How to make a Teotihuacan Inspired Mask

Here is one of the projects I presented at my conference sessions.  It's a papier mache mask based on an ancient Teotihuacan mask. 

I find it artistically interesting because of the use of a mosaic on the mask, that's not something you see everyday.

Here is a picture of the original.  This project was part of my "From Primitive to Post Modern" session.  One of the advantages to this project is that because it is based on an ancient mask that is showing some decay or wear, the mosaic does not have to be fully finished.









 Museo Preistorico ed Etnografico
Pigorini, Roma


There is also a paper version I'll show you how to do at the end in case your are not up for papier mache.

















Before I start with the "how to" I have another featured Design post on the Hive right now that you might want to check out.  the product I'm testing is Aleene's Paper Napkin Applique Glue and I show how to make this Star Wars book bag.

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Papier Mache Version

- a cardboard box
- mask stencil that you will make
- paper towels
- newspaper
- tape
- white school glue
- water and a recycled container
- black paint, tempera or acrylic
- red and green tempera paint
- copies of archaeological maps, #1, #2
- white paper, posterboard, or bristol
- string
- red beads

PROCEDURE:

Take a piece of paper (8.5 X 11) and fold in half.

Draw out 1/2 of the mask shape including an eye and mouth.  Use the fold as the middle of the mask.

Cut out your stencil.

Take your cardboard box and tape your stencil on the side utilizing the corner to run down that middle line of your mask.

Trace out the shape and then cut from the box.

By using the corner you build in the angular shape to the mask.

Roll up a piece of newspaper and tape into place for the nose.

Using a 1 to 1 ratio mix up the white glue and water into your recycled container.  Cut some strips from the paper towels and begin maching the mask.

Try to overlap the strips in a criss cross manner.  You only need about 1 to 2 coats here.

Now you may find you cardboard starting to sag a bit, losing that angular shape due to the moisture so prop it into shape and leave to dry.  Should only take about 24 hrs.

To add an extra layer of meaning to your mask print off copies of the actual archaeological maps of the Teotihuacan site. (check google images)

Paint these with the green and red tempera paint.  We will use these papers for our mosaic.

Let dry.

In the meantime paint your mask black.

Using posterboard, wc paper, or bristol tape in sections of paper on to the eye holes.

Paint in some eyes on the paper.  Lots of room here for different expressions.

Take your red and green paper and cut into strips and then into squares.

You don't want them to all be the same size.

Make sure to keep about 1/2 a page of the red paper in reserve.

Start gluing your mosaic into place.  you can follow the design of the original or come up with your own.

Take the reserved red paper and cut into long skinny triangles.  Apply a little glue on the back and roll onto a pencil or knitting needle starting with the wide end.

This will make some beads for the necklace.

When you have a few beads tape a string under the jaw of the mask on one side.

Line up your beads, (both your handmade ones as well as some pony beads and/or buttons).

String these onto your piece of string and then secure the end on the other side of the jaw.

Finally you can add a coat of Mod Podge if you wish.

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Paper Version

- black paper
- pencil and eraser
- red, green and white tempera paint
- copies of archaeological maps
- glue
- white pencil crayon
- white paper
- black sharpie, pencil crayon,

PROCEDURE:

Take a sheet of black paper and trace out your mask shape in pencil.

Using the white liquid tempera paint, paint in your eyes.

Start gluing on your mosaic design.

With paint, sharpie, or black pencil crayon color in your eyes.

When the mosaic is dry cut out mask.  You can add some detail with the white pencil crayon if you wish.

Glue to a contrasting background.

That's it.

In the Style of van Gogh: Remembrance Day Painting and Giveaway Results

This is "Field of Poppies" by Vincent van Gogh 1890.

As a Remembrance Day art project I wanted Grade 3 to try and recreate this composition.

This was the sample I used for the class.

Those of you who attended my ECEC workshop on "From Primitive to Post Modern" will recall my comments on teaching Impressionism to kids.

