Texture Hands

This is a project I've seen floating around the internet for a while. I couldn't find the originator of this lesson so, if you know, please leave a comment so I can give attribution!

This was a great lesson for me to teach as I seldom address the art element of texture in my projects.

Grade 4- 6 students started by tracing their hand and drawing the crease marks of their palm for realism. The, on each finger, they had to draw a different texture. I showed them how to shade for added depth. Then, they needed to add colour to at least two fingers. I think these are so fun and creative!

 

Hoop Weaving

I saw some gorgeous hoop weaving in a fancy gift store one day and figured I could probably figure out how to make one. I enlisted the help of a colleague at work who also happens to be a master weaver!

See here work on Etsy HERE

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/wanderingweaverstore

Or Instagram: @the_wandering_weaver

She bought bamboo embroidery hoops of various sizes. She taught the students (Grade 7-9) how to wrap cotton twine all around the hoop for the warp strings. 

Then she demonstrated how to start off weaving in the middle with the classic over-under-over-under method. Then she demonstrated the sumac weave. 

Students had the most fun choosing the colours for their weaving. Strangely enough, blue and cream were the most popular colours! Once they started, they quickly got the hang of it!  These take a long time to complete so it's best to start off with smaller hoops.

Here's some in-progress photos- most kids had to take their hoops home for the summer to finish. 

 

Embroidered Photographs

This was a cool project I did with my Grade 7,8,9 class. It's quite tedious and time consuming, so is a good lesson in patience and perseverance; a definite era of challenge for some of today's students!

I started by showing photo examples of embroidered photography online. |There are lots of examples. Many contemporary embroiderers are pushing the boundaries of the age-old craft to produce unique hand-stitched pieces.  Han Cao, and Flore Gardner are a couple of good examples. 

Students chose a high resolution photo online and then I printed each one onto cardstock. 

You need thick paper for this to work. 

They used a thumbtack to punch evenly spaced holes in the areas they wanted to stick. They could stick over specific areas, or add new stiches to totally transform the image.

We used embroidery floss and tapestry needles. 

Some of the finished ones:

 

Torn Paper Cardinal Collage

This is a pretty and textural project using torn construction paper. We did cardinals but next year I will try a variety of birds. You could do birds from your own province or region or your provincial/state bird, etc. 

You can see my previous post on this project HERE. 

Materials: construction paper (lots of red, a bit of black and orange), glue sticks or white glue, scissors.

Grade 4-6 students started by sketching out a large cardinal shape to fill a large sheet of red construction paper. They cut this shape out- use the scraps and tear them into long horizontal strips. Starting at the top or bottom, start gluing down and overlapping the stirps of torn paper. You can use different shades of red for the winds and tail. Fill everything and then collage on the face using black (we use scissors to cut this part out. Add an orange beak and paper eyes and voila!

Grade 4 - 6 results: