Medieval illuminated letters in foil

Before spring break I was asked to do units on Medieval and Renaissance Art with my 6-8th grade students.Of course the first lesson that came to mind were Illuminated Letters. However, I had students make colored pencil illuminated letters 3 years ago (and remember I have to go 3 FULL years before I can repeat a lesson).

After some pondering I decided to have students make their illuminated letters on tooling foil and use sharpies to add color. Wow they are turning out cool! The reflection of the metal, the raised lines and the pop of the sharpie color and even my lackluster kiddos work is turning out hall worthy.

The photos are not doing them justice.
In an effort to get my unmotivated students to do some work I put very loose guidelines on the content. Each one has to have a letter and either that letter needs to be made "fancy," or needs to have images that correlate to that letter, or needs to be first initial of the student's name and include images of things that illustrate their likes and dislikes.

Granted I have everything from PS3 controllers to a tribute to Halloween. But consistently the kids are liking their work and are happy to have it in the hall.

More importantly random parents are coming into my room to ask what we used...one family actually went to the store and bought some tooling foil and sharpies to make their own at home with their younger students. This kind of parent interest is UNHEARD of at my school. I wish I had the money to do a family art night were the kids and parents from the younger grades could make their own. That's a grant for another year though.

Our next project is pure Medieval fantasy and we are doing watercolor dragons...a creature that is proving very hard for my students to draw even with step by step directions from my favorite book! A good drawing challenge is always good for us though.