Zentangle Scratch Board

I remember when I was in elementary school I would color on a piece of paper with crayons, then I would cover the whole thing with a black crayon and use a paper clip to scratch out a design. That method was very time consuming. This time around I created my own scratchboard, but I didn’t use crayons. First, I covered the whole page with oil pastels. I then made the scratch board by mixing a 1:1 ratio of black tempera paint and dish soap. After I had applied several coats and let it dry completely, I started to do the Zentangle portion of the assignment.  The first part I did was the bubbles on the middle right side. I though it looked really neat until my hand started cramping a quarter of the way through. After I finally finished that section I moved on to the other ones. When I first finished it, it was very unbalanced. I went back through and added more detail to the left side of the page hoping to balance everything out. this would be a great project for the classroom, but I would look into buying pre-made scratch board. The soap and paint method was very messy!

100 Color Challenge

For this assignment, we were to create 100 different colors using water color for half of the colors, and tempera paint for the other half. I decided to do water color on the first half of my page, and then tempera paint on the second half. Whoever created the template for this assignment was being sneaky. If you count the squares there are actually 110 squares. I decided to fill in all of the squares, so I created 110 different colors. When I started this assignment I decided to do it organized. I completed one line at a time, starting with a basic color and adding tints and shades to make it different from the rest. It was fun to mix all of these colors and experiment with tints and shades. It was particularly helpful when I didn’t have a certain color of paint. I learned that as long as I had the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) along with white and black, I would be able to create any color that I dreamed of!

Milk Jug Mask

I am very intrigued by different cultures, so when I saw we would be making African mask I was pretty excited. This was not too difficult to make, but did require some skilled cutting with scissors, or even a knife. I first did some research on what African masks look like and found that they usually resemble either the human face or an animal. I wanted my mask to resemble a human face, and I wanted it to be simple but exciting. It was recommended that we use raffia for the grassy looking part of the mask, but I decided to use real field grass from our family farm. I liked this more than raffia because it was stiff and stood up instead of being relaxed. I had a fun time making it and I think it would be great a great opportunity to teach about cultures in the classroom or it would also be a good idea to integrate into the core.

Light Painting

To create my light painting I used an iPhone camera with the app called Slow Shutter Cam, which is available from the App Store. At the time of this assignment I was still recovering from knee surgery so I asked my roommates to help me out. I originally had planned to use sparklers as my source of light, but they would not stay lit due to the wind. I had an idea of what I wanted my light paintings to look like, and it didn’t turn out like I had hoped. I did not have a tripod for my phone, or a place to steady it, so there was slight movement while the photo was being captured. I would like to try this again now that I am able to move around better and I would like to use a tripod of some sort. There are many things I could incorporate such as different colors of light and different depths. Neither of these light painting were realistic, but every time I look at the one on the left I see a cowboy riding a pig. I give you permission to call me crazy.

Cardboard Construction

Each student in my class was asked to complete a cardboard construction that was three dimensional and also non-objective. When I started doing my research I decided on how I was going to create my construction. To start off I found a cardboard box that was no longer being used and unfolded it so that it was flat. Next, I found some spray paint in my garage and covered the whole thing with color. Once the paint was dry, I traced organic shapes and cut them out. In order to make the cardboard stick together, I cut slits in one piece and slid another piece into that slit. There was not specific plan to create what I did, I just kept piecing the shapes together until I was happy with the outcome. I would like to try this again, but do it with bigger pieces of cardboard so that the overall construction is much larger. I would also try and find an easier way to connect the cardboard. I think if I made my slits wider, it would have made sliding them together easier.

Choose Your Own Mask Making Method

We were asked to do research and come up with our own mask making method. I chose to I do a Picasso/Cubism face mask. The method I used could easily be done in an elementary school classroom. I used supplies that I could find around my house (cardboard, noodles, tempera paint, hot glue, glue stick, scissors, markers, stick). I am sure there is a ton of card board at the schools and the rest of the items are readily available. I think the kids would like it because it doesn’t have to be a perfect face, so they could have fun with making it as different as they would like. There is also an optical illusion created, and I feel like student would be amazed by that. If I were to do this again or in the classroom, I think I would use different sized googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and other object that I could incorporate so that it wasn’t just a paper face.

Batik

When I first started doing my research on Batiks I was in awe. There are so many intricate designs that can be created through this method. I was a little bit discouraged when I was trying to think of a design to do because of how delicate the pieces were that I found online. I used a 100% cotton t-shirt, non-washable tempera paint, and glue. I had a really hard time creating my design on the t-shirt. It was difficult to keep the consistency of the glue the same while outlining my stencil. I also found that as my glue started to dry, it spread out a lot. That was not something I was hoping for. When I got to the painting part I decided to mix colors. I had different shades of orange for the leaves and a deep red for the background. Well as you can see it all washed out to red and yellow. I am still not sure why it did that. If I was to do this again, I would try applying the glue with a tooth pick or something similar to make more intricate designs and to help prevent my glue from spreading so much.

Alien Names

The number one goal was to create an alien (using your name) that was beautiful on their planet. I had a lot of fun with this project! To create my alien, I wrote my name on a piece of card stock that was folded in half, cut around my name and unfolded the paper. It creates this cute little alien. The fun part about this project is that although each of us created our own planet, each alien was different because we all have different names. My alien lived on a planet that was always celebrating each other with fireworks, happy music, and compliments. My alien is beautiful because she is unique. The pattern that covers her body is unique from any other alien on her planet. I am pleased with how it turned out, and I think this would be a great lesson to teach in my classroom no matter the grade level.

Print Making

Print making is the process of creating prints that are original rather than being a duplicate or a photocopy of an image. If you were to search methods of print making you would find many. While I was doing my research I was brainstorming myself of what I could do or use. I took a walk through my house looking for things that could help create a unique design. The medium I used was a form of poster paint for both prints. On the first one I used a piece of sheet metal that had a unique geometrical design cut out of it. I chose three colors, yellow, orange and pink, and laid the sheet metal over my piece of paper. I used an old tooth brush to apply the paint and just put down patches of color until the whole thing was filled. For the second print I used the same concept, but I painted on bubble wrap with blue and green paint. After I had filled enough of the bubble wrap with paint I stamped it on to my paper. The main thing I would change if I were to do this again would be using different paint. The paint I had was very thin, so it was hard to get it to stick to the plastic on the bubble wrap, and it was also really light so I could tell where I had put paint on my sheet metal print. Regardless, I do like how the colors and the prints turned out in general.