bears cottage

In FS2 today we continued with our 'G & 3 bears' theme. Using simple origami we made the cottage 3d so that it could stand and have both an 'outside' and an 'inside'!
The idea can be adapted for many traditional tales - 3 little pigs, Handel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood etc. It can even be made to pop-up! 

This is the mock-up I did.

reindeer

Using the same net as for their tiger 'sculptures', the y1's have been creating reindeers. This is my prototype with lollipop stick legs and twig antlers. On the actual ones we've also used small red pompoms for the nose!

busy, busy, busy

Have been rearranging and updating the displays in our entrance foyer today.

Y5 automatons (with a WW2 theme). As you turn the handles the tanks in the foreground piece go round the explosion as do the doves in the back left, whilst the aeroplane goes both around and up and down.

Y1 card sculpture tigers (inspired by the Henri Rousseau work 'Surprise'.)

And the y6 (James Rizzi inspired) clay city blocks.

self portraits 2

The clay faces sculpted by our y1's are dry and have been mounted on thick card. They've also received a coat of thinned down PVA to help keep all of the bits together, especially the finely modelled hair! Here's hoping they remain intact when they're hung on the wall.

Warhol & Tudors

Y6 have finished their self-portraits in the style of Andy Warhol.

And our Tudor real estate is nearing completion. Today we fixed the upper and lower storeys together and added the internal roof structures. Just the thatching to do. Hope it doesn't rain before next week!

recent

On a recent school trip to Hannover we stopped and admired sculptural works by Niki de Saint Phalle - such fantastic colours and exhuberant poses.

Meanwhile in school our y2 dinosaurs are nearing completion. It was a bit of a slog this morning but hopefully they will dry ok and we'll be putting in the pneumatic mechanisms, adding teeth, eyes etc. next week.

more tigers

Today the y1s finished off their short project - different ways to represent/portray tigers - by creating clay sculptures. We used terracotta, air-drying clay and made them from simple 'balls' and 'sausages'.

Next week, when they've dried, we'll paint them.

p..p..p..penguins

 Today in y4 we moulded some penguins. We first of all flattened a ball of clay and then moulded it around our paper-towel covered thumbs.

 

 

We added broken lollipop sticks for wings and a short length of dowel for the beak.

 

We used air-drying clay so no worries about the wooden bits being burnt in the kiln! We referenced Anthony Gormley's 'The Field' and are hoping that 70+ penguins looks like a reasonable colony.
We'll paint them next week when they've dried.

today

Today in Y1 we painted the clay fish. We might give them a coat of PVA when they're fully dry just to give them a bit of protection/shine. They will be mounted in under sea dioramas eventually - more of which anon.

 

 

In Y4 we completed our paper engineering - lever mechanism pieces. This one, when the lever is pulled/pushed, operates and moves all 3 oars simultaneously. Next week we're moving on to cams!

today

The mural on the outside wall of FS1 continues to develop. This is obviously a section that features various forms of transport. The children are going to draw faces onto thin paper which will then be glued into the windows - the whole wall will then be sealed with a coat (or two) of clear varnish.

 

 

 

 

In FS2 we made pirate ships from salt dough. We'll let them air dry before painting and attaching sails, jolly roger etc.

 



 

 

Meanwhile, I've begun to paint the 'huge' canvas.

 

maxi beasts

 In y2 today we put a second layer of papier mache onto our dinosaur armatures. The first layer was newspaper, this one was crepe paper. It means we don't have to paint them and it makes for a great texture. The reason why they only have necks is because we're going to make heads that have jaws that open and close by pneumatics! The necks are hollow so that we can fit the syringes and piping down them, out of sight.

 

 

on my worktable

An ancient Greek version of the recent Viking figure. Am seriously thinking of putting together a booklet of warriors through the ages, that utilises this generic, very simple but ingenious method of construction. Any thoughts on which figures to include?

 

papier mache & card

In FS2 we've been creating writing 'bugs'. This is a very large dragonfly taking shape - papier mache and wire construction.

 

 

On my worktable are a couple of prototype Vikings. These are card 3d models that I'm planning to do with our Y4's, to compliment their longships. They stand around 12cm tall.

infestation

The clay ants have escaped from the classroom and are trying to find a way out of the building!

 

They've been blu-tacked onto the wall of the stairwell and have caused several folk to do a double take!

dummy mock-ups

Been playing around with the box thingy idea that you might have seen previously on this blog. I must fathom out how to put those links to previous postings at the bottom, like everyone else seems to do. Am tentatively thinking of going with Q'oobs or possibly CUBEz ( the latter would fit in better with my overall 'branding' ! - please don't hurt yourself laughing) as a concept name. These two rough dummies came about because Y3 are studying the Ancient Greeks whilst Y1 are looking at 'water, water everywhere' as a theme - it's supposed to be a piranha!

 

 

I'm thinking of putting a little book together detailing how to make a variety of models all from the same very simple starting point. I would welcome any thoughts or ideas. I'm aiming to self-publish and sell through Etsy/Folksy as per my best-selling (!!) book - 'A is for Art' (please check it out in my shops on the right of this post).

trains

 

Our y3 children have been learning all about the Victorian era so we decided to make model steam trains. This pic shows the progression of my try outs and ideas.

 

This pic shows the completed model on top of the photocopied sheet that we eventually used.

The wheels are MDF and the 'chassis' is a pre-cut piece of 'Tech Card'. Next week we'll make the tracks and carriages.

slowly but surely

The Globe rises from the ground. Stage section is yet to be built.

 

A view along the middle tier - seating/audience yet to be installed.

The view from the stage area!

We think it's looking quite good. The plan is still to be able to poke your head up through the middle and imagine yourself as one of the 'groundlings'.

In y6 today we made some origami boxes, upturned them and repurposed them as tanks - to tie in with our WW2 topic.

3d card models

Today y1 made robots. From a simple pre-printed sheet they crafted some very benign looking 'bots. None of your 'evil, destroy the world at all costs' characters here. 

 

 

Whilst higher up the school in y5 we created 3d space pictures.You probably can't see it all that well from this image but the astronaut figure is held out from the background by a pipecleaner (cunningly doubling up as the safety line).

The Globe

We thatched the Globe model today.Various threads, strips of felt, raffia and wools were wrapped and woven around the upper seating units to give an impression of coarse thatch.

 

 

These are the partially completed units temporarily arranged to give an indication of the size when complete.

The whole thing is just about ready for assembling - we've just got the stage left to do!

almost ready for 'launch'

The y5's have been rigging their ships today. Once the 'seas' have been done they'll be off on their voyages of discovery - around the school. We are going to display them in small groups at ad hoc points around and about the school building and 'allow' the rest of the school to 'discover' them as they are moving between lessons. We intend to move them around from place to place to keep it all fresh. We'll have to try and find some unusual places in which to place them.