Mixed Media Angel Block

The Christmas rush is coming…I've spent the last week doing all the clay projects, I have 2 more weeks of Christmas themed projects and then I'm prepping for Christmas craft day.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it :)

Here is a angel that Grade 6 will start tomorrow.

The substrate is wood. I had my carpenter 'father in law' cut hundreds of these for projects.  The planks are 1.5" thick and 7.5" wide. They come in 8 ft lengths and are cut square.


You could also use canvas, cardboard, or canvas board.

They are thick enough to sit on a mantle or shelf.



I'll give you the full "how to" in just a minute but first…

from Ulysses Press

…how about a giveaway!


Daily Zen Doodles is a new book by Meera Lee Patel. It's a little workbook filled with prompts for doodling and inspirational quotes to help you relax and focus during your busy year.

With the holiday season upon us we all need a little time to slow down and quiet our minds a bit.

I try to do some drawing everyday, whether it's faces, my corner of the staff room, or what I see outside my window. It calms me and helps me think so I can plan out those 24 different Christmas projects or whatever else is on agenda.

This book is a great way to get you started.

I'll put the give-away details at the end of this post.



Now back to the angels.











MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate, mine is wood and is 7.5" square
- acrylic paint in white, blue, and purple
- some everyday items for printmaking, pencils, lids, cups, etc.
- sandpaper, optional
- metallic acrylic paint in gold and silver
- Crayola Model Magic, you'll need a golf ball sized portion
- tacky glue
- iridescent glitter glue, I use an opal or clear type that works with your base colour
- wax paper
- scrap of kraft paper or a brown bag
- tan coloured card stock
- coloured pencils
- old book page
- some embellishments, I used a sequin star and some metallic foam (a placemat)
- mod podge for sealing
- printed text from the computer, "all is calm, all is bright"

PROCEDURE:

Take your wood, sand any rough sides if needed.

Paint the 4 sides and the front with white acrylic paint.


Set aside to dry.

Take your scrap of kraft paper and paint it white.


Set aside to dry.

Take a piece of wax paper, 6" or so wide, and crumple into a ball.

Flatten out the wax paper.  Using the leftover white paint print some shapes onto it with some everyday tools.

I using circle shapes.  I like to use ends of pencils and dowels, little shooter cups I get from the dollar store and corks.

While our painting is drying we will make the body of our angel.

Give each student a golf ball sized portion of model magic.  I like using model magic in my mixed media projects.  It's expensive so we only use it for one part and I tend to use my 40% off coupons at Michael's to buy it.

Have the kids flatten out the model magic. Our backgrounds are 7.5" square so we don't want our body too big. Around 9cm or 3.5" max. I pre cut some strips of paper to use as a guide and you could also get the kids to measure with their rulers.

Model magic is easy to cut. We just use a plastic knife.

Cut a nice triangle shaped body.

Now we want to texturize our model magic.  I'm using a bottle lid and a glue lid.  I'm also using my new favourite clay tools. These are cupcake decorating tools that I found at the Dollar store. I get 8 tools each with 2 ends for $1.

I bought 12 sets!



Leave your model magic to dry overnight on a paper towel.

When the wood slab dries we want to add our background colour.  We are going for a distressed look, we want to see some white poking thru.

Using a dry brush and being careful to only use little amounts of paint at a time brush on the background colour.

Let dry.

When it's dry you can distress it further by sanding some of the paint off.

Your kraft paper should be dry by now.  Using the inside of my masking tape roll as a template I traced out a circle for my halo.

I want a rich detailed design for my halo.

Squeeze out a little gold and silver paint. To make my design I use cut pieces of cardboard, dipping the ends into the paint and making lines.  Corrugated cardboard gives you a nice ripple. I'm also using my glue lid again, end of a pencil, and the end of a paint brush or wooden skewer.

Let dry.

I use up my leftover metallic paint by painting my old book page.  Metallics tend to be translucent but you can add a bit of water so it's more of a wash.  You want to still see the text.


This will be used for the arms so each student only needs a quarter of the page.

When your model magic is dry paint with acrylic paint.  I used purple.

