The Shamrock

For St Patrick's Day (it's a Catholic school ) we focus on the life of St. Patrick and his use of the shamrock to describe the Trinity.

This year I found myself repeating the phrase "God is found in the smallest of spaces..." so I used this as the inspiration for this project.

Tissue Paper Rainbows

I'm a bit behind in posting as my youngest was in for eye surgery on Friday...everything turned out terrific and he is back at it causing his siblings lots of grief.

Here is a project I did with Kindergarten today. Fairly straight forward....its bit of an old standby for most teachers so I tend not to use this technique too much. It was a big hit with kindergarten though.

Materials Required:

paper plates, cut in half with a semi circle cut out of the center

colored tissue paper cut into squares

glue

black paper

black pipe cleaner

gold paper

Take your paper plate and run a line of glue following the arc of the rainbow shape. I started the kids out from the inside edge....it tended to be easier to work thru than the other way.

Pick a color and smunch up the tissue paper....place into the glue and continue until the entire row is completed. We did not use the end of pencil as those little fingers work really well on their own.

Continue row by row selecting a different color each time.

This was easily mastered by all the kids.

Continue until the paper plate shape is covered.

I then gave the kids a template to trace around of a pot of gold. I just traced these out on some thin cardboard.

The then had to cut 3 coins out of gold paper and glue them with a glue stick to the top of their pot. We added a small piece of black pipe cleaner (about 3 inches) which we taped to the back of our pot and glued the handle to one end of our rainbow.

That's it. They turned out better than I expected and the kids had a great time. Sorry it's a bit late.

gail

Eggshell Mosaic Shamrock Pin

Eggshell mosaic is incredible to work with. A lot easier than you think and the results are spectacular.
In preparation of doing eggshell mosaic with the grade 3's, I thought I should get a few samples together. I made this 4 leaf clover pin for St. Patrick's Day.
Not that hard to do and the materials are lying around your house right now.

Materials Required:

eggshells, start collecting shells...make sure to rinse them out and if you can remove the inner layer, it usually has an air bubble in the top, just rub it off with your finger
acrylic or craft paint
modge podge, you can also use white glue
cardboard
pin back
small pair of scissors
emery board
pin back



You can use this technique to make any kind of pin or necklace pendant.

Find the shape you want and trace onto thin cardboard..like a cereal box.




Cut your shape out and paint it with acrylics the color you want the grout to be. I painted mine black.

If you are making a pendant for a necklace punch your hole at this time.




Take a few egg shells...they can be broken up a bit.




Using acrylic paint....paint your shells in the colors you want for your project. Here I wanted a few different greens. I also added some salt to my light green shell to add extra texture...just sprinkle regular table salt onto the paint before it dries..after the shell dries it will rub off and leave a granular texture.



Starting from an outside edge begin your mosaic....don't worry I'll walk you thru it in the next few photos.

Brush on some modge podge or white glue in the area you want to fill in. I'm doing a random pattern here but because I'm using different green shades I'm working on a small section at a time.



Break off a piece of shell that is approximately the same size that you want to fill.

Place over your glue...now it won't fit because the shell is curved and the form is flat but here comes the magic.



Taking your finger squish it flat. It will break up and form your mosaic.

The eggshell will only stick where there is glue. If some of it is on a dry section just brush some modge podge over it.

Use an awl or knitting needle to clear the hole if you are making a pendant.

Continue working until the entire form is covered. Don't worry about any overhanging bits we will take care of them after it dries.

There may be the odd piece here and there where you will have to try to fit a small filler piece in but over all the mosaic just comes together. Add a top coat of modge podge as well. If some pieces are overlapping each other a bit that is OK.
Let dry.




After it has dried you can turn it over and with some small scissors cut off the excess. Use little snips at a time. If you try to cut too big a piece it may pull the mosaic off the form.







You can use an emery board to sand any rough edges.






Make sure to modge podge the back of your piece as well.

Let dry.




Glue on a pin back if you are making a pin.

That's it a beautiful pin using the most basic of materials.

I'll be posting some more projects with eggshell mosaic because I love working with it. The kids also love it. Most people can't believe it's from an egg shell...they'll think you did some exhausting tile mosiac technique. Due to it's lightweight it is applicable to lots of different projects.

see you next time

gail