Pacon Plastic Poster Board - part 2

 A couple of days ago I told you about a new product from Pacon that I had the opportunity to test.  I loved the assorted vibrant colors I used for my collage experiments, but the color choice that intrigued me most was the "clear" (which I think can be more accurately described as translucent), so I experimented with a couple more possible project ideas for the Pacon website.

When I was a kid, my parents purchased a pair of paintings on glass at a fair, that the artist had painting while they watached, and they hung on our living room wall for decades.  I wish I knew what happened to them.  The artist had painted the landscapes on the back of the glass, beginning with the foreground details.  These paintings were the inspiration for my ideas for the translucent plastic poster board.

I decided to use the translucency to create some atmospheric perspective.  One side is very smooth; I will be referring to this side as the front, and the other is slightly textured; this side is the back.  I sketched a quick skyline on paper, put it under the translucent board with the back side facing UP, and began by painting yellows and whites for windows and lights.

 I painted with acrylic, which dried quickly. As soon as it dried, I painted some buildings in black and various grays.  I painted these right OVER the windows, so you could no longer see them on the back.

 On top of the buildings, still on the BACK, I quickly painted the sky, with clouds and some smoke coming from smokesacks on the buildings.  Here's what the back looked like at this point. 

While that was drying, I also painting this sunburst sky on another piece of the poster board.  I cannot seem to get the color balance accurate in any of these color photos, but you'll get the idea.

When I set that aside to draw, I went back to my skyline painting.  I flipped it over, and this is how it looked on the front.  Since the windows were painted FIRST, their detail was all visible. 

Then, I used some more acrylic paint, this time on the FRONT, to paint some foreground in front of the buildings.  I hadn't planned well, so I didn't leave a lot of room for the foreground, but I was able to fit in some foliage.  Here it is.

 As a final step, I used a black Sharpie marker on the FRONT and added a few line details on the buildings here and there.  This is the final product. 

I think the "backwards thinking" required to plan this out would be a fun challenge for upper elementary or mid-level students.  You will be painting FIRST what you usually paint LAST!

Meanwhile... the color burst sky on the back of the other piece of translucent plastic poster board had dried, so I flipped it over and, using a black Sharpie on the front, I created this silhouette of a bare tree.

 Viewed from the backside, this is what it looks like.

 I decided to do one last fun detail.  I flipped back to the front, and, using a white Sharpie paint marker, I added a skim of snow on the top side of the branches and the ground.  I also added a few flakes flying through the sky.  Here's the final product.

I'm still toying with other ideas for the clear board, so maybe, down the road, there will be a "part 3" post about the Pacon Plastic Poster Board.  I'm busy playing with colored Sharpies on the board, using them on both the front and back to experiment with the color mixing possibilities when light passes through when hung in a window.

By the way, for those of you intrigued by this product and want to get some, it is currently only available at Michael's, in both the clear and white, but School Specialty will be picking it up soon, and they will offer all colors I shared in my previous post.  So keep your eyes peeled!  This is a really fun product, with lots of possibility! 

Pacon Plastic Poster Board - part 1

 I have been lucky enough to have an opportunity to test a new product for Pacon to develop some lesson ideas for its use, that will eventually be posted on their website.  The product is Plastic Poster Board, and I've gotta tell you, I kinda LOVE this stuff!  So much possibility!  The poster board is 22"x 28", and I received an assortment that included a selection of black, red, yellow, azure blue, fluorescent green, fluorescent pink, and clear.  The clear is, to me, more translucent than clear.  It also comes in white but my pack didn't include any white.

When I started playing with it, Matisse's cutouts, such as the one below, immediately came to mind.  I also  thought about Calder's mobiles, and the colorful paintings of Stuart Davis.

So I cut it into rectangular chunks, and then, while sitting in the passenger seat of hubby's car on the drive to Maine, I did some "drawing with scissors", saving all the negative and positive shapes from my cutting.  My original idea was to use these cutout shapes to make mini collages to hang in a window perhaps, or to string the shapes together to hang in a Calder-esque window mobile.  But instead, I ended up gluing larger collages, beginning with the first two pieces at the top of the post.

