OBJECTIVE: To incorporate science and art. Choose a theme: the elements (air, earth, fire, water), an environment (land, sea, sky), cycles (weather, day/night, seasons, etc.) Prepare by studying science lesson/concept you wish to enhance with art. (The history of the Chinese Silk Road and materials used[silk, brushes] is another area to explore.) Then brainstorm to show what concepts students have learned. This project spans about 3 to 6 one+ hour sessions.
Pre-planning: for each student have white scratch paper, pencil, black felt tip pens; magazine & calendar pictures of animals, plants, ecosystems, etc. Have students individually come up with drawing ideas, using contour or solid (not sketchy) line (another lesson), and then trim drawings, glue them into a larger piece on butcher paper—this step is especially helpful with young kids (grades K-3). For 4-8th grades: divide students into teams (5+, with one team captain). If you rotate several kids in, keep team captains for continuity.) Students can finalize mural drawing on white-board. Mark out 3 x 3’ squares.
MATERIALS: Each student should have a small Elmer’s blue glue bottle for gutta resist to draw on the silk. This will contain the dyes like a dam. Small squeeze bottle acrylic fabric paints with plastic tips work great. I like the metallics. (Save those used bottles and refill them with Elmer’s blue glue. If the fabric paint is dried, soak in hot water to clean.)
Or use real gutta resist bottles with metal tips and water-based resist for thinner lines. Real gutta is made of rubber and solvent (like rubber cement), so don’t use it with small kids. Metallic guttas are great, I’ll let a student use guttas but only with parental permission, and only if they’re careful.
One to six 3’ x 3” silk scarves, or silk yardage. (I’ve made murals with as few as 5 kids assigned per scarf, or with an entire class, but you have to work everyone in during shifts.) Use simple ponge, or habotai weave silk, 5 to 8 mm (thin gauge). Polyester & cotton won’t work at all. (Burn a thread, silk leaves no residue, just a fine ash, polyester leaves gunk.) (OR if you can’t set up for silk, use white butcher paper or heavy 80 lb. white sulfite paper and watercolors.)
Stretch silk onto 3’ artist stretcher bars, or duct tape together four 3’ wooden rulers, or duct tape corners of silk to 4 chair backs to keep scarf taut. I’ve also used cardboard windows to stretch silk. For a paper or tagboard mural, no need to stretch! Like cats, most papers (except w/c& sulfite) don’t like water. Experiment.)
Each student should have a small half-sponge, 2-3 Chinese, or sπumi ink brushes (they’re cheap) resting on damp sponges which are better than paper towels for taking excess water off brushes. DON’T leave sumi brushes in water jar!!! They’ll behead themselves....and jars tip over.
Two students can share a water container, and an ice tray arranged with 3 primary (printer) colors, Cyan (sky blue/turquoise), Magenta (red hot pink), and Yellow. I use Jacquard silk dyes. They’re non-toxic, brilliant, pure color and last forever.
Reserve one brush for yellow as it pollutes easily. (For watercolor on paper, I use Crayola 07W mixing paints to get magenta & turquoise). You can also use diluted silk dyes like watercolor. Also have a few large watercolor brushes or foam brushes for painting large areas, rags, water spray bottles.
ART SCIENCE VOCABULARY: Composition, balance, contour line, wet-on-wet, texture, salting/ osmosis, etc. Utilize the arts components: Artistic Perception (planning), Creative Expression (hands-on), Historical and Culture context (models), & Aesthetic Valuing (sharing) with the Science vocabulary: Observe. Ask questions. Make a Hypothesis. Experiment. Make a Conclusion. Share what you’ve learned. What surprised you? etc. Artists and scientist use many similar skill sets: observation and hypothesis are key components.
PROCEDURE:
1. Have students draw mural ideas on white paper (I use Xerox paper folded into a square.) I do a lot of pre-drawing warm-up exercises using a solid contour line which we’ll do in class. Black felt tip pens also discourage sketchy lines.
2. Using photos and pictures for reference, students can also draw detailed individual things for mural, then cut them out and glue them onto a master mural mock-up on butcher paper. Optional: color mock-up mural in with water-soluble media.
3. Older student teams can draw mural directly on 3 x 3’ butcher paper. But it’s far easier to collaborate on a drawing on a white board. I like to use a picture within a picture, which allows for more drawings and color fields. Have student transcribe white board drawing (called a cartoon—like a coloring book) onto paper. A digital camera is handy to document drawing as it changes & formalizes.
4. Using the gutta/glue, firmly hold tip against silk like a pen to draw cartoon. Gutta MUST go through to the back of the silk. Lots of gutta piled up on top of the silk is useless, messy and wasteful. ALWAYS practice first with each and every gutta/glue on scratch paper using CONTOUR or smooth lines. No sketchy lines with breaks. Dye will run through cracks. Doing the gutta drawing on silk requires patience. Young kids have trouble using the squeeze bottles alone and will need some 1:1 supervision.
This is a good place to talk about osmosis, hydrology & shriveled toes too long in the bathtub. Maybe raise some silk worms. Talk about the Silk Road. Check gutta drawing for cracks/breaks in the lines and mend them. Either let gutta dry, or paint while gutta is wet BUT DON’T paint on top of the gutta. It will ruin the brush.
5. Dyeing the silk. Using the tip of the sumi brush, paint in all yellow areas first. Start light and work to dark colors. You can’t lighten dye. This is a good place to use scientific inquiry to demonstrate color mixing. Observe. Question. What happens if you paint blue on top of yellow?
Make a hypothesis. Experiment. Conclusion. You get green. More water gives you pastel hues. Blue & magenta make purple. Yellow & magenta makes orange or red (really). If you don’t want to limit their palettes, you can introduce pre-mixed green and red, etc. I don’t use black. (Secondary colors mixed together make mud, brown/black.) A limited palette makes for a more brilliant piece.
Start dyeing in the center of each drawing. Dye will wick out to edges and stop at gutta line. Fingers (and hair) will also stain nicely. Barrier cream or rubber gloves helps. Non-toxic dye will come off hands after a few washings. Salting for texture (great for water images) must happen while dye is still wet.
6. Peer complimenting/aesthetic valuing session. Model with, “I like they way this part has colors that blend...”etc. Look in the Visual & Performing Arts Framework for other ideas.
7. Dye is not permanent set. DON’T get mural wet! Best to cure it for a few week before fixing it with a commercial acid-based fixative bath. You can also steam it but research before you attempt steaming (see links below). If it’s hung on a wall, just like any fine work of art, it doesn’t need fixing. Silk is protein, like hair. DON’T leave in direct light. NOTE: Procion H dyes can be fixed with soda ash in the microwave, and there are iron heat set dyes but they are extremely caustic in powdered form. Use a mask when mixing.
RESOURCES
Rupert, Gibbon & Spider, Healdsburg http://www.jacquardproducts.com/_home/l0_index.php
Check out the silk hoop class pack and order the 3x3’ scarves separately.
Dharma Trading Co., San Rafael http://www.dharmatrading.com
Rockridge Longs, Oakland, and other fine art/textile stores. (not Michael’s Crafts).
Facebook photo album: Mo's silk painting (photos, ...
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Flower: silk painting (art) 1998
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Celtic beasties on silk (art)Celtic beasties on silk 2 (art)
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