Valentines Prints

Here are some of the finished styrofoam Valentine's prints by the 1st graders.  One trick that made these work MUCH better is when I dug out the jar of ink-retarder.  The prints look so much better than the first ones we printed.

Work from my own little studio

 The background is painted with watercolor paints.  I cut out circles from magazines and from photocopies of my own artwork.  Then I glued them to the paper and doodled around them and on top of them with Prismacolor Markers and Paint Markers.  The background is map-like with the blue and green (water and land).  I was reading a book called "You are Here:  Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination"   which intrigued me. 

Carved Stamps-- 5th/6th grade

My 5th and 6th grade class carved stamps from E-Z Cut and then we printed them many times.  They looked at African Adinkra stamps and then used those designs for inspiration.  We printed them on artist trading cards, a design on paper and then on two large group artworks.  The ones pictured here are our large group artworks.  We are going to put this artwork in the school raffle fundraiser at the end of the year.  I'm also going to see about getting copies made for the school hallway or for greeting cards.  Fun!!

more Valentine making by 2nd graders

Work in Progress from my little studio

Valentine's Projects

 Both of these ideas I borrowed from other people's recent blog posts.  You caught me red-handed!  I've gotten so many good ideas from other art teacher's blogs.  Go ahead and check my blog roll on the side of my page and you can see some of the other ones that I read.

Here are some students working on a gigantic weaving!  I'm super excited about this project.  It is an "extra" project that kids can work on when they are done with their "regular" project. 

Circular Weaving

The 2nd graders made circular weavings this week.  Some are still finishing up.  They are like the ones we made at the weaving camp I taught. 

Here is the big jumble of yarn that I have in one of the boxes.  I just put this out and the kids pulled out the yarn they wanted from the jumble.  I hate to waste yarn (or any art supplies) and this tangle of yarn is a tad bit overwhelming to untangle.  They did a great job putting together colors to make interesting patterns. 

Scrapbooking

New Christmas scrapbook pages.  I have a Christmas scrapbook where I make two or three pages every year with pictures from that years' Christmas.  I have done it for about 6 years or so now... it's fun to see how the family changes. 

Styrofoam Valentines Prints

Here are some Valentine's Day prints I made out of a styrofoam printing plate.  You can use those styrofoam meat plates or, like I did, order the styrofoam printing plates from an art catalog (like Nasco).  These are great for little kids to print with.  All you have to do is draw with a pencil onto the foam.  Then, using water based printing ink, roll it onto a tray using a brayer.  Then, roll the inked brayer onto the foam.  Place your sheet of paper on top of the foam printing plate.  Rub firmly all over with your fingers.  Lift the print.  It is fun to try different color inks on different color papers.  I love using white ink on various color papers.  I am doing this with my 2nd grade class.  Here are the ones I printed:

 

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