Then, especially smitten with the translucent stuff, I made the collage above and glued it on the translucent board.  This could easily be hung on a window.  Thinking about lesson development and the Elements of Art and Principles of Design when I made these pieces, I set myself some parameters.  I made sure that each piece included at least one positive and one negative shape, and at least one geometric and one amorphous shape.  I tried to create a successful composition using asymmetrical balance.  I used repetition, movement/rhythm, contrast/variety, unity/harmony, and so on.  I experimented with backing it using a piece of white tagboard,

 Or a piece of blue.

 Here's a better view of its translucency.

 I decided to play with some Sharpie paint markers  on the piece.  I drew line designs on the BACK side with a white blue, and red paint marker, and on the FRONT with a black marker.  Here is the finished piece, placed over a piece of black.

 I used some more pieces that I'd cut, including some translucent strips, to make this quickie collage on blue, below, and then I used the Sharpie paint markers on the front.

When I held it up to a window and let the light glow through, the blue looked really great.  It occurred to me that it would be fun to make 'fish tanks' to hang in a window, or perhaps portholes.

I made this final piece below using even more of my cutouts.  For this piece, I decorated the front using a black Sharpie paint marker.  Perhaps I went a little too pattern crazy? 

  A few things fun facts about the plastic poster board -

• It is WONDERFUL to cut.  Your scissors will glide right through it.  Your students will love cutting it!  It will serve as a wonderful alterntive to construction paper for many collage purposes.
• And of course, unlike paper, it is not going to rip.
• Plus, the colors are not going to  fade, (at least that's what I think).
• The colors are limited, but they are rich and bright.  Very appealing!
• For flat work, Elmer's Glue-All or glue sticks hold quite well.  I was actually surprised; it glues together much more effectively than, for example, colored sheet foam.  (Since it is not porous, you will always be able to pull pieces off glued with Elmer's or glue sticks.)
• Sharpie paint markers work fabulously on it.  Regular black Sharpies also work well on all colors of the board (except the black, of course), and, on the translucent board, you can use any color Sharpie, including metallics.
• I discovered that the Playcolor tempera stick samples, including metallics, that were given to me by a vendor at last spring's NAEA convention, also work effectively on the plastic poster board.  

 My next post will be a completely different art project idea that I developed  specifically for the 'clear' translucent Plastic Poster Board.   But in the meantime, one last image.  The pink fish is a positive/negative cutout image, with both pieces glued onto one piece of blue.  The two fishes were colored the same way, using the paint markers yet again.

So many other other collage ideas...  Funky colorful cities, haunted house collages with windows, Picasso-style cubist silly portraits, and so much more.  Can you tell I like this stuff???  What are your ideas?  Funky flowers?  Crazy cars? Cutting shapes to string as charms on necklaces or earrings?  What else? 

Once I have completed writing up the step-by-step lessons, complete with Common Core standards, and they are posted on the Pacon site, I will let you all know the link to find them!  In the meantime, feel free to ask questions and if you get a chance to use this stuff, GO FOR IT!!  You won't be disappointed. 

Getting the Write-Start!

  Have you ever heard of these?  Several years back, I was filling out my annual order for supplies for my elementary art room and saw these in the catalog.  I ordered 1/2 dozen boxes to try them out, thinking they'd be great for my younger students.  What I didn't expect was that they would instantly become everyone's favorite colored pencil!

They are made by Crayola, and are called Crayola Write-Start Colored Pencils.  They are officially 'intended' for younger kids, but my older kids fought to use them, and frankly I like using them too.   I'm missing a few in my set - the set has 8 pencils.  I have black, green, yellow, red, and purple, but the set also includes orange, blue, and brown.

The leads are soft, the colors are rich, and the points never seem to break.  The kids could really bear down on the point to get rich color, and they were easy to hang on to.  The are thick and easy to grip (which helps with my old lady hands), and hexagonal so they don't roll off the table.  And the graphics on the pencils are cute, too!  My only regret is that they only come in these basic 8 colors.  You can still buy them, but it's rare to find them in catalogs so you really have to hunt them down.  If you follow the link above, you'll find them at a great price at amazon.com if you are already spending $35 and qualify for free shipping.  (It doesn't mention Amazon Prime). 

