This project was great for teaching primary and secondary color mixing. It was also a brief introduction to the work of artist George O'Keeffe. (This is a variation of the popular milk/food coloring color mixing science experiment).
Materials:
overhead transparencies or acetate
glue
liquid watercolor in primary colors
hole punch
yarn
Procedure-Day 1:
1. Students squeeze out a giant lake of white glue on a transparency. The glue spot should be about the size of their hand or smaller and needs to be completely filled in with glue.
2. Students then use droppers or small brushes to splatter several drops of primary colored watercolor on the glue surface.
3. The glue will begin to spread out before it dries. I strongly suggest putting a sheet of newspaper under the transparency to move it to the drying racks.
Day 2:
1. Students will cut out the acetate around the irregular shape and punch a hole on one side. They can string some yarn through so it can be hung in a window.
2. I had my students draw their own version of two of O'Keeffe's paintings after they completed the assignment.
Such beautiful pieces and so much packed into one lesson!
These are very cool, but boy, you must have used a LOT of glue! Did you use Elmer's Glue-All or the School Glue version? How many days do they take to dry? I love the way they look!
ReplyDeleteHa! Yes we did use a lot of glue! I really recommend doing this with one grade level or even just a handful of classes.
ReplyDeleteWe used an assortment of leftover glue--some Glue All and some School Glue. Both came out about the same. They took about two days to completely dry. Some got a little oozy and ran off the edges, so I put some newspaper under each sheet of acetate to catch it on the drying rack.
Aren't they cool? I love them too! A totally serendipitous creation.
WOW! I have never seen anything like this... i's amazing!
ReplyDeleteLauren, thanks for answering my questions. I will be doing Chihuly projects this winter and this could work great. Maybe I will do it to help me get rid of the School Glue that I don't like as much as the Glue-All.
ReplyDeletePhyl, I almost made Chihuly bowls with these! I had a hard time getting the glue to set up in a mold without getting squishy. I tried to use gloss medium to stiffen them some. Please let me know if you find a good way to do that!
ReplyDeleteLauren, what if you did this lesson on saran wrap which has a little more movement, and then once the glue is partially dry, not drippy, drape the saran over a shallow bowl so that it takes on the form? Not into the bowl, but turn the bowl over and drape it that way? It would probably crinkle on the saran side, but that could look pretty cool too! I'm going to try this with my life skills kiddos! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey, nice site you have here! Keep up the excellent work!
ReplyDeleteGeorgia O Keeffe Paintings
Great work! This is a great way to introduce O'Keefe...would lead nicely intro water color for my grade 6s! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDo you think this would work at all with clear glue so it's more transparent? Just curious. :-) We have a gallon jug of clear glue, I would love to use some of it.
ReplyDeletehttp://hollysartcorner.blogspot.com
I remember doing this many years ago with food coloring. We made Christmas ornaments. We used cookie cutters, set them on wax paper and poured the glue in. Toothpicks were used to swirl the food color around. I like how you used this Georgia O'Keefe as your inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI used to make these (during class time) in the second grade. We used to colour them with marker ink and leave them in our desks and check on them every day to see if they were dry. I don't think the teacher had any idea these projects were going on. We also used to fill egg cartons with these, so I guess you could use a similar technique to make bowls, just stick something in the middle of your receptacle?
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren! Thanks for your comment! I would recommend hanging them with fishing line from a transparent tack of some sort. You might be able to arrange them in a strip of foamcore and suspend them away from the wall slightly that way. Also you can hang them on windows with suction cups with hooks! :) Enjoy this project...one of my favorites!
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