Squeeze out a little glitter glue onto your wax paper and then using your finger smear it on top of the paint.

While my body and halo are drying I work on the face.

I have a range of flesh toned card stock for the kids to choose from.  They only need a little square.  Using a plastic shooter cup (yes it's those same ones from the Dollar store) trace out a circle.

Using coloured pencils I add the hair and rosy cheeks.  With a sharpie I add eyelids and a smile.

Your angel could have open eyes if you prefer.

Cut out the halo and glue near the top of the background.

Glue the face into the middle of the halo.

To make the wings fold the printed wax paper in half.

Cut a leaf shape on the fold so you have 2 wings.

To attach to the background I use mod podge.  I use the mod podge instead of glue because I want it to dry clear.  Glue can sometimes dry cloudy and you would see it thru the wings as they are a bit translucent.

Glue on the body of the angel.  I just use tacky glue.

For the feet I cut 2 circles from a gold placemat. (Dollar store again)

Cut the book page into strips for the arms.  I added a sequin star.

I printed out the text "all is calm, all is bright".

I added some colour with some disk tempera.

Glue onto the background.

Finally you can add a coat of Mod podge to add a nice shiny finish and help keep everything in place.




That's it.

If you are interested in winning your own copy of "Daily Zen Doodles" by Meera Lee Patel you can enter by doing one of the following:

- leave a comment on this post
- like or comment on this post on my Facebook page
- or send me an email at
thatartistwoman@shaw.ca


I'll make the draw on Friday Nov 28th/14.


Good luck everyone.

A big thank-you to Ulysses Press for sponsoring this giveaway!






Gail

Bottle Angels

Here is another angel project.  The unique thing about these angels is that a bottle, (recycled water bottle, pop bottle) forms the base.



You can make small or large ones depending on what's in your recycle bin.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- plastic bottles, (water or pop), rinsed out and dried
- paper, I'm using kraft paper but you can use wrapping paper, newspaper, whatever you have on hand
- paint and markers
- thin cardboard (cereal box)
- string or cording
- glue and tape
- styrofoam ball for the head, you could also papier mach over foil ball or rolled newspaper ball
- garland or ribbon for hair

PROCEDURE:

Take your bottles and cut off the bottom.




I poked a hole first with my awl so I could get the end of my scissors in and then cut.

Cut your paper into rectangles that are 4 inches taller than the height of the bottle and long enough to cover the bottle with a 2 inch overlap or so.



If using plain paper (kraft, newspaper, etc) paint designs on the paper.

You can add details in markers, pencil crayons,  and glitter glue.

Set aside to dry.

I used a Styrofoam ball as a base for my head.  You could just use it straight, or add a layer of papier mache or air dry clay.

You could also roll up some paper or foil into a ball and cover it with papier mache or air dry clay.

I used paper clay to coat my head.  I made a small nose as well.

To hold my heads while they dry I used a piece of cut paper roll an a piece of wax paper to stop it from sticking.

It needs to dry overnight.

Take your decorated paper, flip to the unpainted side.  Place the bottle on the paper.  Using tape stick the paper edge to the bottle.

Wrap the paper around the bottle, there should be enough for some overlap and glue together.  I used an elastic band to hold the paper on the bottle while the glue was setting up.


Take the excess paper at the bottom of the bottle and fold up tucking it into the opening.

Do the same for the top of the bottle.


You can wrap the neck of the bottle with a piece of string or decorative cording.

I made the wings from thin cardboard.  You can cover them with fancy wrapping paper or paint them like I did.


The coloured side of the cereal box took 2 coats of paint.

I used a cap from a spray bottle to print circles all over the cardboard in silver paint.

When my heads were dry I painted them with a flesh tone, added some pink cheeks, eyes and mouths.

Glue on some ribbon or garland for hair.

I wrapped some star garland into a circle for halos.

Glue the head to the top of the bottle.

Cut the wings out of the cardboard.  I used a teardrop shape.

I used a glue gun to stick them on the angels.

I put glue on the point of the teardrop shape.

Glue to the back of the angel.

and that's it, angel completed.

Make a set with different sized bottles for a nice display.