Chinese New Year 2016: The Year of the MONKEY

February provides a wealth of integrated arts inspiration for Art Teachers! February 8th (2016) is Chinese New Year--the Year of the Monkey. Here are some of the projects from my site that I've done with my students over the years along with some resources and projects from the interweb that I love. 

My previous posts:

Chinese Calligraphy Placemats/Posters

Easy Paper Lanterns

Dragon Puppets

Projects I LOVE from around the web:

• Simple dragon puppet from Red Ted's Art Blog
• These simple banners (no original link--just a photo). Sorry, I love anything with crepe paper streamers!
• Thumbprint Lanterns from Let's Go Fly a Kite (you gotta look at this one--so cool!)
• Chinese Dragon Puppets from Olive Art!! Do You???
• Fingerprint Cherry Blossom Lantern (with FREE Printable) from Imagination Box

And a recipes to enjoy:

Rainbow Chicken Fried Rice

Resources I've used:

• "China: DK Eyewitness Books," by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore (A nice overview of China and Chinese culture. The book has some clear, beautiful images of calligraphy, writing, and dragon costumes).

• "Gung Hay Fat Choy," by June Behrens (This is a great nonfiction book that has lots of pictures and info about Chinese New Year. I love the pictures of the dragons used in the Dragon Dance).

• "Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats," by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz & The Children's Museum, Boston (A wonderful book of Chinese holiday tales, activities and recipes).

• "The Boy Who Painted Dragons,"by Demi (All of Demi's books are beautiful! This artist has been known to paint with a mouse's whisker! She's also created books on Mother Theresa, Mary and Jesus).

• "The Kid's Multicultural Art Book," by Alexandra M. Terzian (This is a great go-to book for a number of crafts from around the world. A must for an art teacher's personal collection. I love the whole series of art books for children by this publisher).

• "The Paper Dragon," by Marguerite W. Davol (LOVE this book! And artist saves his village from a dragon by using creativity and intelligence. A great book!)

• "You Can Write Chinese," by Kurt Wiese (A bit dated, but the way the information about Chinese symbols is presented is wonderful and very kid-friendly).

• A China Family Adventure. http://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-writing-symbols.html (Accessed January 2012) This site has a section entitled, "Learning Chinese Writing Symbols for Kids" that has some wonderful, clear images of chinese calligraphy and a nice chart that shows the evolution of a few Chinese characters (this is where you will see that the original Chinese character for rain looks like rain falling from a cloud)

• Chinese Calligraphy By Kids. http://library.thinkquest.org/3614/intro.htm (Accessed January 2012) A wonderful website by two elementary girls that is very child-friendly and has a ton of wonderful information about Chinese calligraphy, great picture examples and explanation of some symbols and the combination of symbols. Lovely!

Burlap Weavings (Class #2)

My homeschool art class also did burlap weavings this week (just like my after school class, see the original post here). 

The project was slightly different since the class is shorter (only an hour) and my class is made up of students in 2nd through 5th grade. I brought out my samples from my original post, but did not have the paint element this time. The burlap was also cut into smaller pieces and I did not mount them to mat board, but affixed a layer of masking tape on the back of the top edge so the piece didn't unravel while the children were working in it.

Done this way, the project makes for an inexpensive project for a group. Many of the children were able to complete their pieces in this session, but two sessions could be used. This really got the children thinking and working with their hands in a new way!

Here are some examples of the finished pieces:

Beadwork and straight stitches to create an image.

Exploring color, texture and stitching.

Love that variegated yarn!

Beautiful! Great Job Everyone!

Burlap Weavings

This week I wanted to introduce my after school students to the art of weaving. Weaving many times makes people think of the Native Americans, but I pointed out to the children that almost every culture has some form of weaving: Africa, Mexico, South America, China, and Japan as well as Europe in the Middle Ages.

