Hundertwasser Inspired Clay Tiles

I began the ‘Built Environment’ project by getting the students to make ink drawings of buildings from Barcelona (I had been there over the summer and collected lots of photos).  We then looked at the work of Hundertwasser and the students designed their own building in his style.  They considered his use of colour, hidden faces, patterns, multiple view points and took inspiration from nature – just like he did.  These drawings were then used to make the clay tiles.  Some students chose a small section of their drawing to make in clay, and some created new designs for a tile, taking elements from all different ideas. 

The clay tile is a really easy technique – it’s a bit like making pastry in the way that you roll out the clay and cut out shapes. The students also had the choice to use glass on their tile.  They chose what colours they wanted and I helped them to place the cracked glass on the tile (it can be a bit dangerous if the students do it, because of all the little sharp pieces).  The glass liquefies in the kiln and creates some really beautiful results.  The glass always produces different results which is fun and exciting to see when they come out of the kiln!   

Some examples that I made, these are them before they went into the kiln and were drying out. 

Laser Cut Brooches

As part of the ‘Ocean’s Bounty’ project, the year 9s made these laser cut acrylic brooches.  Our school has a laser cutting machine which I’ve been learning how to use this year.  It is such a a fantastic resource to have in school, and there are so many ways to create things on it. 

The designs are essentially an acrylic sandwich: the top layer is the cut out design, in the middle are ‘Angelina Fibres’ and the bottom layer is a solid layer, which has a pin glued on the back.  The designs are based on the paper stained glass windows that the year 9s made (see here).  Before the students stuck the coloured tissue paper onto the black cut out designs, photographs were taken of the shilhouettes.  Using Word and 2D Design, the students chose a design for their brooch, by manipulating the photograph of their paper design.  Students also enjoyed making the Angelina fibres – a really simple and effective material.  Everything was then glued together to make the final brooch.  The students finished these in December so they made really nice Christmas presents!

Here are some examples that I made...

 The design is cut out in acrylic on the laser cutting machine, and a solid piece is cut out for the backing.

 The Angelina Fibres are cut to the exact size of thebrooch.

Everything is glued together.

The finished brooch.  This is one of the student's designs that I used to make an example, you might recognize it from one of the photos above.

Visit from a Stained Glass Artist

Last year I arranged for a stained glass artist to come and talk to the year 9 students when they were making their paper window designs.  She was great at speaking to the class.  Bea had brought in lots of glass samples, cutting tools and finished pieces to talk about.  They students were able to have a go at cutting the glass themselves - which they loved.

Bea Bennett is one of the parents at our school and she also runs fantastic workshops for anyone who is interested.  I have recently made a couple of stained glass designs, and loved every minute of it!

Having a shot at glass cutting.

Attaching the copper foiling to cut glass pieces.

A finished lampshade design by Bea.

This is Bea with one of her finished beautiful designs.

Some more cutting.

Stained Glass Window Designs in Paper

These are some photos of the year 9s stained glass windows.  These were part of the year 9 ‘Ocean’s Bounty’ theme, which lasted for about 5 months and they covered lots of different techniques.  They took inspiration for these windows from their fish and sea life drawings.  They were asked to think about different patterns to create an interesting composition.  We also looked at a range of contemporary and traditional stained glass window examples.  Students had to think carefully about connecting all of the black lines, to make it look like a real stained glass window.  They cut these patterns out on the black card, using craft knives.

They are made with black card and tissue paper.  To make the tissue paper, students layered different colours on top of a plastic bag, covered with watery PVA glue and left to dry.  You can also splodge bleach on top of the tissue paper to create nice patterns and effects.  Once it had dried, the paper simply peeled off the plastic bags and were carefully cut out and stuck on the back of the black card.

I have these on display in my classroom and visitors always comment on how successful they look.

After the students completed this project we used their stained glass window designs to make laser cut brooches – see my other post for examples of those.

Here are some from last year's classes.  The same technique but their theme was animals in their environment, with a Franz Marc influence...