Super-delicious papier-mache ice cream cones!!!

My three sweet DragonWing Arts students, two 4th graders and a 3rd grader, have just completed their totally awesome papier-mache ice cream cones!  I fell in love with this project when I did it with my 4th graders while I was still teaching, because it was the fastest papier-mache project ever, and it made absolutely everybody happy.  Click HERE to see a post of all those completed 4th grade cones, and HERE and HERE to see them in progress.

So here's the process:  First, you need a cone shape, obviously.  Last time, we used paper cones, that had been donated to me, for the cone shape.  They were an awkward to hold size.  I considered using flowerpots for a flat-bottom cone, but since everyone prefers sugar cones, I decided that's what these had to be.  So we cut semi-circles out of cereal box cardboard, and curled them up into a cone shape. I hot glued them together, and the kids taped them for extra reinforcement.

We stuffed the cones full of newspaper.  Then, we started making ice cream scoops, by balling up newspaper, wrapping the ball with a  smooth piece of newspaper, and then taping the ball with a couple of 'belts' of tape, with extra tape to smooth any loose paper.

  Each scoop was hot glued onto the cone or scoop below it.  Then it was strapped up and over with a couple of long pieces of tape, crossing like an X on top of the scoop.  Another piece of tape belted between the scoops, or between the scoop and the cone.  Each additional scoop was added the same way. 

 I told the kids they could put on as many scoops as they wanted, and that I had a former student who had made seven scoops!  But they wanted their cones to look like ones they'd really eat, and didn't want to go extreme.  The two girls chose to put three scoops on their cones, and the boy wanted just two scoops.  My demo cone also has three scoops.

We hot glued and taped Styrofoam balls on top for cherries.  Even though you don't usually get a cherry on your ice cream cone, we just thought they looked cute!

Art Paste was our papier-mache goo; my students and I call it dragon drool.  We did the papier-mache using brown Kraft paper for the cone, and white newsprint paper for the ice cream scoops. 

 Rather than dipping the torn paper in the dishes of 'dragon drool', I have the students dip their fingertips, and then rub the goo between their palms.  Then, all they need to do is touch a piece of paper to pick it up, rub it between their palms to saturate it (vocab word!).  It should look translucent (another great vocab word!).  The saturated paper is then smoothed onto the project.  We regularly massaged the projects to make them smooth. 

Unpainted, they already look good enough to eat!  My silly students decided to flap their arms to dry the goo on their hands.  They liked the way it felt!  Cutie-pies!!

 In our next class session, the kids got to paint the ice cream.  The kids told me what flavors they wanted, and I mixed colors for them with acrylics.  They were fascinated with how we made the colors for chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, and so on, especially when they discovered that there was no bottle of brown paint.  It was a good color lesson, talking about how complementary colors, or a mix of all three primaries, will make browns and grays, and how to figure out what to add when it looks wrong.  For example, if the brown has a greenish cast, and we know that green is made with blue and yellow, then to neutralize the green you need to add more red, the complement of green.  I loved that kids understood this, and when I was mixing a color, they were able to tell me what to add.  "It's too purple-y, Mrs. Brown; that means you should add more yellow!". 

 Anyhow, the rule was to start painting with the bottom scoop, and then the one above it, and so on.  Put too much paint on your brush (on purpose!!) and let it drip (also on purpose!!)  Below, the flavors include double chocolate with peanut butter and vanilla with chocolate chunks; mint chocolate chip, peach with peach chunks and chocolate chips, and strawberry with various chips; and cookie dough, chocolate brownie, and I think vanilla with caramel and peanut butter perhaps??

 Above, the cones with fresh paint, cones unpainted.  The kids loved the drips and had  trouble believing they'd dry that way.  But they did!  Finally, below, we drew some lines on the cones, and coated everything with Mod Podge to make the ice cream look wet and melty.

 And everyone was happy! 

HodgePodge, ModPodge, whatever....