I gave each student a piece of burlap that had been hot-glued to a piece of mat board. Burlap is great because it has a nice open weave, so it is easy to see the WARP (threads that run vertically) and WEFT (threads that run right to weft, er, I mean LEFT).

The students can weave yarn into the spaces of the fabric or can gently pull on the weft threads of the burlap and remove them to create spaces where the exposed warp threads can be tied together or larger ribbons can be woven in.

I created an example board for the students to view during my discussion. It shows the following:

First Example:

1. Yellow thread: Single strand woven in one row.

2. Purple threads: Single strand woven into three rows (multiple rows).

3. Multi-colored Fuzzy Yarn: Single strand using large "stitches" so that the fuzzies can be easily seen.

4. Dark Purple Eyelash Yarn: Single Row, large stitches.

5. Burgundy Yarn: Single row with beads and a fuzzy yarn stitched along with it. Stitched in an open area of the burlap where the weft threads have been removed.

6. Burgundy Yarn (2):  Single row stitched into the plain burlap

7. Pale green: Single strand woven in a pattern. You could also do X's or other patterns.

Burlap Weaving: First Example

Second Example:


8. Ribbon woven into a section where the weft threads have been removed. Ends are tacked down with hot glue on the back of the piece.

9. Section where weft threads were removed and remaining warp threads were gathered and tied. Some with yarn and one with yarn with bead added.

10. Stamping with acrylic paints. Diamonds, squares, etc.

11. Fringe: Fringe created using yarn and an example of fringe created by removing the last few weft rows.

Burlap Weaving: Second Example

The possibilities are endless with this. I also provided some acrylic paints and stamps with Navajo motifs that the children could add to their pieces. Here are the step-by-step directions:

Supplies Needed:

• Burlap (I bought ours at a fabric store)
• Mat Board, optional (I glue to top edge of the burlap to the board to keep the whole thing from fraying apart as the children work. The final piece looks more finished this way)
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Assorted yarn and ribbon 
• Beads (I used plastic pony beads)
• Scissors
• Plastic needle (easy to thread the yarn through and won't poke little fingers)
• Acrylic Paints, brushes, craft foam, optional

Directions: 

1. Cut the burlap to size: ours was 10"x13." The students I have are 3rd and 4th graders and we have an hour and 15 minutes to work, so that size seemed appropriate. Younger students and less time would require a smaller piece of burlap to work with. When cutting burlap, wear eye protection since the fibers may scratch your cornea.

2. Cut a piece of mat board slightly larger than the burlap square: ours was 11"x14."

3. Hot glue the burlap to the mat board along the top edge of the burlap (leave the bottom edge unattached so that the child can work with it).

Stamps Include a starburst-like shape, diamonds and squares.

4. If you would like to use the paints to stamp Navajo motifs, do so now. I cut a motif from craft foam and had the children apply paint to the shape with a brush and stamp it onto the burlap. 

5. While the acrylic is drying, plan the rest of your design. Choose a few different types of yarn and ribbon to complete your design. Weave the yarn into the fabric using the plastic needle, adding beads if you'd like. If you would like to use ribbon, remove a few of the weft threads first to create an open section. Instead of the plastic needle, we used a safety pin to weave the ribbon into the fabric. You can also sew around the stamped designs, if you'd like.

6. Create fringe at the bottom of your piece by removing the last few weft rows and/or using yarn knotted into the fabric.

This piece is very open to the student's individual creativity. Have fun and encourage self-expression. Here are a few of the examples from today's class. ENJOY!

The student said this is an "Elvis-inspired" weaving!

The student said this is a Christmas-inspired weaving.

Lovely Beading!

Painting and eyelash yarn create a nice symmetrical image. 

Fall Wall Hanging

This is a quick and inexpensive craft that celebrates the beautiful colors of fall while teaching children about basic printmaking skills. After I explained the basics of printmaking and showed them a couple of options for layout, I let the children make their own creative decisions on this project. They seemed to really enjoy it!