Once, at a conference, I got samples of these Ticonderoga 'Core-Lock' colored pencils ([photo below) from a vendor.  Their quality is amazing - I personally think they rival Prismacolor in quality and richness of color.  Unfortunately, I have just three colors and I don't think they are made any more.  Why does the good stuff so often disappear? 

I mean, do you remember the Sanford Colorific (or Foohy) Gel Markers?  (Same thing, with a name change.)  They were spectacular!  Or the gel colored pencils? Why is it that when you get really attached to something, it disappears from the market?  What would we all do if black Sharpies were no longer available??

Do you have a favorite 'unsung' art material that you think others should know about?   Or a favorite material that is simply no longer available?

The belated Smart-Fab post

I apologize. This should have been written a while back, but like so many other things, it got set aside when I was distracted by something more immediate, especially with the spring art show and my June retirement. But I don't like to make promises I don't keep, so - here it is - better late than never, right?

This post is about Smart-Fab ( and this is a link to the official website). A while back, I was contacted by a representative for Smart-Fab, wondering if I would be willing to test the product in my art room and write about it on my blog. I would be sent some rolls to use for testing. I said YES. Time passed, and no Smart-Fab arrived, so at some point, when cleaning out my emails, I came across the initial communication. I emailed the rep and asked what had happened. He apologized and said he'd still like to get it sent to me to test. The Smart-Fab arrived at a time when I had all my lessons planned for the art show, and not much time left for experimenting. After that, it was all about getting in the 'last hurrah' before I retired.

So I did a bit of experimenting on the Smart-Fab myself, and only used it in a limited fashion with the kids, due to the unfortunate timing of its arrival. We received three rolls - one bright orange, one deep blue, and one white. The white was at my request because of something I hoped to try. Here's what we/I did with the Smart-Fab:

Like I said, I had specifically asked for white. I wanted to test out the 'toothpaste-resist imitation batik' process on it. (Here's my instructions on this process, my all-time most viewed post). No good. The paint washed right out along with the resist, so I returned to using bleached muslin or cotton sheeting for this project with the kids, and did not use the Smart-Fab. Here's a toothpaste batik from a couple of years ago:

So instead, we used some of the white for a sky. We were making a garden for the art show, and I wanted a big sky behind it. A handful of kids came in after school to paint the sky. I put two tables together, covered them with newspaper, rolled out a huge piece of the Smart-Fab, and gave the kids a variety of blue and white paints, mostly acrylics, but also some leftover latex house paint and anything else we could find. They used giant brushes and the sky looked great. BUT - here's one problem, folks - the paints went right through the Smart-Fab and absolutely soaked the newspapers, and we had a LOT of table cleanup to do. Plus we used more paint than would have been needed on paper because of the soak-through. Then, what to do with it to dry? If it had been painted on big paper or cardboard, I simply would have stretched it out in the hall, but we needed to put a drop-cloth UNDER it in the hall because there was as much paint on the back as on the front. So if you use this product for painting, make sure you plan for the soak-through factor.
On the plus side, the painted sky looked really nice, and it was great to have a sky that could be hung without tearing. We thought it was big, but it was not big enough, so we used a layer of the the dark blue for the sky above the painted sky, which you can see in the picture above. This stuff holds up well - it was attached to our bleachers and stayed up with no problem for the duration of the show. All the dragonflies were pinned to it and it worked out great.
Also for the art show, we used the dark blue Smart-Fab in utilitarian ways: we draped the base of the Chihuly tower with the dark blue, and we rolled out pieces of the orange and white for tablecloths under sculptures. It looked nice on the tables, like tablecloths, but was hard to keep in place.

My second graders each year used air dry clay to make little folded slab pockets to hang on a wall. I called these "posie pockets", and the kids made flowers with tissue paper and pipe cleaners to put in the pockets. (Sorry I can't find any photos of these.) This past spring I thought I'd substitute the Smart-Fab for the tissue paper, since I had been to the NAEA conference and had gotten small sample squares of many colors. I thought it would make the flowers much more durable. Stupidly, I didn't try it out myself first. By the 2nd class of 2nd graders, I ran for the box of the tissue scraps and gave up on the Smart-Fab. It was hard for the little guys to cut - too 'mushy' - very frustrating. Then, I always had the kids push the pipe cleaner through the center of the tissue, but they couldn't get them through the Smart-Fab. I ran around with "the pokey tool" (a punching awl intended for leather but that I used for anything that needed a hole) and pushed holes into the centers for them. Note to self: don't use Smart-Fab for tiny flowers. It should be great for big stuff.

