another peg

Managed to find time, using another vintage peg, to create an automaton! As the handle is turned the figure goes up and down - he's supposed to be a swimmer. Not sure whether to add paint or just leave alone.

dolls and books

A couple of weeks ago I managed to find some vintage wooden pegs at a flea market.
Have just got round to making one up as a peg doll. The arms are jointed using vintage buttons and hand-made string. The wooden heart covers a hole but thinking about it now I could have left it and called this a 'broken-hearted' doll.

The reason it's taken a couple of weeks to whittle this is because I've been busy publishing again!
This time I've gone all ebook and have put a children's book into the kindle store on Amazon. It only went live yesterday but already has begun to sell. Its the first in what I intend to be a series that can stand alone as fiction books or be used in a classroom to spark an interest and enthusiasm for grammar and punctuation! Please feel free to check it out;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/P-U-nC-S-Saviours-punctuation-John-Fidler-ebook/dp/B01FPLZK8K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463412374&sr=8-2&keywords=john+fidler

printing

Y2's have been printing houses ready for collaging into mixed media 'Fire of London' pieces. Lots of 'woodwork' on this one!

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!

back at school - yay!

Managed to put our 'Tudor' houses on display - they were only completed on the final day of last term! Partnered them up with our model of the Globe to portray a small section of Shakespeare's London! It looks quite impressive in the flesh - each house stands around 25cm tall. 
(And I seem to be able to email myself pics again!)

The children made peg doll characters to populate the streets.

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!

Trojan chair

Here we are frantically trying to complete projects before the end of the school year. We've lost lessons along the way and some things have invariably taken much longer than anticipated!
This is the completed Trojan Horse that will serve as the backdrop for our display of Greek Warrior sculptures. 

It was once just a 3-legged chair.

more dinosaur stuff

In y2 we've begun making dinosaur sculptures that will eventually have mouths that opens and close!
Today we got as far as constructing the armatures - out of boxes, tubes, wood and plenty of Sellotape!

Note: the heads have not yet been attached!

 

Greeks & Tudors

The y3s have made a start on painting their Greek warrior sculptures.

The y4s are continuing with their project to build some Tudor real estate.

And there's progress on the painting table.

Tudor houses, Greek sculpture & forest schools!

Yesterday the y4's continued to construct their 'Tudor' houses by assembling the panels of the lower storey.

Y3's made wood and wire armatures in readiness for next week when we'll wrap them with mod-roc.

At school today we had a Forest School event. 'Forest School' is really an updated version of what used to be called Nature Study. We have a huge area behind our school that has trees, large open spaces, even a stream(!), that the children utilise to enhance their learning across a whole host of curriculum areas. In y3 we used clay to make faces - the premise was that the Ancient Greeks believed that trees had spirits (Dryads) - so we made representations of them on the actual trees. The activity certainly brought out the creative sides of both the children and their parents!

sgraffito & Tudor housing

Today y3's decorated their fired terracotta coil pots from last week. They used a sgraffito technique to scratch through a layer of black paint back to the clay.

Meanwhile the y4's have embarked on an ambitious Tudor housing project. They are aiming to construct 20+ two-storey dwellings complete with thatched roofs! First part today was to cut the timber to construct the panels that will make up the lower storey.

non-musical box

This week I cobbled together a simple mechanism for a nice wooden box I bought at a charity shop. The box originally held two packs of playing cards but I'm thinking it could just be for trinkets. I've made it so as the mechanism is fully housed in the hinged lid. Atop the box will be one of my world famous (!) poseable ballerina figures! So, as the handle is turned, she will pirouette to whatever tune you care to hum. If you would like the finished article (£20 including free world-wide p&p) please just comment. I'll leave it here for a week before I put it in one of my shops.

totems

Y4 are looking at 'The Americas'. Over the last couple of weeks they've been collaboratively making totems. They've each created a four-sided segment that will assemble into a vertical structure (using a thick card roll as an internal, central support). Today we finished off painting them. Each panel was designed to represent them in some way - their personality, hobbies/interests etc.

Meanwhile a couple of pieces from me. A sketch, 'off to the match' ....

.....and my latest automaton to leave the workbench. The birds move up and down via cams and give the impression of flying - I did contemplate making the wings flap but decided the scale was too small (nothing to do with the fact that my skills weren't up to it!).

paper sculpture

Today the y1's created some small paper 'sculptures' of a forest floor. We cut, tore, twisted, wove and glued different papers to represent fallen leaves, grass and twigs.

Here's the 'one I did earlier' as an example, though I think I might have been too enthusiastic!

The plan is to actually display them on a floor (we have some large papier mâché trees that are crying out for a 'setting') away from walking feet!

Bridge

Today's flea market find -

A vintage double bass(?) bridge. It seems to be too large to be from a cello. Am thinking it could be a sort of backdrop to a ballerina automaton figure. The central arch is a bit too small to house a figure, unless I make it quite a small one ( it might have to be 'fixed' and not poseable).

collages and kicker!

Today the y1's (5/6 yr olds) started to create collage self-portraits. We stuck to using simple shapes. Think these will look quite effective when complete.

Latest automaton to leave the workbench is a prototype 'kicking' figure. It's a very rough creation just to test the mechanism. The squares on the cutting mat are 5cm just to give you an idea of scale.

It works...

...but I'm not happy with it. The mechanism is too fiddly to make and install and I've already worked out how to make it much simpler!

There's also no reason for the arms to be 'loose' as they don't really move. Am already thinking of two players tackling for the ball!

finds

My two bargains from the local second-hand shop this morning. £1 each! The abacus has wooden beads and is stamped as being made in West Germany, so has a bit of age. Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but the sorting box is destined to be part of an automaton of some descrtion. 

swan lake

The latest automaton to leave my workbench. 

Again, a simple mechanism. This frame on this one is made from a cut down domino box.

The ballerina figure is poseable. Compare this pic with the first.

Must make the effort to list these in my shops to gauge interest.

back!

After a long summer hols it's back to work. Having problems uploading photos as Blogger seems not to recognise my old system so am trying a rather convoluted way of doing it involving emails and iPads!

The photo is of a 'rodeo rider' - constructed from bits of wood and old chess pieces! It's now been made into an automaton that bucks and turns! If this post has worked I'll be able to show more pics next time.

latest

The latest automaton to roll off the production line! This one features a rural train service. As you turn the handle the engine plus its carriage rotates around the village/countryside (the black circle turns whilst the green circle stays put). It measures about 11cm (4") from table to tip of church spire.

 

Very pleased with how this turned out. I did do a short video of it working but it didn't want to upload for some strange reason.