Some background information on printmaking: Some would say that the most important invention to come from the medieval time period was the printing press. I showed my students the double page spread from the Eyewitness book on the Renaissance which has a wonderful picture of a printing press from that time. I also brought in a wooden letter from a press for them to examine. I explained that printing plates could be used over and over. This seemed like a much better idea than spending one's whole life creating one book (like some scribes and clerks did with illuminated manuscripts!).

I then did a short demo on how to use the stamps I created to make a print and we discussed some of the different ways to lay out the leaf prints (in rows, in a circle, to make an initial, etc.), then the children went to work!

Supplies:

• Kraft paper or brown paper bags for stamping on
• Stamps (I glued sticky-backed foam shapes stuck to pieces of foam core)*
• Brushes
• Paint trays (I used foam meat trays)
• Acrylic paint (I used red, orange and yellow)
• Water and water containers
• Paper towels
• Background paper (I used wrapping paper in green)
• Glue sticks & Elmer's glue
• Sharpies or markers
• Scissors (I used regular and decorative edged)
• Stapler or tape

*If you don't want to purchase the supplies to make stamps, you can use an apple cut in half--this also makes a wonderful fall banner

Directions:

1. Create the stamps or cut the apple in half (a grown-up's job). I cut 4" squares of foam core and attached some ready-made foam stickers I found at a craft store to them.
2. Place a bit of acrylic paint in the meat tray. Using a paint brush, paint a thin coat of paint onto the surface of the stamp. If you put too much paint, the stamp will be slippery and not make a good print. Print the leaf shapes onto the kraft paper in a circle (wreath shape) or in the shape of your initial (or whatever you choose). Once you are done all the stamping, put the piece aside to dry.
3. Cut a piece of wrapping paper (background paper) to create the background of your wallhanging. Fold over a section of the top to make a casing to hang the finished banner. You can secure the casing with tape or staples.
4. Use the scissors to create fringe on the bottom edge of the banner. To do this, make a series of cuts up from the bottom about 1/4" apart. The fringe can be any length you'd like.
5. My students used the Sharpies to decorate the banner and write things like "Welcome Fall," their name, or just make a decorative pattern on the banner.
6. Glue the kraft paper with the leaf prints on it to the background using Elmer's glue. 
7. Once the leaf prints are completely dry, use the Sharpies to draw in the veins of the leaves, if you'd like.
8. Insert a twig into the casing, and hang your fall banner for all to see!

Bayeux Tapestry Project: Part Two

Background: The first class day of this project, my students came prepared with their stories. The stories were great! The children wrote about getting a pet, a big move, a Christmas story, about being caught in a rip tide and one wrote about a child he had saved from a dangerous situation. We then divided the balance of the project (see all below) into the next two classes.

The completed tapestry

I started the class with a move indepth discussion of tapestries. Although not an actual tapestry (see Part One), I showed more of the Bayeux Tapestry. I used a wonderful book called, "The Bayeux Tapestry," Wolfgang Grape. While the text is suited for grown-ups, this book has wonderful full-color images of the entire tapestry (all 230 feet!). Pages show a portion of the tapestry and then have a paragraph below each image with the Latin phrase that appears on that section. It then translates the Latin and gives a short explanation of what is going on in that portion of the piece. Wonderful!!

Another great book with actual tapestries in it is: "The Unicorn Tapestries," by Margaret B. Freeman (ISBN 0-525-22643-5). This book has large, full-color pages of each of the 6 tapestries in this series as well as TONS of info in the text about the history of and symbolism in the tapestries. There is also a wonderful section on how tapestries are made with great diagrams and pictures that the children found fascinating.

And finally, I showed them an example of a modern-day take on the Bayeux Tapestry in, "Dia's Story Cloth: the Hmong People's Journey to Freedom," by Dia Cha. The Hmong people use story cloths to link the past and present and provide a visual element to their people's oral traditions and history. The visual elements of the cloth featured in this book as well as the background of how the cloth was made over time and sewn by many hands (by men and women), really reinforced many of the elements that I was trying to highlight with this project.

