3-D letters

Finally! I have promised for weeks and now to celebrate the start of the new school year I present....recycled 3-D letters. Last spring I wanted a project that was 3-D and did not require me to buy any supplies. Earlier in the year I had found pictures of cool 3-D letters from Wilmington Middle School. I could tell they were paper machie and cardboard. That was all I could find out. So I experimented and figured out a way to make the letters and did the project with my class.
NOW, before I get sued for "stealing" their lesson. I have learned that Blick has a written and video lesson plan for making large cardboard and paper machie letters and numbers. Where was that video when I needed it last year?! The Blick video is very helpful. The method I figured out is similar but different at the same time. They use small paper cups inside the letter for support and paper tape(?) to make the sides.
I have yet to try the paper tape. I don't know where to buy it and it is sold out on Blick. It looks like a interesting alternative to paper machie.

So this is my way of doing it. You will need a roll of tape, printer paper, a ruler, newspaper, super snot (see below), a cereal box (or railroad board or tag board) and some paint.

So I like doing these with a cereal box and one sheet of printer paper because they match up pretty well. And the cardboard is free, and easy to cut and you are promoting recycling! Have students draw a large block letter or number that fills the page. Curves are harder to deal with so I suggest block letters. The letter T is really easy so it will be our sample. Cut out your paper letter
cut your cereal box so you have the front and back and make sure to KEEP the sides. Trace your letter on the the two sheets of cardboard (or tagboard or railroad board) and cut them out.
remember to keep the sides of your cereal box...or if you are using tagboard or have a large class cut lots of tagboard strips ( I suggest 2 or 3 inches wide) so the kids can come grab them as needed.

The next step requires math and problem solving with my method. In my world that is a good thing. I want to incorporate other subject matter into my art room (math) and I believe strongly in using art to develop problem solving skills. HOWEVER...if after reading this, and trying it yourself, you think my method is too hard for your kids then this would be a good time to use the Blick method. My 6-8th graders were able to problem solve with occasional construction help from me.

Choose a side to start on. I'll start on the lower side of the T. Measure (math!) how long that side is and then take one of your strips of cardboard and measure a length that matches. And cut. And take a piece of masking tape and put it half on the edge of the cardboard strip and half on the back of your letter.
You are making the depth (side) of your letter. The tape, half on the side and half on the letter, makes a little hinge. Now measure the next section of your letter and cut a cardboard strip to match. Tape it onto your letter and keep going side to side till you have gone all the way around your letter. Anywhere there is an angle you will need to tape the side strips into the angle shape (hard to describe...easy to figure out and do)
Ok see how I'm basically making a T shaped box? When I have all the side standing up it is time to take the second letter you cut out and drop it on top of your box like a T shaped lid and tape it down to the sides. This is also easy and will straighten out any sides that have gotten a little wonky.
Here it is! It should stand up on my own and be pretty solid...but should get a layer or two of paper machie to make the seams nice and tight.


I don't like the feel of paper machie goop so I teach my kids how to brush on the goop, lay a strip of newspaper on top of the goop, smooth with a brush and then put one more layer of goop on with the brush. You get a nice smooth look using the brush and strip method.
"I love super snot!"
And now a word about SUPER SNOT!!! Super snot is the paper machie mix we use in my classroom. Things go moldy really easily here in the rainy Pac NW. Yet, when refrigerated, this stuff doesn't get moldy and it is not chunky. I make super snot (as the kids call it) by mixing equal part of flour, Elmers glue and water. You can use a little less water if you want. Stir let sit overnight in the fridge. Super snot dries good and hard AND will make newspaper stick to plastic milk jugs!

And back to our project. Let the paper machie dry for a day or two and get nice and hard. Then paint all surface areas with a layer of white paint...this priming step makes the end product look much better. While waiting for things to dry have the kids sketch out their design for their letter.

You can paint these or collage or use sharpies or put rhinestones and puffy paint on them...whatever you want. The key is to think 3-D and create a design that wraps all the way around the letter. I decided to go with a tribute to Piet Mondrian. My design wraps all the way around the letter and is painted with acrylics.

I used a black sharpie to outline my shapes and clean everything up. I really liked the whole...in the style of....and so the next two letters I made were also tributes. I'll photograph them on Tuesday at school.

I love my letter T !!

PROBLEM SOLVING issues.... you and your students may run into these problems:

Q. My letter has curves (like the letter B) and I can't measure the curves. What do I do?
A. Get a long strip of tagboard and just start taping it on along the curves. Cut off the extra when you reach the end of your curve area.

Q. There is a small space inside my shape that is hard to measure, cut and deal with (like the letter A). What do I do?
A. Don't bother making sides for it. When you cut the inside of the shape, snip and fold to make little flaps.
This will help with strength and be easier than trying to cut the full shape out.
Then use strips of tape to create the rest of the wall or side. This would be a really good time to find some of that paper tape stuff.

