Wonderful Weaving with Warm and Cool Colors!

My DragonWing Arts students recently finished some colorful paper weavings.  I posted some pics on Instagram and received some questions and comments, so I thought I'd share the (simple) details here.  It was an easy and successful project!

The students each were given three sheets of 12x18" white paper. They divided two of the papers into stripes lengthwise, and painted one with warm colors, and the other with cool colors.  The paints were fluorescent tempera, and they used one brush for warm and another brush for cool, but did not wash the brush between colors, so that they got some subtle color blends in their stripes.  The third sheet of paper was filled with shapes - the kids chose to use hearts, stars, and 'amorphous blobs' (random organic shapes).  The shapes were painted with warm and/or cool as desired.  Then everything was outlined thickly with black paint. Finally, we used Sax Tempera Gloss Varnish to paint a coat of shiny sealer on the paintings.  It really enhanced the colors!

The students each were given a 19" square of black poster board.  They cut the stripes from one painted paper, cutting right down the middle of the black lines, and glued down the ends of the stripes, side-by-side on the poster board, to create their warp.

 Then they cut the stripes on the second paper, and used them as weft, to weave through the warp.

When the weaving was complete, all the ends were glued down, and the shapes were carefully cut from their third papers.

I had been given a bunch of 3D-O's, and we decided to use them to make the shapes 'float' above the weaving.  Note the 'happy face' arrangement of the stars in the piece below! 

 I know it's hard to see the 3-D element in these photos; it definitely looks more effective firsthand.  But honestly? I'd never used 3D-O's before and the kids and I found it annoyingly difficult to peel the end papers off to reveal the sticky parts.  Next time, I'd prefer to cut little squares of heavy cardboard and have the kids glue and stack them under their shapes to create desired depth, in place of using the 3D-O's. 

The original motivation for this project was a pic I saw on Pinterest, using warm and cool colors to weave in contrasting directions, in layers of weaving.  There were no instructions, and I used the image simply as a starting point to develop my own project for my students.  I thought the floating shapes would be a fun enhancement for the basic weaving, since we weren't working with multiple layers.  I also thought the contrast of using fluorescent paints and black lines made the final images more lively. 

I can imagine lots of ways to further enhance the project - patterns in white on the black backing, perhaps?  Or black and white patterned strips woven through diagonally?   It's fun to imagine all the possibilities!!

One morning, two workshops, loads of fun!

I serve as a region rep for NYSATA, my state organization.  A couple of days ago, we held our second annual regional "Summer Art Blast" professional development event.  We planned it on VERY short notice, and I am so happy it was a success!  The night before, I decorated an old ugly pair or orthopedic sandals with a white Sharpie paint marker to jazz them up.  Just in time to wear while teaching workshops!

At last year's event, our members asked if we could hold some region workshops on the Common Core.  So our goal was to comply with that request.  Our Common Core presenter is an art ed professor at the College of Saint Rose,and she did two workshops, one for elementary and one for secondary.  I didn't get to attend them (but I was told they were both fabulous) because, at the same time, I taught hands-on workshops to each group.  We agreed that math scares a lot of art teachers, but it doesn't scare me, so I agreed to present the hands-on workshops.

For the secondary workshop, I taught the participants how to construct a trihexaflexagon, a tetratetraflexagon, and a Möbius strip. We also looked at the more complex hexahexaflexagon and a kaleidocycle.  (Have I confused you yet?)  I've taught this many times before, so I'm really confident about it, and everyone was 100% successful!  If you don't know what a hexaflexagon is, I've seen posts recently calling it a "flextangle".  That's a newly invented name, I presume a play on the Zentangle craze.  The original name goes back to the origin of flexagons in 1939, and was made popular by an article in Scientific American in 1956. 

 Here, participants are examining trihexaflexagons and learning how to make them flex and change.  (A trihexaflexagon is a hexagon with 3 faces, but you can only see two of them at once.  You have to flex them to reveal the hidden face.  Flexing them also causes the designs to rotate and change.  Very cool.)

During the workshop I also demonstrated what you can do with a Möbius strip, which is simply a strip of paper that is twisted one and connected in a loop.  It becomes one-sided.  But when you cut it in 1/2, it changes into a double twist and becomes two-sided again.  Cut it in 1/2 again, and it becomes two linked loops, which is what I'm holding in the photo below!

Since I'm retired, I was not as familiar with the standards as many of you, but I pored over them while planning for these workshops and discovered something that helped me a lot.  The Standards for Mathematical Practice, which are basically the same at all grade levels, include (among other things) the following: using appropriate tools strategically, reasoning abstractly, attending to precision,  making sense of problems, looking for and making use of structure, constructing viable arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others.

