Giant papier-mache masks and much more, complete!

My three DragonWing Art Students just completed their 8-week session "Masks and Crazy Faces".  Here they are, modeling the masks that they made.  If you'd like to know how we  made these masks, they were made with paper bag armatures.  You will find the specifics about building the armatures and adding the papier-mache, in a previous blog post, HERE.  And then, you can read how we hollowed out the armature and prpared them for painting, in another blog post, HERE.

We painted the masks with school acrylics.  I like the permanence of the paint surface.  Finally, the kids were given a choice of crafty materials to use for embellishment, including wiggle eyes, yarn, colored craft foam, painted fiberfill, jewels, pipe cleaners, and pompoms.  Because I only had three students for this session, much of the embellishing was done with low temperature hot glue.  Since the kids are 3rd and 4th graders, I asked them to direct me where/what to glue, and I was the only one to use the glue gun.  If I had more students, they would have used tacky glue more often.

A hole was punched on the top of each mask, and wire was added so that they can easily be hung over a nail on the wall.

My students also made giant crazy faces out of cardboard, with the facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) made out of scraps of lightweight tooling foil, that was gently tooled and colored with Sharpies.

 Here they are below, still in progress.  They were painted with school acrylics, and then the features were glued on.  Embellishment was added with oil pastels, feathers, pipe cleaners, jewels, etc.

 All done!  In case you can't tell, this young lady above made her crazy face REALLY BIG!!

 
My students also made these fun little monster heads when we were through making messes with papier-mache and paint!  They are very easy to create.

For each monster, two squares of paper were required.  The squares were each folded diagonally in both directions, and then one diagonal was cut from a corner to the center.  Then, the triangles on either side of the cut were overlapped and glued. The two resulting open pyramids were then glued together with a hinge of paper on the back, and tongues, teeth, eyes, ears, etc were added.  Students could use the same cut and fold process for eyes and/or ears if desired.  I think they are kind of fun!  

 And in case those three projects weren't enough, we also did a quickie project painting dragon eyeballs based on a project discovered on Instagram.

 And we painted wacky faces on roofing felt with the leftover acrylics.  They were cut out and glued onto a paper that had been "painted" by placing bleeding tissue paper on the wet paper, and then removing the tissue after the color bled out.  Here's a couple of them.

 DragonWing Arts is now on break until January, when we will be focusing on pop and op art projects to bring cheerful color into the gloom of winter! 

What's Happening in DragonWing Arts?

 Our  theme is "masks and crazy faces" and we have been VERY busy.  Nothing is done yet, but here's a few sneak peeks -

First, those papier-mache masks I previously told you about.  They are now painted, and will be embellished with all sorts of stuff next week  But I think they are looking good!

And we've also been working on giant cardboard faces with metal foil features.  They will be spectacular when done!

And then there's these adorable little monster heads, made from folded paper.  Very easy; I'll explain the whole process in a separate post, when they are all complete! 

 Stay tuned... more to come soon!!

Removing the "brains" from the mask!

Why does it look like this boy on the left is punching that bag?  The truth is, he's not.  These bags are those that were used for mask armatures, as described in my previous blog post.  The boy is just widening the hole that I cut for him in the back of the bag, so that the "brains" (actually the newspaper that we used to stuff the bags) can be removed, as is being done by the boy on the right. 

By the time all the newspaper was removed, there remained a LOT of newspaper to either discard or save to re-use for future papier-mache projects.  After all the newspaper was all removed, the backs of the bags were cut off to make the front of the bags, which had been covered with papier-mache, into masks.  And of course the kids had to immediately try them on!

These masks are large!  We painted them with a nice bright white coat of gesso, to provide a beautiful surface for painting.  The added bonus is that the gesso provides an extra layer of strength. 

 Next step will be to paint these beautiful masks, and then finish them with embellishments using a wide variety of materials.

I'll be back to show you the masks when they are painted.  In the meantime, my DragonWing Arts students are also working on some other really fun faces based on the theme of "Masks and Crazy Faces".  I'll be sharing those with you too!!