The difficulty with painted art projects is that the kids get so intent on those dabs of paint that often you lose the composition...it's gets away from them.  You can try this method to help keep it together.







MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- disk tempera paint (blue, green, yellow)
- powdered tempera paint (blue, green, yellow, white, red)
- containers to mix up paint in
- water
- paintbrushes, art boards
- wc paper or heavy sketch paper, even white cardstock will suffice
- reference photos
- pencil


PROCEDURE:

Take your wc paper and tape off onto your art board.  My initial sample was quite large when I realized it was probably better for the kids to only focus on a smaller sized project. (8 x 10)

Show the kids reference photos, discuss Impressionism in terms of art history, the idea of a fleeting moment or that visual rush of movement. (i.e. spinning round in a field).  Discuss the way van Gogh used brushstrokes and heavy paint texture to achieve that movement.
I had the kids draw a horizon line and then asked them to draw another line in the ground section to create 2 meadows.

Then using the disk tempura I asked them to paint a wash in each section.  Blue for the sky and green and yellow for the meadow.







Let dry.

Mix up your powdered tempera. You want it quite thick and using small brushes get the kids to add those dabs of paint on top of the now dry wash.  I asked the kids to vary their brushstrokes so that the kind the used for the sky, say sideways, was different from the brushstrokes to represent the grass.

I also asked them to clump their brushstrokes.  I was trying to prevent them from creating just a pattern of dots.  This needed to be reinforced as they would get into this repeating action of just dabbing.  That holding back so there was some negative space on the paper proved difficult for some of them.

The poppies were added last.  I also asked them to place a few green dabs in a line in the sky to represent those far off trees.  Let the paint dry.

Finally we added trunks to our trees using a fine sharpie.  Mount on black paper for final presentation.    That's it.  I'm hoping to have more pictures of the final student results for you later today.

On to the giveaway, I had a total of 56 entries for the "Crazy for Cake Pops" by Molly Bakes. 

After a random draw the winner was my 23rd email entry which turned out to be Rhonda who emailed me yesterday and said:

"Love your posts! Would love to win book and begin making cake pops with my daughter! Thanks, Rhonda"

Thanks everyone for entering!  Due the holiday on Friday I probably won't be back till next week with more projects I featured at the conference and of course new holiday projects as Christmas is creeping up fast.  See you then.

In the Style of Friedrich: Spooky Trees

Happy Halloween everyone!  I have been waiting to do this post....Caspar David Friedrich 1774-1840 was a German landscape painter often thought of as one of the key artists of Romanticism.  I often present his work "Monk by the Seashore" when teaching open composition.  Today we are looking at his "Abbey in an Oak Forest" which shows his atmospheric use of light and his great "spooky" trees.

Using Friedrich's work as inspiration you can create a great spooky scene in very little time.  Perfect Halloween art project.
























MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- yellow construction paper
- black washable markers
- water
- paintbrush
- black disk tempera
- black paper
- small scrap of repositionable contact paper, optional
- glue
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

Using your black washable markers draw out your spooky trees.  Although I was adding parts of the building here it actually looks better if you just concentrate on the trees.

If you have some of that contact paper lying around trace out a circle.  If you don't have any don't sweat it you can add a moon with some yellow paper later.

Apply to the area where you want your moon to be.

Using plain water brush over your trees. Just enough to moisten.

Immediately your trees will begin to bleed and distort...perfect!




Let dry.  It won't take too long and don't worry if your paper starts to ripple, that's what you want.

Using the tempera disk paint mix a really watery black.  Paint in the horizon line as well as the dark sky.  Leave mostly yellow in the sky near the horizon line.

Paint right over top that contact paper sticker.



Let dry, will only take a few minutes.

Remove sticker.  If you didn't have any contact paper now is the time you can cut a circle out of yellow paper and glue into place.

Cut a spooky house out of black paper and glue onto your paper.

