tooling foil- questions answered!

Some of you may have inherited a roll of metal tooling foil or seen some of these beautiful metal projects on blogs and pinterest and not known what the material is. 

It is metal tooling foil. It can be bought cut down already or in a roll (and comes in silver, gold, copper).

For an example from Dick Blick click here.

Here are the tricks to using it!

First of all you can cut it down on the paper cutter! Woo!

It can also be cut with scissors if you want to alter the shape.

(I would only let students fourth grade and older do this though.)

As I explain to my students, you need a "cushion" underneath the metal when you draw on it so that there is some give for the metal and place for it to be pushed to. I use the metaphor of what it feels like to jump on a hard floor versus a gym mat. For the cushion I fold up newspaper, works great. 

I also make my students use the fat pencils (the kinder ones) which have a fatter softer point so they won't make a hole and the point won't break as easily. 

The cool thing is that you can draw on both sides so that the design both gets incised/engraved

and also can pop out. We really focus on texture during this process.

You can't erase any lines so we do a lot of rough drafts. 

I used to have the kids tape and trace their rough draft designs but I aborted that a while ago. 

For coloring, this is tricky to get across- I really emphasize coloring in the negative spaces and letting the silver pencil lines show (like a coloring book) but there are always one or two that sneak past me and just go ahead and trace their lines. 

Colored sharpies (or liquid metal markers) work best for coloring. Sharpies are actually transparent and not opaque- so the color looks metallic which the kids love. 

I did a patina experiment this fall- where we covered the metal with black tempera, let it set up for 1 minute, then rubbed away the paint. I think they came out cool. It was fun to try something different.

Bonus- you can punch a hole in the metal as well. 

Last year I cut down 2" squares and punched a hole in the corner.

The students made snowflake designs and strung yarn through the hole to hang them. 

If you want them "framed" you can staple it right to posterboard.

compass rose designs on metal

This lesson corresponded to a lot of my student's studies in math and social studies which was great. 

They are currently studying fractions and by designing our compasses by thinking in terms of 1/4's and 1/8's this really established a strong connection. 

We discussed the purpose of a compass and a compass rose, where and why they are used, and how far back in history they have been used. 

 

Students had to accurately show the viewer where the cardinal and intermediate directions on their compass were by pointing to the 8 directions. The use of the corresponding letters (NEWS) was optional. 

They also had to use a ruler and demonstrate purposely use of texture.

Peace-a-palooza

This is my fifth year starting out doing a lesson based on the International Day of Peace (Sept. 21) 

and tying it in with beginning of the year basics. 

I always teach about what symbols mean, what the word "peace" means, 

and how the peace sign came to be. 

I was actually published in Teach Boldly where I wrote a portion of a chapter 

about my first experience teaching this unit.

This year after showing a slide show on the peace sign, other peace symbols such as the dove and olive branch- and introducing works of Pablo Picasso and Rene Magritte-- I went back to basics with my new fifth graders. We reviewed color mixing with model magic. 

Then each student made their own peace sign, also including texture if they chose to do so.

Each student was responsible for creating an accompanying tag with their name and a sentence about how they define peace of what it means to them using thin marker and colored pencil. 

I hung them in the window, they looked awesome!

We are currently working on another related lesson that focuses on composition and overlapping. 

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Past lessons I have done include these below:

Primary colors mixed with a new take on Pinwheels for Peace. 

Rainbow colors of marker lines turned into paint- and then collaged onto the peace sign. 

Hands put together to form a large peace sign. 

One grade I had draw examples of peaceful and 

respectful behaviors to set examples for the other students. 

Birdhouses with basics

Beginning of the year- Kinders & First graders practiced lines, cutting, shapes, texture/rubbings, basic color-mixing/painting....

and made these cutey birdhouses. 

They are all hanging on giant trees in the hallways. 

5 Great Artist Examples for creative use of LINE

I always begin my school year by reviewing lines with every grade- so we all use the same vocab.

This year I am basing my first fifth grade lesson on Zamorano's Supermundane lesson. (Thank you for the inspiration!)

However I have extended beyond Supermundane- the first lesson I am focusing on him

AND Keith Haring.

We looked at the use of line, filling up space, and how the designs GROWS outward.
See the construction paper crayon on black paper examples below... (they will be put up on my "I am an Art Explorer" Wall.

I am going from there to introducing artists who fill the empty space of drawings IN with lines.
Nigel Peake... an amazing illustrator from England

Durga Bai... an amazing female illustrator from India

and Roy Lichtenstein

I will report back after our next project tomorrow! 

and with my K/1 line projects!

Brice Marden Experiments with Organic Lines

I was working at the Danforth Museum this past weekend conducting a family drop in program.
My lesson connected to a collection of Brice Marden's prints on exhibit.

The lesson is simple but worked out really well for all ages.
I cut 18x24 drawing paper to 9x24 for a more unusual size that lent itself to long lines.

-Step one was to draw organic/squiggly/wiggly/curvy lines using black and grey materials that I had separated out-- washable markers, sharpies, crayons, pencils, colored pencils, oil pastels.

-Step two was to go to the painting station and add color if desired- I put out watercolors with brushes, sponges, and straws for blowing. 

The lesson was an exploratory one that allowed artists to test out how materials worked together such as watercolor on washable marker, watercolor on pencil, etc.
It got great reviews from the visiting families so I thought I would pass it on!