And here are my workshop participants, using appropriate tools (rulers/pencils) strategically.  We talked about using multiple contact points to keep the ruler from sliding.  I tell my students to make their hands into a rainbow bridge, and to anchor the ends of the bridge on the ruler.  We also always look closely at the rulers we use.  Often, there's an extra gap at the end of the ruler, beyond the first inch.  I discuss with my students the need to know where the "zero" is on the ruler, for accurate  measurement. 

 Here we are, measuring accurately (attending to precision), 

cutting, scoring, and folding (again, attending to precision). 

 Looking for and making use of structure, and making sense of the problem, too!

 And when we were done, everyone had met some CC Math Standards, 

everyone survived the process, and they were still smiling, too! (below)

 When the flexagon workshop (with secondary teachers) was complete, it was time for the elementary workshop, which was an introduction to assorted weaving activities for various grade levels.

We began (pictured above) with a "human weaving", to show how, if the weft has been woven appropriately, the warp will be all joined together.  It only takes a few minutes to do, is an activity that your students will enjoy, and will really help them to understand weaving. The people standing in line are the warp.  The person at the end of the line will hold onto a piece of rope, and another person will be the weft, pulling the rope in front of and behind the warp.  When the second row has been properly woven, if you ask one person to go to their seat, the rest of the warp will have to follow! 

In just an 80 minute workshop, we started a complex looking (but easy to do) paper weaving activity, began to make a woven pouch on a cereal box cardboard loom, learned to do Kumihimo and strung a loom, and learned about a couple of other weaving projects.  Busy, busy!  Participants again explored the math standards, and talked about ruler use and measuring.  And took home everything they needed to finish all the weaving projects they'd started!

 Above and below, the aftermath of two workshops all piled together in one magical mess! 

We held the "Summer Art Blast" at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College in beautiful Saratoga Springs, where I grew up.  The exhibit of work by Nicholas Krushenick, which I've written about before, was still there, so I got to take another look.  Then, before leaving, we viewed an odd exhibit of small painted books by Arturo Herrera, and finally, stopped at the "Sol Wall" - a piece of wall art conceived by Sol Lewitt, consisting of scribbles in graphite.

Above and below left, the "Sol Wall".  Below right, a piece from Arturo Herrera exhibit.

 Below, a piece by Nicholas Krushenick.

Published by Pacon!

Were you at the recent NAEA convention in New Orleans?  While visiting the vendor area, did you pick up the sample lesson plan in the Pacon booth?  It looked like this:

 Did you flip it over and look on the back?

 Look in the yellow rectangle!  See what it says?  This lesson was designed by ME!

This is the first time I've been published like this for distribution, so I think it's pretty cool.  This is a weaving process I've done many times with my students, and blogged about here.  I also wrote about it on the blog when I was developing this and some other lessons for Pacon.  You can see my samples of this lesson, and the other lessons, in the post you will find here. 

 They pretty much presented it as I wrote it, including the display idea above.  My kindergarten students did a paper cutting lesson with flying carpets, and we called it 'kitties on carpets'.  They kids created kitties that were cut and glued on their 'rugs', which were displayed on a blue sky with puffy clouds.  You can see the kitties on carpets here.

Here's a couple of closeups of the samples that Pacon made for their booth, which are shown on the printed lesson, following my step-by-step instructions.

 

By the way, Pacon was again soliciting bloggers to write lessons for their website, as they did last year.  (That's how I happened to write this and two other lessons.)  They provided me with the black paper that they wanted to showcase.  I don't know what material they are promoting this year, but it is definitely worthwhile to work with them!  Thanks, Pacon, for publishing me!!  I think I may just volunteer again!

Projects for Pacon!

completed project idea ~ 'Designing Negative Space'

When I was at the NAEA convention in San Diego, in the vendor area, a gal from Pacon was looking for art bloggers willing to write up lessons incorporating a new material that they would send for you to sample.  I thought this sounded like a fun challenge, so I accepted the offer.  In return, I received their new Pacon Basic Black Drawing Paper in three forms: a package of 9"x12" sheets, a spiral sketchbook of the same size, and a large project roll.  The paper is especially designed for use with gel pens and metallic markers.

completed project idea ~  'Getting Buggy: Still Life Collage'

