Bee Kite

A couple of years ago I did a kite design project with a group of 2nd year students back home in Scotland.  The department I was teaching in had loads of willow sticks and one of the teachers there set me the challenge of finding something to do with them.  After soaking in water, they are quite bendy and you can do all sorts of fun things with willow, but I decided on kites. 

Here are the students' kites up on the wall...

Here are some photos of how I made my kite...

Shape your frame with the willow sticks and hold in place with masking tape...

 Cover with paper mache.

...until it is completely covered, like this...

Then you can paint it....

For the kite string, I bought some from ebay very cheaply, and made cardboard string holders.  I helped students to string the kites up as it was a bit tricky, and you needed to work out the best place to attach the string for balance and best flying positions.
Did they fly?  Well, kind of!  I took the 2nd year class out on a mildly windy day and we had some stay up for about 20 seconds.  I think on a windier day we would have had better flying records.  On the down side, the kites were damaged slightly after flying, because they hit the ground, but they were patched up easily when we were back in the classroom.

Mora Brothers & WOMAD Abu Dhabi

Last year my friend Emma invited me to the primary school that she works at, to see some art work that The Mora Brothers had been doing with students.  Emma had organised with WOMAD to host a week long art workshop with the students at Al Muna Primary school in Abu Dhabi.  The 2 brothers are from Cuba and are famous for their fabulous papier-maché sculptures. 

They had decided to make a huge scorpian for the WOMAD opening parade, and whilst the brothers made their own big scorpian in the school grounds, they also ran workshops to teach the students how to make mini scorpians! During the weekend festival the brothers were also giving mask making workshops for children.  I was very sad that I was a little too old to join in.

I love their work and I love papier-maché!

Here are some photos of the scorpians being made....

Australian Animal Sculptures with Aboriginal Inspiration

Niki de Saint Phalle Inspired Sculptures

Bug Shoe Design

Here are some photos of the year 8 ‘Bug Shoes’.  Students were asked to design wacky and flamboyant shoes which had to be based on bugs and insects.  I created a design brief and made up the name of a fashion designer who was launching her first spring/summer collection – the clothes were based on insects and bugs, and the shoes had to match.  Students started the project by researching different shoe designs, drawing bugs and insects.  They then drew 4 designs and chose their favourite one to make.  Using newspaper, cardboard, masking tape and loads of PVA glue, they modelled their designs.  One fun thing was the students drew around their own shoes to measure the size to make their designs, so when they were finished they were to scale and the students could wear them!