Q. Why are the front and back of my letter D or N or T not matching up?
A. They probably got flipped around as you were working. Trying flipping them over or rotating them and see if they fit better.

Q. I want to make the letter O but I'm having a really hard time. Help!
A. I think the letter O is the hardest to do. Use the Blick paper cup method and then use long cardboard strips.

Q. I have student's who got done way faster than everyone else. What should they do?
A. Well they could help other students...OR I had my early finishers make the numbers 0-9 and then we donated them to the Kindergarten classroom so the kids have large numbers to manipulate and play with. I wish we had made a plus and equals sign for them also. If your class was really ambitious you could make the entire alphabet for an primary grade classroom!

2-D to 3-D part 3

Part 3 of ideas for 2-D to 3-D lessons

My new school still has a shop/industrial arts class (isn't that amazing!) so I'm hoping to scavenge some scrap wood to use as a base on the classic coat hanger, stocking, and house paint sculpture. These sculptures are sure fun to make and the overall shapes are almost always interesting. However, I find that painting them to be the least successful aspect. We have tried painting the sculptures with one pattern all over or with variegating color or while trying to chase the "planes" of a very mesomorphs shape. The end result is very hit or miss.

Now I have two new ideas to try. First off...and I don't know where I saw it, but someone had their student's paint their sculpture with aboriginal dot designs which was really cool.
Second, I remember one of my supervising teachers having talked about this idea but never saw a sample but I found a few examples on this site. What a cool idea...making the sculpture into a Picasso/cubist style face.

Picasso faces and stocking and wire hanger face sculptures from Waunakee Middle School (so many great ideas!)
Also I think it's a good idea to pause after you have just painted the sculpture white and trying to do some value/shade study drawings before you add color to the project.

On the 2-D side there are unlimited lessons for Picasso/cubist face lessons...from the simple to the very complex.
here are some great examples from Hannah at Art.Paper.Scissors.Glue! (great thoughts her way as she is taking on 7th graders for the first time this year:) )
We will see if this new batch of kids resists doing anything with their photo as much as my past students. If so we usually do a similar project but with animals instead.

Speaking of animals I love any project that allows students to choose their own animal to make art about. Animal, fish, reptile, bird...whatever. Now whenever you are talking animals it is a great time to talk texture. Of course we can use shading to create implied texture or we can tap our inner 2nd grader and make a ton of textured papers to make Eric Carle style animal collages.
Before you poo poo this as too juvenile for middle school or even high school students think twice. Real problem solving work goes into breaking a large image into smaller shapes.
I require at least five papers to be used in the collage and each animal needs to be broken down into at least 5 sections...fantasy colored animals are fine and you need to go back and work some oil pastel into the finished product.
not done yet....but a great start!
And onto the 3-D. Due to my kiln limitation I haven't done with in years but my good friend, who happens to be an excellent art teacher and guest teacher extraordinaire, tackled this lesson with some young men and women this summer. Look at their amazing results.
she suggest using acrylic paint instead of glaze and a modified wash method which I think is a great idea and allows students to control color, detail and eliminates some of the risk that goes with double firing and glaze firing a thin tile. (A- if you want me to link to your blog or put your name let me know...trying to protect your privacy unless you ask otherwise:) )

Warping things up with today's 2 to 3-D ideas lets take a look at a lesson often referred to as "Common threads." I've seen this lesson done by several teachers but I think I have tracked the original idea to Bunki Kramer of Los Cerros MS. I don't know if she still teachers, but there are amazing lessons on her school website.
some images of HER student's amazing work on the original lesson
I know it is a little fuzzy but do you see how the ribbon goes between and around each students hand/fingers and connects to the next student's drawing? The ribbon links all the students drawings and then she made a copy of each students drawing for everyone in the class and they assembled them into books with everyone's hands. Pretty cool!.
So I have done this lesson 3 times now. Sometimes in black and white and sometimes in color. I almost always let the kids do the hand shading with pencil so they can erase. Sophie Wagner Max back at Waunakee Middle School again has students use textiles from around the world to inspire their backgrounds.
(click to enlarge)
Size matters with these. If you use to large of paper the kids get board with making the background textures and poop out. I suggest sticking to copy or 11"x14" size paper.

I once got a bag of fancy scrapbook paper scraps and had students choose 3 and glue them into the background and then continue the design in colored pencil. I liked this method because it brought color into the work and reduced the amount of background drawing the kids needed to to.
I've been using a $10 pack of these papers for this lesson and book making for 5 years now. Good investment.