Information I presented about the Bayeux Tapestry:

Castles back in Medieval times were cold, dark places. They were heated by fireplaces and had few windows so that they could hold the heat in (and for protection). So, some people believe that artisans would create wall hangings, curtains, pillow covers, and banners to make their living areas more comfortable and colorful. It was believed by some that tapestries were used to stop drafts from coming through old castle walls, but now we believe that this may not have been true: many of the wall hangings were thin pieces of material and did not have layers of batting or fur that would truly work to keep cold out.

Tapestries are woven from silk or wool and showed very detailed scenes from the Bible, songs and legends. The threads were colored from handmade dyes that were made from herbs, berries or even crushed up bugs!

The Bayeux Tapestry tells how William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) became King of England and showcases the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD. The Bayeux Tapestry was created about 1070 or so.


How to Make Your Own Story Cloth/Tapestry:

Supplies Needed:

• Paper, pencil & eraser
• Paper cut to the size of your fabric squares, ours were 8x8" (this helps children better design the pictures for the actual finished space they'll be using)
• Fabric Markers (I use Crayola brand)
• 8x8" squares white fabric (you'll need 4 per tapestry, but have extras on hand just in case)
• 9x45" Backing Material (I used unbleached muslin)
• Straight pins
• Sewing Machine & thread
• About 40" of ribbon (five 8" segments) (can be braided or embroidered)
• Scissors
• Glue gun & hot glue sticks
• Ruler
• Table cover
• 11" long wooden dowel (optional)

Directions:

Once the child has written a short story from his/her life, s/he is ready to go! I had the children divide their stories into 3 parts. Then the child should think of a picture for each section of the story.

1. Creating the cartoon: medieval artisans would plan their tapestries by planning out the placement of the pictures and words of their tapestries. These sketches or drawings were called "cartoons." Using pencils and rulers, transfer the text of the story and then draw any images that will go in each square. Remember to make the images large and clear. Details should be kept to a minimum since the fabric markers are kind of wide and may bleed a bit. Try to think of ways to fill the space: remember to include a ground and maybe some elements that create a background like clouds, swirly lines that show wind, or sun and birds. I discourage coloring in the entire background a solid color because it seems to come out streaky and frustrates the children with the end result.

Step 1: Using a template helps children write in straight lines

2. Transfer the text and images to the fabric squares using fabric markers.

Step 2: Transfer the text and images to cloth

3. Using a fourth fabric square, create a title square with the name of the tapestry or story cloth as well as the author's name.

Step 3: Create a title panel (don't forget your name!)

4. Prepare the background: The background strip is 9" wide by 45" long. Fold the top edge over about 2 1/2" to create a casing to hang the banner by. Sew. Then fold the bottom corners of the backing inward to form a center point (just to make a decorative bottom edge). Sew.

Step 4: Prepare the backing material by making a casing and finishing the bottom edge

5. Then have the children arrange the four squares of their story onto the backing & pin in place. When arranging the squares, have their edges touch.
6. Sew down the left and right sides of the squares.

Step 5: Pin and sew squares onto backing. I just sew down the left and right sides and cover the top and bottom seams with ribbon (next step).

7. Hot glue 8" long strips of embroidered or braided ribbon to the top and bottom edges of the fabric squares for decoration and to hide the raw edges of the fabric squares.

Step 7: Attach ribbon with hot glue. This is both decorative and it covers the top and bottom seams of the fabric squares.

8. Insert a dowel into the casing of the tapestry, hang, and enjoy!

Note: Because portions of the banner are hot glued on, they are not washable. These could be made higher-quality if you had the time and money. They could also be made solely from paper if you are doing this on a very tight budget or with a large group of students.