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| Not so good prints |
To begin, yesterday was a fabulous day, I posted myself in front of the big screen to view the AOE Winter on-line convention. I can't think of a better way to spend my day than being connected with fellow art teachers from all around the world, getting inspired and well, uh, educated. It's the next best thing to actually attending one of those face-to-face conventions like the one coming up in New Orleans in March. One day I'll be able to do that, too. Many weeks back I ordered a Gelli Plate. I kept reading about them, viewing all these wonderful instructional videos and seeing some amazing prints so I just wanted to give one a try myself. I ordered the 5 x 7 size and I am happy with my choice. Upon it's arrival I immediately opened the package, read all the directions and sealed it back up leaving it to sit on the side table in my living room where it has been for weeks. But today, inspired by all the wonderful of yesterday, I gathered up all of my tools and miscellaneous gadgets that might work for texture and headed to the kitchen table to finally try out that Gelli plate. After a few refresher videos to refocus on the process I began to "play". And, yes, it really does feel a lot like play. First I attempted just inking the plate using printing ink. Some of my ink has been around for awhile and either was too cold from being stored in the basement or was about to dry out because I really struggled with spreading it. I used bubble wrap, a onion bag, and some stencils I found in a craft drawer to see how I might do with masking. Quickly I discovered that I had jumped ahead of myself and I should be making my foundation prints using only color. I think I learn best from my mistakes, it sticks with me longer and as we all really know "There are no mistakes in Art only opportunities for creativity"! I eventually got the hang of the multiple layers of printing and masking to produce some of the effects I had seen in the videos. Oh, and thanks to the Sargent paints in my AOE swag box, I was able to make some really effective prints using acrylic paint. I did like the way the paint moved on the plate much better than the inks. I don't truly know if it was because the paints were fresher or if paint is really an easier medium to use this way. The yellow paint also stained my plate but it didn't add residue to subsequent prints so no bother. I read that it would come off with mild soap and water but it wasn't that bad of a stain and I didn't attempt to clean it. What was a surprise was that the plate picked up the ink from the newspaper I had laid out to protect my work surface. It does not appear to come off but again did not transfer to the prints. I had moved the plate off of the plastic surface I had it on to wipe up some ink and it was only on the paper a second...lesson learned. Clean up was very easy. I enjoyed attempting to pull as many ghost prints off of the plate as possible so there was not much ink or paint left on the plate to clean up. I can't wait to gather up some more stencils and other items to use for mask and try it all again. I do want to make sure I have a wider variety of colors available for the next round of printing.
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| Work in progress |
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| Used for Ghost Prints |
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| Used for Negative Prints |
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| Even the paper used to clean the brayer looks interesting |
I like the weight of the watercolor paper for the prints much better than the lighter sketching paper. Lastly, a few of my getting there prints. I had cut notches out of an old plaster credit card to use for the subraction printing, the curved lines, and the dots are from bubble wrap. I cut hearts out of the stencil sheets just using small craft scissors. So, there we have it.
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| Starting to get the hang of it. |
There is so much coolness this time and think the box was more full than ever before. I can't wait to try the projects that came with supplies, maybe for an interactive on Thursday? Even KitKat is ready to join in!
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To begin, yesterday was a fabulous day, I posted myself in front of the big screen to view the AOE Winter on-line convention. I can't think of a better way to spend my day than being connected with fellow art teachers from all around the world, getting inspired and well, uh, educated. It's the next best thing to actually attending one of those face-to-face conventions like the one coming up in New Orleans in March. One day I'll be able to do that, too. Many weeks back I ordered a Gelli Plate. I kept reading about them, viewing all these wonderful instructional videos and seeing some amazing prints so I just wanted to give one a try myself. I ordered the 5 x 7 size and I am happy with my choice. Upon it's arrival I immediately opened the package, read all the directions and sealed it back up leaving it to sit on the side table in my living room where it has been for weeks. But today, inspired by all the wonderful of yesterday, I gathered up all of my tools and miscellaneous gadgets that might work for texture and headed to the kitchen table to finally try out that Gelli plate. After a few refresher videos to refocus on the process I began to "play". And, yes, it really does feel a lot like play. First I attempted just inking the plate using printing ink. Some of my ink has been around for awhile and either was too cold from being stored in the basement or was about to dry out because I really struggled with spreading it. I used bubble wrap, a onion bag, and some stencils I found in a craft drawer to see how I might do with masking. Quickly I discovered that I had jumped ahead of myself and I should be making my foundation prints using only color. I think I learn best from my mistakes, it sticks with me longer and as we all really know "There are no mistakes in Art only opportunities for creativity"! I eventually got the hang of the multiple layers of printing and masking to produce some of the effects I had seen in the videos. Oh, and thanks to the Sargent paints in my AOE swag box, I was able to make some really effective prints using acrylic paint. I did like the way the paint moved on the plate much better than the inks. I don't truly know if it was because the paints were fresher or if paint is really an easier medium to use this way. The yellow paint also stained my plate but it didn't add residue to subsequent prints so no bother. I read that it would come off with mild soap and water but it wasn't that bad of a stain and I didn't attempt to clean it. What was a surprise was that the plate picked up the ink from the newspaper I had laid out to protect my work surface. It does not appear to come off but again did not transfer to the prints. I had moved the plate off of the plastic surface I had it on to wipe up some ink and it was only on the paper a second...lesson learned. Clean up was very easy. I enjoyed attempting to pull as many ghost prints off of the plate as possible so there was not much ink or paint left on the plate to clean up. I can't wait to gather up some more stencils and other items to use for mask and try it all again. I do want to make sure I have a wider variety of colors available for the next round of printing. 
I jumped on board to follow the latest readings with the Artsy Book Club. I have spent the last couple of days pulling together some materials for a few of the projects from "Printmaking Unleashed" For starter, the projects are a lot of fun...for me. I think I would be reluctant to try many of the procedures with my elementary students. I started by creating some stencils using a hot glue gun. I grabbed an old Teflon pan from the kitchen and my glue gun and started drawing. It was a blast however, the stencils wouldn't lift off of the old pan. I went in search of a Teflon sheet and was not successful so purchased another Teflon baking pan and created some new stencils. This time it worked like a breeze and the stencils were a snap to create. Very successful procedure but I would not place hot glue guns, even the low temp ones in the hands of a classroom full of students. I might consider it in a well supervised environment and small group for an after school program or club. Most of the experimentation I have done, I feel the same way about. Not for a classroom full of elementary students but manageable for a smaller group when well supervised. I am not finished yet and will experiment more. I also intend to take all the methods and combine them in some way for a completed project.
Final days of my AOE class "Showing Student Growth in Art". It has not been a disappointment. I have been challenged to extend my thinking and definitely stepped outside of my comfort zone. The discussions have been enlightening and thought provoking. I will begin school in a few weeks fully armed to face the discussions of DDMs (District Determined Measures) and feel like I can make an worthwhile contribution. I was most surprised to learn how far ahead other districts seem to be in this new phase of teacher evaluation. I was thankful to be able to view some of the materials other educations are using and to gain deeper understanding as they shared previous experiences. 
Showing Student Growth in Art