Of course you can also do contour line drawings of hands spelling a word in sign language...students like learning and drawing the finger spelling but I'm still working on how to get a nice background or boarder around the hands.
Why does blogger do this rotating thing sometimes!!!!!???

For the 3-D part we are gonna plaster cast our hands! But it's so expensive you say! About $2 to $3 per kid depending on where you get the plaster. Less if you plan ahead and work those Jo-anns and Michelle's coupons.
I've always used Activa Rigid Wrap along with lots of Vaseline and have had no problems. Word on the street is that you can get plaster cast strips from medical supply places and that might be cheaper. I need to look into it.
(NOTE) Casting one side of the hand and stopping at the wrist is enough and keeps the kids from getting stuck in the plaster. DO NOT stick a kid's hand into a bucket of plaster of Paris!
This is the only time that I ask students to kick in some $. Without fail, even at my 87% free and reduced lunch school, if I give students enough warning they can scrape together a few dollars. I find parents are willing to contribute for this lesson because it permanently captures their child's hand during the adolescent years when they are no longer getting hand print mother's day plaques.

I send a note home explaining the lesson, requiring a parent signature saying its ok to cast their kid's hand and asking for a $1 -$3 to help off-set the cost. No parent permission slip no casting. No exceptions. We cast over two days so if you forgot day one you can help someone else cast their hand and you have a chance to get the permission slip in for the second day.
Nice work! Done by HS level student over at A faithful attempt
How to decorate? That's the fun and the trick. Like the coat hanger/stocking sculptures these can go downhill during the painting process. When casting the hand remind the students repeatedly to smooth the plasters to they have a smooth surface to paint on later. Make sure students have a drawn out plan before they start to paint. I've started to require a simple symbol or image be incorporated into the design. It would be great to take one of the patterns from the common threads background and paint the hand that way. Animal prints work well sometimes...if done well. Some students have painted mendi like designs that take time and and a paint pen but look nice.
this may be a good time to break out the sharpies but make sure to let the plaster cure (dry) for a few days before you paint. Our other favorite use for this project is to "mummify" our hands at the end of our Egyptian unit and then paint a single Egyptian symbol, one hieroglyphic or an entire name in hieroglyphics.

There you go...on a A/B day schedule I think I've now posted enough lessons to go an entire semester if not more. Still looking for your favorite way to go from 2-D to 3-D. Up next....How to make large 3-D cardboard letters.

2-D to 3-D lesson Ideas part 2

Onward with our exploration of 2-D to 3-D

I want students to explore organic and geometric shapes in a united composition.
I would start with my watercolor shape/composition triptych (that still needs some work)


So to make this 3-D I want each student to enlarge the shapes they have chosen and draw them on light cardboard. I would like students to then cut out the shapes and paint each shape, on each side with different patterns and a unified color plan. Then I would like to see students use slits in the cardboard to join the cardboard together to make a 3-D sculpture.
Inspiration and photo taken from Phyl at There's a dragon in my art room!
Even though she did this lesson with 1st graders I think we can bump it up a little to older kid level
think this... mixed with this one done by a 9th grader

An simple idea for fall and beginning clay students is to have students either bring from home, go outside and sketch or look at photos of different types of leafs that grow in our area and create a watercolor composition with three of these leaves. I will then have students do the french curves around the leaves like from this lesson


Then I want students to use those same three leaf shapes to create a clay slab bowl or dish. You know the one, roll the clay slab, lay the leafs on the clay, roll again, cut out and drape over a upside down cereal bowl. But to push the older kids a bit further I want them to have the three (or it may take more) leaves touching, just overlapping, to create a hybrid between these two images
makes leaf bowl babies with this


I think this one will be reserved for the 7th grade only classes working on the major art movements of the 18th, 19th and 20th century...but if they don't snag it then the 2 to 3-D class can have it and who doesn't love Pop Art food! Our 2-D lesson, that I've done several times now, requires students to enlarge using a grid, create a background using a simple pattern AND benday dots and then paint the food object and the background.
(no not everyone did ice cream)
So then in true Claes Oldenburg style (who the kids LOVE) we should then make a large 3-D version of our food item. We could attempt to sew soft sculptures (very hard) we could have to translate our food into a clay boxes using slab and coil methods (medium hard...and what we will most likely do) or we can just make our food out of newspaper/paper machie/model magic (easier but not appealing to me right now)
how cool is this Oldenburg inspired bed! (OOAK made in 2009)

Now I've done a similar project with the 2-D part before where students have done a detailed pen and ink drawing of their shoe and done the pop art background in monochromatic colors. They also look great (I'll have to dig for photos) and then we tried to build our shoe out of clay. Building shoes out of clay is frustrating business. I would leave that to a high school class or kids with a LOT of clay experience.

Still have more ideas coming. Look for part 3 coming soon!