I used the spiral pad as a place to experiment, and I discovered that the gel pens I was using did not show up well.  Since the paper is intended for use with gel pens, I contacted the rep and she immediately popped a set of Sakura GellyRoll Moonlight Gel Pens in the mail to me, and yay, they worked fabulously on the black paper!  I definitely recommend them.  I also had success with a variety of metallic markers (also recommended for use with this paper), with Faber Castell Metallic Gel Sticks, and white acrylic ink (using a bamboo pen).  I'm not going to show you all my fun doodles, but I must say, I do love the idea of a black sketchpad!  Next I'm going to be using the sketchpad to test white charcoal pencil and some white and sepia-tone conte, and I expect they might both work well. 

completed project idea ~ 'Wacky Woven Flying Carpet'

About the black paper - it is lighter weight than construction paper, with a very smooth surface on one side and a slight tooth on the other.  Due to its light weight, I don't think I'd recommend it for wet media.  While I haven't yet tried it (but I will), I think the paper would suit well for some folding and curling techniques.  The only criticism I have of the paper is that the black is not a deep rich black, but actually more on the gray side of black.  But of course, that means that a black Sharpie shows up on it for adding subtle detail, so that's kind of cool, isn't it?

Anyhow, in typical fashion, I went overboard and I developed three lesson ideas, all using the 9"x12" paper, and I'd like to share them with you.  I haven't come up with any fabulous ideas for the larger size paper yet, since the fine points of gel pens and metallic markers lend themselves more to small sizes.  But like I said, maybe a folding/rolling/curling type of project?

My first lesson idea (pictured above, below, and at the top of the post) is the simplest: an easy project I called 'Designing Negative Space'.  With a white gel pen, I traced an ordinary object (I used a scissors) many times on a sheet of the Pacon black paper, turning it in various directions, overlapping, and even going right over the edge of the paper.  The idea would be to talk with students about balance, repetition, and movement to create good a composition.  Then I filled in all the sections of negative space, using repeating patterns and designs.  Again, I used the GellyRoll  pens for this.

 

The second project 'Getting Buggy: Still Life Collage' is my favorite, but has more steps.  I referred to the artwork of Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), whose lush still life paintings always include 'creepy-crawlies' (insects, spiders, small lizards, butterflies, snails, inchworms, etc) tucked in among the flowers and on the tables. Here are a few images of her paintings:

I decided to make a colorful flower still life collage with bugs in it, to bring this to an elementary level.  The backgrounds of her paintings are usually dark, so I selected a deep blue Tru-Ray construction paper for the background (12"x18"), a piece of brown Tru-Ray for the table (6"x12"), and a piece of the 9"x12" Pacon Basic Black Drawing Paper for the vase.  (Definitely not as dark as hers!)  I folded the black paper in 1/2 like a book, and with the fold on the side drew a gentle 'S' curve from the top to the bottom.  I cut on that line and unfolded the paper to discover my vase, which I then glued on the table in my artwork and decorated with the metallic gel sticks.

I drew a bunch of insects with the gel pens (and addeed some black Sharpie detail) on the Pacon black paper, and cut around them loosely.  On assorted scraps of Tru-Ray construction paper, I drew some simple flower and leaf shapes, stacked some pieces together and cut them all out.  I then arranged them, including the bugs I had created, and glued it all together.  Finally, I used the gel markers to add details - veins on the leaves, lines on the flower petals, dots in the centers of flowers, and so on.  I enjoyed making my sample, and I think this could be a really fun lesson to do with kids!

The final project is called 'Wacky Woven Flying Carpets', and is similar to a 2nd grade paper weaving project I have posted about before on this blog.  (Hint: it is much less complicated than it looks!)  I won't give you all the process details here,  but I will mention that all the black paper in the weaving is the Basic Black Drawing Paper and was decorated with the gel pens.  My idea is that after the paper weaving and patterning techniques are all complete, the weavings would be displayed on a sky mural, and that the students could have fun creating whatever should ride on their flying carpets:  cats on carpets? (I've done that before); rattlesnakes on rugs?; flying french fries?... you get the idea!  Silly is good!!! Or, the weavings can just be backed with construction paper as I did in the 2nd image below, for use in a display about repeating pattern and design. 

If you want more information about the paper I was provided to use for these lessons, you can find links to it here: Basic Black Sketch Diary, Basic Black Drawing Paper 9"x12", and Basic Black Art Roll 24"x10'.  And if you've never visited the Pacon website before, here is where you will find assorted projects and lesson plans.  And here's a link to their Facebook page.  I'm hopeful that in the near future you will find the full details of  my three lesson ideas included on their website!  Yippee!!!!

And finally - I enjoyed coming up with ideas how to use this paper, and I want to say  THANK YOU to Jessica at Pacon for giving me the materials and the opportunity.  It was fun!