Papier-mache Masks part 1

My DragonWing Arts students have been building masks, and I want to share this fun and easy process with you all!  Above, you can see a mask armature covered with papier-mache. 

To create the armature, we began with a brown paper bag stuffed tightly with wads of newspaper, scrunched up one sheet at a time.  You can make these masks any size, using small lunch bags, bags from the bagel store, tall narrow bags from the liquor store, or, as in the case of the ambitious kids above and below, grocery-size paper bags!

Plan on washing your hands when you are done stuffing!  Newspaper ink will come off onto your hands!  When the bag is stuffed, scrunch the top shut, and seal with a rubber band or a twist-tie, and add masking tape to hold it securely.

Then, decide which sides of the bag are the front and back, and whether the end of the bag, tied tightly and taped, will be the chin or forehead.  Features such as bulging eyeballs, mouths, ears, horns, noses, etc are added using cardboard rolls, cereal box cardboard, and other recyclables.  Notice how the bottom of the toilet paper roll pictured below was cut into flanges or tabs that can be taped onto the stuffed bag. 

 On the mask below, you can see how we used a Sharpie to draw a line dividing the front and back, so that all the features are added on the front.  Names were written on the back. 

 Above and below, you can see how items were taped on using straight lines of tape that crisscross each other.  The kids learned to pinch the tape in tightly to the object they were adding to their bag, extending the onto the bag.  Tape doesn't stick to the air!!! 

 Not shown in these photos, ears can be made with cereal box cardboard, with tabs or flanges to help attach them securely to the bag. Below are a couple of older photos, using lunch bags for masks made by my former third grade students.  Note the use of egg cartons for features, and how toilet paper rolls can be pinched shut to make beaks. 

Once the features have all been added, papier-mache can begin.  I usually recommend Art Paste ("School Smart" brand, purchased from School Specialty/Sax).  But since these masks are going to be extra-large, and since I currently only  have three students, with no wheat allergies, I opted for an uber-strong and extra-sticky papier-mache goop.  The recipe was a boiled paste of flour, rice flour, and more, and I found the terrific recipe HERE.  I've used it before and the stuff works like a dream.  BUT - if you work in a school, it isn't half as practical as the Art Paste, because it needs to be refrigerated to save, and only will last about a week before it begins to spoil.  Plus, remember, it has wheat in it, which means that people with wheat allergies could have a problem.  And anyhow, you  have to cook it to make the paste! 

 Above and below, you can see my DragonWing Arts students putting the papier-mache on their masks, using overlapping layers to cover the entire front half of the bag and all added features. 

 Here they are, partly done, but much more papier-mache to go!

And today, all the papier-mache was finally completed!  The mask on the right below is my sample, using a tall thin bag from the liquor store.  The sphere on the right of the photo is an eyeball that will fit into the eye socket on the upper part of the mask.  Cyclops!

 Below, you can see how we used cereal box cardboard with taped-on armature wire to create a tongue for one of the masks.  The armature wire allowed the young artist to create the curved shape.  The extra wire on the end will be used to insert the tongue into the mouth of the mask (the one pictured at the very top of the post).  The tongue has been covered with papier-mache. 

 In case you are wondering what our next step will be, it will be fun!  We will punch a hole in the back of the bag, and "scoop the brains out"!  (Actually, we will be removing all the newspaper, of course.)  Then we will trim off the back of the bag, paint the resulting mask, and embellish with all sorts of goodies, such as yarn, raffia, feathers, buttons, etc.  Below are a few pics of those 3rd grade lunch-size paper bag masks from a few years ago, that I previously mentioned. 

I currently only see my young students one a week, (but lucky me, our after-school class is an hour and a half long!), so they won't be completed immediately.  We'll be painting them with a coat of gesso to strengthen them and provide a super painting surface, and then we'll be painting with acrylics.  While paint is drying, my students will be working on other  projects that I'll be showing you soon!  So be patient, the masks will be done in a few weeks and I'll have part 2 of this post then!