Charming Hand Tiles-- Kindergarten Mother's Day Gift

We made tiles for Mother's Day with the Kindergartners... I know it's early, and it's a bit crafty, but it is something the parents love to get!  Here is what we did:

1.  I purchased a bunch of glossy floor tiles (glazed already) at our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (which is like a surplus/recycling store for building supplies).  Super cheap... like 25 cents each I think.  I love these tiles and they are fun to just draw on also, like we did here.

2.  Then, I explained to the kids what we were going to do and drew out a picture on the board.

3.  The kids had a selection of Sharpies on their table and wrote their names in the corner, and included things like "2012" or "To: Mom" on the other corners.  I told them to write tiny so they would have room for their handprint.  They could also add other doodles or borders if they wanted.  (Steps 2-3 took about 5 minutes)

4.  I then got the kids started on their next art project.

5.  While the kids were busy coloring their next art project, I called the students up one or two at a time and I painted their hand with gold tempera paint.  I helped them press it down and lift it up.  If anything smeared, we grabbed a wet paper towel and wiped it up before it dried.

totally cute, right?

6.  After they dried, the tiles were flipped over and picture hangers were attached with cement glue. 
And usually when I read tutorials I get to a part like this and am like, "what do they mean? attach picture hangers?"  So.. here is a picture of what I used:

Picture hangers, which I also bought from the Re-Store.

Some of the finished tiles.. a few kids were absent and will have to do them later.

Tile Mosaic

The other tile mosaics I posted were just an "art illusion".  See I didn't actually glue anything down.  I was just trying to play with different arrangements before I actually made it permanent.  I decided the more tiles the better, make it look really busy.  My motto always tends to be "More is more."  These tiles include 4 large ceramic floor tiles that I bought at the hardware "reStore" and 10 smaller ceramic floor tiles.  These were painted with inks.  Then I have 8 small commercially made tiles.  Finally, 10 more pieces are made from Sculpey.  These clay Sculpey tiles were "test runs" for a project I want to do at school with the kids.  We make mosaics in the 4/5 class and I think it would be more fun to have them make some of their own tiles.  I tested out making some with regular firing clay also.  We'll see how those look when they are all finished.

Painting Tiles

OH, painting tiles!  How I love them!

Tiles!

I'm in love with painting tiles and making tiles from Sculpey.  I just tried making Sculpey tiles this week and wow, was it fun!!  I got the idea from Laurie Mika's book Mixed Media Mosaics. I got the idea for painting tiles from Artsyville.

Collages on Boards

Here are a couple of my new collages. I found the supports for these at a hardware "Re-store" near our house. They are collaged on old shelving boards. Everything is layered, painted, collaged and photographs added. I like to share my artwork, because I know not every artwork is going to be top-notch. Making art, playing with materials and trying out new ideas is important in your artistic journey. Sharing the "exercises" with other people allows me to gain momentum and become more excited about making more art.
Bird on a Wire, 2010



You shall see the beautiful things..., 2010

Here is a painting I made and then decided I would cut up for collages:

Here are some tiles I painted.. bought them for I think 5 or 10 cents each at the Re-Store. I'm trying to decide what to do with them. I will probably mount them all on a large board with a frame. I have about 20 more tiles to paint.