year by making some fierce dragon masks. I began by handing out some photocopies of a dragon mask and some metallic markers. Everyone had to colour in two masks. The students spent lots of time on these. Once they had finished, I asked the carers to cut the eyes and nose out of one of the masks. I showed them how to make little zig-zags from scraps of paper which we glued onto the backs of the eyes and noses. These were then glued onto the other mask to make a goggly 3D effect. The mask was then glued onto a paper plate for strength. I gave out some strips of red and orange tissue so that students could make some flames to come out of the dragon's mouth and finally we made a spiky fringe from scraps of painted paper.

My first award!

I'm honoured to have been given the Liebster Blog award by Molly Stewart at artideasthatgrow.blogspot.com

Fox in the Snow

This workshop was inspired by a fox collage by Paige Balcer. You can see it here: http://lookaway.typepad.com/look_away/2009/02/woodland-creatures.html

We began by blowing white paint through straws to create snowy trees. I then provided students with pre-cut fox heads, bodies and tails which they covered in torn tissue. I touched some of them up with a little orange paint (just to help them along a little bit) before they added eyes and noses. I think the results are really sweet!

Happy New Year!

Well, it's a new year and time to get back to work. Before I start planning new workshops, I just wanted to share a couple of photos of the stall I had at a Christmas gift fair in December. This was my first time at a craft fair (I have previously sold things online and in shops) and I really enjoyed meeting customers and seeing their reactions to my products.
If anyone is interested in looking at my etsy shop, the address is http://www.louiseisobel.etsy.com/

Paper Penguins

This project was a combination of ideas from Adventures of an Art Teacher and Mrs Picasso's Art Room. I began by getting the students to paint the background using blue paint at the top and white at the bottom and blending the two in the middle. All the students managed this really well. They then followed my instructions to make the large penguin out of black and white paper. I pre-cut the paper to the different sizes needed.They all required plenty of help from their carers but were able to draw the shapes with assistance and they are all great at gluing things down! The second, smaller penguin was drawn onto white paper using pens or pastels and then cut out and stuck down. They created the snowflakes by tapping a brush loaded with watery white paint. This is less messy than spraying or flicking paint and was a new technique for the students.