Zoo Theme 2014

Zoo Theme 2014!!

A General Update

Wow, I can't believe its been two years since I posted! A lot has happened since then. I've had a few different teaching positions, along with a few part time jobs, and finished graduate school,  About eight months ago I relocated to North Carolina from New Jersey to take a full time elementary art position. As of now, I finished my first year and plan on sharing some of my more successful lesson endeavors.

 K-5 Art Projects

I feel that my most successful lessons were those that were part of the school wide art theme I implemented this past year. I picked the zoo for my theme because I was inspired by a recent trip to the zoo over Thanksgiving break.  I thought back to how much I loved animals as a child, and hoped my students would share in my enthusiasm.  I set to work in picking a colorful animal and an age appropriate approach to the animal for each grade. Along with their individual projects, each grade created a mural. K-2 drew pictures and then cut and pasted them to the mural. 3-5 drew pictures directly onto their murals and got to do some research so they could add some facts about their animal onto their murals. Once the projects and murals were all done, I turned the hallway into a zoo. Here are the results:

Welcome

I drew the bubble letters and then asked a few of my 5th graders who finished their individual project early to turn each letter into a zoo animal. They did a better job with this than I could have done. I think it is so imaginative!   

Welcome Sign

Bulletin Next to Welcome Sign

Kindergarten Lions

Kindergarten Lions and Mural

Kindergarten Lions Bulletin

 1st Grade Peacocks

1st Grade Peacocks and Mural 

More 1st Grade Peacocks 

1st Grade Peacocks Bulletin 

 2nd Grade Lizards

2nd Grade Lizards and Mural

2nd Grade Lizards Bulletin

 3rd Grade Toucans

3rd Grade Toucans and Mural

3rd Grade Toucans Bulletin

 4th Grade Zebras

4th graders learned about the color wheel and color mixing because I though rainbow Zebras would be more fun to see in the hallways. 

4th Grade Zebras and Mural

4th Grade Zebras Bulletin

5th Grade Giraffes

These giraffes were three and a half feet tall! They were such a big hit! I let the students pick their own color schemes for their giraffes. Again, I thought colorful animals would be more fun to see in the hallways. 

5th Grade Giraffes and Mural

5th Grade Parade of Giraffes 

More 5th Grade Giraffes

Even More 5th Grade Giraffes

Onto Next Year...

Now that my first year of teaching in North Carolina is over, I am already tossing around ideas for next year. My goal for next year is to implement two school wide themes. This time, I plan on actually keeping up with this blog and posting in progress work along with more details about how the projects were created like I've done in the past. Stay tuned!   

Woven Duct Tape Purses!

Camper Samples

As promised, here are the results of the woven duct tape purse project I tried with some of my campers that are 10-12 years old. They worked so hard and did such a great job on these. I think they look fantastic! 

A few pictures of the work in progress.  A few campers got frustrated with keeping the woven pieces together, but once the edges were taped up they were very excited to see how the final pattern looked. 

Duct tape everywhere!

I love the pattern rolls that the camp ordered this year! 

Almost done!

As much as I love all of the pattern duct tape, I think there's something really sharp about these bags where both colors are solid.

But who can resist pink and zebra stripes!

Or Tie Dye!

Or neon green peace signs!

Of course now I want to make one for myself (even though I already have one!) Maybe ill try making the woven pattern diagonal or perhaps a drawstring backpack bag.  If you want to try to make one of these check out a previous post of mine that includes a step by step tutorial.  

More Duct Tape!

I needed a new wallet...

Now that the school year is over, I figured it is time to catch up on some of the personal projects for myself that I have been putting off.  I purchased this awesome penguin duct tape a while back and didn't have time to make anything. Whoever thought to make penguin duct tape was obviously thinking of me. Now all they have to do is make the penguins red and we're all set. Anyway, I needed a simple wallet for my essentials that would fit in my back pocket. This way I don't have to carry around a purse when I'm out.   The following is a tutorial of what I came up with.

Like I said in my last post, if you don't have a cutting mat you can use a kitchen cutting board. I've been using this one for years and it has served me well. While making this project, I also discovered that a utility knife works well for cutting the duct tape.   

 First, I started by making a 5 x 14 inch swatch.  As I was working with the pattern duct tape, I realized that it looks much better when the pattern is lined up.  To do this, start by laying out one 14 inch piece.  For the next piece make sure it overlaps the first in such a way that the pattern lines up.  As you do this you may have to use extra tape.  Below you can see the difference in length between the first piece I cut, which is on the bottom, and the last piece, which is on the top. Continue this until the swatch is 5 x 14 inches. I had to use 4 pieces.      

 Cut of the excess that you have to use to make sure the pattern lines up. Peel this off and put it aside.   

 Now for the other side.  I decided that this piece was going to be the inside, so I wasn't concerned with lining up the pattern.  As you can see the pattern is not continuous.  In order to make the same size swatch I only had to use three 14 inch pieces of tape.  

Stick the front and the back piece together.  The best way to do this is to lay one side sticky side up and hold the other piece above. Line it up as best as you can.  Start lowering the piece in the center first and work your way to the edges.  If it is not perfect, don't worry, there's a way to fix that and i'll get to that later. Put the outside face down and fold in both sides so there is a small space in the middle.   