It's been a crazy few days in the art room. While Alice is now falling down her rabbit hole, there's still the Queen of Hearts and Tweedledee and Tweedledum to add, and some kids are barely done cutting and gluing their books, as with the music-themed book center above.

Meanwhile the 4th graders tried out an awesome lesson courtesy of "Art With Mr. E", and first graders did adorable collages (more of both of these further below).

In their rush to finish their altered books, the 6th graders keep mistaking the name of ModPodge for the word hodgepodge (as in "Mrs. Brown, can you re-fill my hodgepodge?") which is so funny, because so many of their books ARE a hodgepodge at this point.

So the rest of this post is also a hodgepodge.

First, another altered book-in-progress... Yesterday, Hannah brought in a bag of roots and leaves to add to her altered book (above). Today, I think I had over 30 of my 6th graders in my room during their "study hall" trying to scramble to finish their books. The folded ones got done more quickly, but the painted and collaged books need time to dry in between pages, and we're rapidly running out of school year. (This is definitely a fall project next time, not spring.)

And now, first grade collages. Kiddos cut up folded-paper prints that they made in a prior art class, and also added various scraps found in "mystery bags" to make these adorable collages of bugs and critters. Lots of fun and enthusiasm!

Meanwhile, a few days ago I promised to post these paintings, done by my 5th graders while being taught by my super student teacher. It was a challenging project, mixing pointilism and an introduction to the concept of linear perspective to create these city and country scenes. The kids were VERY proud of their completed paintings.

And finally, this project (above) that was posted a couple of weeks ago Mr. E, and subsequently posted on a few other blogs, has been a real hit with my 4th graders. So easy, but teaching lots of concepts:

The kids used line to create a rhythmic design. I then had the kids use a different analagous color combination (or family) for each "tunnel" or "tornado". The kids loved looking at the color wheel and their colored pencils to find families that were related. Finally, they had to use value to create a sense of volume or space. So many concepts all at once!

"Altered Books" - recycling project part 1

I've known most of my 6th graders since kindergarten, but next year they will no longer be mine :-(

So, I like to give them something special and personal for their final art project with me. This year, the project was 'altered books'. I gathered old textbooks that were going to be discarded, mostly because of obsolete info or changes in the state curriculum. They were not in bad condition and I didn't like to see them just get dumped. We're not all done yet, but these pics mostly show works-in-progress. I've got a little further explanation below.

So, the assignment was to select a book and alter it by either:

• rhythmically folding the book to make a sculptural piece (spray painted when complete),



• or cutting, gluing, collaging, and painting the book based on a theme (the student's choice). For these books, we found that we could effectively seal pages together with ModPodge, using wax paper to keep the pages from sticking where they weren't supposed to stick, and then putting heavy weight on top of the book to dry. One boy even glued together a whole big phone book and cut out a rectangle inside for a treasure box. Very cool.
  
• 

Most of the kids selected the second choice, but those a little timid about utility knives or stencil knives chose folding. In the end, only one kid cut himself, and it wasn't too bad. (He was trying to cut a hole in the cover of a hardcover book, and it was foolish.) The folded books were done more quickly, but we're still working on the theme books. The kids absolutely LOVED transforming these books and rapidly got over any intimidation. They are merrily painting, cutting windows, collaging, and coming up with fabulous ideas on the spot. Many have made secret treasure boxes, some have cut windows in the shapes of sun rays, waves, eyeballs, etc, and each is totally unique in style.

Here's a couple of pages from my (unfinished) sample book (with a woodland theme):

When the students are all done with their books (still another week or so) I'll post a few more pics. I plan to do this project again next year, but in the fall instead, so we can be more open-ended with our timing. I've thought about a lot of ideas for themes - songs (I'm planning to make one myself, based on the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" which is filled with fabulous visual imagery), famous artists/styles, dreams, events or people in history, family trees, etc. And by starting in the fall, we'll have enough time to add latches, ribbons, lacing, glitter-glue, metallic rubs, clay figurines, and more, more, MORE!!! So much fun...............