You can some details with a fine sharpie if you wish.

That's it...a very easy spooky scene.  Check out this website for more of Friedrich's trees.





Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

In the Style of Louise Bourgeois and Giveaway Results

Before I announce the winner of the 2 books I thought I would introduce 2 new art projects based on the work of Louise Bourgeois, a sculptor known for these huge "spiders". (titled Maman)  For her they were a nod to her mother, who like a weaver held things together, "was deliberate, neat, clever, patient, indispensable and as useful as a spider"

Incidentally these projects were inspired by the "Let's Make Some Great Art" book by Marion Deuchars which we are giving away today.

My kids are quite intrigued by them and they kinda fit with Halloween.

The first project is a painting / pastel resist.

The second project is a papier mache model of "Maman".














First Project:Paint/pastel resist

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
- wc paper
- pencil and eraser
- disk tempera or wc paint
- paintbrush
- oil pastels
- eye dropper
- fine sharpie
- reference photos of Ms. Bourgeois's work


PROCEDURE:

Tape down your paper to your art board.

Sketch in a horizon line and then start adding a city skyline.  You want to get the buildings quite small to allow lots of room for your gigantic spider.

With oil pastels go over the outlines of the buildings, add some windows and a few details.

Paint in your sky.

Paint in your buildings.  We used a grey wash.  The pastel will resist the paint.

Then paint in the ground.

Mix up some water into your black paint to get an inky consistency.  using your eye dropper suck up that paint and place it where you want the body of your spider to be.

Using a thin paintbrush pull the paint down to make a squiggly leg.  You don't want it too perfect here.

You can scrumble it a bit as you go.  Scrumbling means twisting and turning that paintbrush as you are applying paint.

Let dry and then you can add some details.  My boys were insistent upon giving the spiders red eyes and having people reacting to these large spiders walking thru their city.

Project 2: Papier Mache Spider

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- small paper plate
- wire
- hockey, or masking tape
-  1/2 of a white pipe cleaner
- paper towels cut into strips
- white glue, recycled container, water
- paint

PROCEDURE:

Take your paper plate, turn upside down and poke 8 holes with a sharp pencil.  Space them out around the edge.

Cut 4 pieces of wire about 14 or 15 inches or so.  Starting with 1 piece thread both ends into 2 of the holes.

Turn the plate over and twist the 2 ends together.  Then take your hockey or masking tape and wrap around the ends.  This just keeps those sharp ends from poking anyone.





Repeat this with the remaining 3 pieces.

Take your 1/2 pipe cleaner and wind amongst the wires at the top forming the body of the spider.

Put some wax or parchment paper down on your work space.  An old plastic bag will also work.

Mix up your glue and water into your recycled container in a one to one ratio.

Using the paper strips, dip into glue mixture and start winding around the wire.  It helps to start at the top and work your way down.  It also helps immensely if you always wind in the same direction, (that way you don't untwist the last strip you just put on!)

Cover the plate as well.

Put in a warm dry spot to dry. Ours dried in about 24 hrs.

Paint with tempera or acrylic.

There you have it a large "Maman" coming your way.

So on to the giveaway for:

"My Even More Wonderful World of Fashion" by Nina Chakrabarti and "Let's Make Some Great Art" by Marion Deuchars.


I had 126 entries,( comments, facebook, emails) whew!.... and the winner chosen by random drawing .........

........was 57 in the comment section (not counting doubles) which works out to be
Juise: who said

"What fun looking books! Thanks for the chance. :) "

Juise, if you could send me your shipping address at   thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
I can arrange to get those books out to you (lucky duck)!

Thanks everyone for entering and don't despair there will be another giveaway very soon.

That's it for now, make sure you try a "Maman" spider.  I am absolutely swamped getting ready for the Early Childhood Education Conference in Kananaskis next week.  I'm presenting 2 workshops so hope to see you there.

This is what my workspace is looking like these days!

later