Due to lack of time, I tested other stuff on the Smart-Fab myself but didn't use it with the kids like I hoped. I experimented with oil pastels, and I liked the way it looked particularly on the dark color, but the hard part was keeping the Smart-Fab in place while I worked.

Painting: As for paint, I've already told you about the acrylics, which looked nice. I think tempera is less suited for the material and watercolors are useless.

Gluing: If you read the info on the Smart-Fab literature, it will tell you it takes all sorts of glues, but I do not concur. I tried: Elmer's Glue-All, tacky glue, glue sticks; heck, I tried every glue I had other than hot glue, which they said not to use. One after another, I was able to peel off whatever was glued on after the glue was dry. Maybe you'll have better success than me, but I wouldn't spend any time trying to glue this stuff.

Sewing: I think this could be where the best uses are for Smart-Fab. Use it for sewing costumes, etc; it does not ravel and is very strong, and can be sewn by hand or machine. The colors are bright and do not fade. But unfortunately, it is not so great for sewing with little kids, because a blunt needle will not penetrate it. Believe me, I tried. So unless the kids are old enough for sharp pointed needles, forget it.

Do I hate the stuff? No. Do I think it has great uses? Yes, but not for my needs. I would DEFINITELY consider using it for draping, for decoration, for making costumes, etc. I could see making giant flowers, or grass hula skirts, and much more. But try it out yourself before you plan lessons with it with young kids. They will likely get frustrated trying to cut it or puncture it.

I left ample leftovers in my classroom, and hopefully the new art teacher will have some fabulous ideas for how to use it! With Halloween coming, the leftover orange could even be used to cover a bulletin board, or to drape on display shelving, or to decorate the art room!

What has your day been like? Here's mine (and Mr. E's) so far.

I'm at the NAEA convention. This photo is proof I actually attended a workshop, and didn't spend ALL my time exploring the vendors, though I certainly did that too. Mr. E was at the workshop too, resting in his tidy envelope, and Art Project Girl took this picture above. Who knows, maybe some of you are in the background!
This is me with Bill W., the representative at the Liquitex display in the vendor exhibit area. After my recent gesso adventure, he contacted me via email and told me that I am being sent some replacement gesso! In Bill's email, he invited me to come and say hello at the conference, so of course I did. Liquitex has pulled the bad batch of gesso; they have a good reputation, and quality control is important to them. It just goes to show, I guess, that it pays to let someone know if you are disappointed with a product. They definitely want us to be satisfied, so speak up! It's amazing to me to know that a silly post on my little blog was noticed in this way. By the way, they were showing a really cool acrylic ink, in rich colors including metallics. I tried it out and give it a big thumbs up!

This photo to the left is Nancy Walkup, the editor of School Arts Magazine. She was one of a team of presenters at a workshop I attended. Seeing faces like hers in this setting makes our world seem a little smaller to me.

And now, what has Mr. E been up to so far today?
Mr. E. woke up to a grayish morning in the Big Apple. Here's his view from the 26th floor window.
Mr. E joined 3 of us for a cup of coffee (or tea for me) and some breakfast before starting the conference day. I wonder what he's got planned for tonight?

Concluding the Gesso Saga

Finally!! The Rheotech Gesso arrived today and is creamy textured, bright white, and has good coverage - just what I wanted. I'm totally sold on the product. Yippee!

But - just to end the saga properly, after 2 deliveries of solid rubberized Liquitex Gesso and one shipment containing the wrong material completely, they finally figured it out and sent me the Rheotech. But I had to laugh. When I opened the carton, it was a good thing the gesso containers had been sealed in a zip-enclosure plastic bag, because one of the containers did not have its cover on straight and it was leaking, as you can see in the photo. Luckily the stuff inside was OK to use, because I don't dare call School Specialty AGAIN!!!!