These folds will eventually become the pockets.  Now, take a piece of another color duct tape and cut it to the length of the edge of the pockets.  I like to use a solid color that is in the pattern.  I thought using the entire width of one piece was to large for the edging of this project so I cut the piece in half longways. 

 Use these two pieces to cover the edges. Half should be on the inside and half on the outside.  See how it covers up the rough edges that you may have had on there before? I told you we would get to fixing the edges up.   

 Now reinforce the inside of the pockets.  To do this, cut a piece of duct tape that is the same as the top and bottom of the pockets.  Again, cut this piece in half so you can use it for the top and the bottom of one pocket.  

 Open up the pocket and stick one piece so it is halfway on the edge then fold it over.  This part can be a little tricky, but luckily you're not sticking it to another sticky piece.  So you can easily remove this piece if you are not satisfied. Close the pocket, then repeat for the bottom.

Repeat for the other pocket.  Now for the outside edging.  Measure a piece of duct tape that is the entire length of the wallet and cut that piece in half.  Take one piece and stick it on one side so half of the piece is hanging off.  I was more concerned with the length of edging on the outside of my wallet so I first stuck my edging piece there.  I wanted it to be shorter than half of a piece.  

Almost done!

 Here, you can see that the edging on the inside is thicker.  

 This last step is optional but I wanted a fancy clasp.  I measured a piece of duct tape that was about 4 inches in the same color as the edging.  Then I cut that piece in half lengthwise.  I folded a third of one side over so there was a sticky part left over.  

 I put the sticky side on the center of one side of the wallet and put velcro on the other side. I use the kind that you can cut and peel off the backing to make it stick to your surface.  I find it helpful to peel off the backing on one side, stick it on the clasp, and then fold it over as if closing to wallet to ensure accurate placement of the velcro.  

This is the view on the other side.  

I can whip one of these out in 10 or 15 minutes.  Of course I've had a lot of practice, but I definitely recommend this for a beginner.  It may take a little time at first but it's so worth it, especially with all of the awesome patterns that are out there now!

Woven Duct Tape Purse

Duct Tape Season is Upon Us!

As the school year winds down, it's time for camp.  I always have to go through a few orientation days before the campers begin their summer.  Since i've been there as an art specialist for so many years, I use a lot of my time during these days to come up even better projects for the campers.  After a few years, I finally convinced the director to try out duct tape as an art elective for the first time last year.  It was a huge success and the campers all went crazy over it.  This year I wanted to take it up a level since they already made basic items like shoelaces, rose pens, and wallets.  


I decided to make a smaller version of the woven purse (Shown at the top of this blog).  I used the one of the awesome pattern rolls of duct tape that are new to the camp for this year. As a duct tape enthusiast since way before duct tape became popular, i'm super excited about this project.  The 6th and 7th grade campers are going to love this.  The following is a walkthrough of the project. Surprisingly, it only took about an hour and a half to throw together.


First, gather your supplies.  You'll need an exacto knife, a cutting board and a measuring device.  Cutting boards like the one shown below are perfect because you can measure everything out right on its surface.  However, an old cutting board from your kitchen and a good old fashioned ruler will work just fine.  Lastly, and most importantly you'll need two colors of duct tape. I like using a solid color and a pattern.  

 Now, its time to begin creating the strips you will weave with.  This purse ends up being 9 x 6 x 2 inches.  Don't worry I give you the exact measurements for all the pieces you need so you don't have to do math. To make a strip, you measure out a piece of duct tape face down on your cutting board. Next, you peel it up and put it sticky side up. Then, you fold it in half long ways.  Its a little tricky at first, so you might need some practice.


Now that you know how to make a strip, lets begin.  Choose one color and make twelve, nine inch strips.       

Now, make two, twenty-one inch strips. My cutting board was too small so I had to maneuver two boards to measure these larger pieces out.  

 There, half way done with the strips! Now, onto the other color.  Make nine, fourteen inch strips. Again, a single one of my boards was too small to create these strips. 

 Now, make twelve, two inch strips with the same color.  

Strips are all done! Now for my favorite part, the weaving! The small zebra strips are on the sides.  The two longer purple strips are in the middle and go all the way across. See how the edges are a little uneven? Don't worry, its an easy fix. Just cut a strip of duct tape to cover each side and cut it in half long ways.  For example, for the top you will need a nine inch strip and if you cut it in half long ways, you can use it on the bottom as well.  Take one of these pieces and arrange it so it covers the edge, but it hangs about halfway off the edge. Then, fold it over to the other side.  Now you have a clean edge.     

Now construct the purse by folding up the sides and attaching them together with two, six inch strips of duct tape that are cut in half long ways. Make sure each piece is touching the two side you want to connect.    

 The last step is to make the straps.  Cut two strips to a little longer than desired length. I made mine about fifteen inches.  Put those strips sticky side up.  Now, measure two strips that are that about three inches shorter and stick them on the longer strips so the sticky side of the longer strips is sticking out on both edges.   

 Use the sticky parts of the strap to attach them to the purse. All done! The woven duct tape purse is complete!  

I think this project is going to be very successful with my campers.  I'll be sure to post about their progress.