Gesso Woes

I've been having gesso problems. I use gesso with my elementary students to prime papier-mache projects. It blocks out the newspaper print, provides some additional strength to the structure, and also provides a nice painting surface.

I'd been using this stuff from Nasco for umpteen years:

But last spring, I opened up my container after not using it for a couple of months and what was left was all ORANGE (and didn't smell good either). So I called the company, and they replaced it. The new bucket was opened and used toward the end of the school year, but we didn't use it up. I went to use it this fall, and again... ORANGE. So I threw it out.

Because I was worried about a repeat of this problem, I ordered something else. Our district wants us to order from School Specialty, so I ordered this:

I opened it to prime my Laurel Burch papier-mache cat prototype, and it was disappointing. It would probably take 3 or 4 coats to cover the newspaper print, so it's not practical for our use. We need to get the priming done in one session. I can't think of a possible good use for this stuff.

So I ordered this:

In the catalog it was shown in a bucket, but it arrived in a bottle, like the Sax one in the previous photo. So I opened the bottle up and stuck my finger in, hoping to see its opacity. But what I found was a solid rubbery lump. EEK. The whole bottle!!! I called School Specialty and they sent me a replacement immediately. It came right away, and so I opened it immediately. Here's what it looked like after I cut the bottle in 1/2.

Yes, the top half of the bottle was another solid rubbery lump. The bottom half is like a thick rubbery spackle. It can be smeared onto a surface with my hands, but it won't spread with a brush at all; it is on it's way to being another rubbery lump.

I called yet again and they offered something different for replacement. But most of the gesso was way pricier than the stuff I'd ordered, so the only thing I could find at the cost I'd had approved was this: Rheotech Gesso. It's listed as 'economy' so I hope it will have some density and coverage. We shall see.

Do you use gesso at school? What kind do you prefer? Have you ever had spoilage problems?

Free or inexpensive, and FABULOUS

Are there dopey little things in your classroom you can't imagine being without? While cleaning up, I took photos of a few of these faves. First, the containers from Kool-Aid ~ these are the BEST water containers for long-handled brushes. They curve in slightly at the top so messes drip inward rather than outward, and their wide bottoms make them very stable. The blue bowls were given to me (I don't know where they came from) and are marvelous for short-handled brushes.

Then there's the old lunch trays, freebie toothbrushes, and the containers from frosting.

I use the lunch trays for EVERYTHING. When we wash paint brushes, we do NOT put them in their containers to dry, as then the liquid drips into the ferrule and shortens the brush life. So instead we place the brushes on newspaper (on a tray) to dry and it makes the brushes last longer. I can't begin to tell you all the uses I have for these trays.

The toothbrushes are used for cleaning clay out of little fingernails, or ink out of ink pens.

I love putting stuff in the frosting containers, as you can see! And by the way, those are my FAVORITE brushes - they are Royal & Langnickel Big Kid's Choice brushes, and long-handled Q-tips. I actually keep the 3 containers of brushes, the container of Q-tips, and another container with Popsicle sticks in a small kitty litter pan. It is a perfect size!

And then there's these ugly sponges. I got the big ones by mistake a couple of years ago, and they are absolutely USELESS for washing tables. But we use them when painting, for wiping brushes. My mantra: wipe, wash, wipe! The kids all know it. Depending on what we're doing,we might use newspaper, or else the oval sponges. And since our table washing sponges are rectangular, there's no confusion. I also use the little round sponges in little pans of water, when we are using colored paper-tape. No licky-sticky! Hands are too germy. So we dab the tape on the damp sponges.

The other photo is of my FAVORITE style staple-pullers. You can pull about 20 staples onto one of these before you need to dump them off, and they do not tear paper like the "jaw-style" staple-remover. Since I hang a LOT of student work on 5 or 6 different hallway bulletin boards, and change them every week or two, we do a LOT of staple-pulling and it helps to have great tools.

I forgot to take a photo of the microwave TV dinner dishes that a bus driver brings to me. She must eat one for lunch or dinner every day! They are black and there's low flat ones, bowl-shaped ones, divided ones, etc. I put paint in them for stamping w/sponges, we use them for palettes for mixing colors, and a zillion other uses. And they don't me cost a dime!