Weeks 2 & 3-Paper Sculpture Leaves-Elementary/Teen Art Classes

We did a 2 week project in both my elementary and teen classes.  I was really pleased in how it turned out and I think the students enjoyed doing this project as well.  We used a product that I just learned about called Paperclay.

It's available at Michael's, folks!(Bring your 40% off coupon!)

Probably the hardest part of the project is going out and finding suitable leaves.  This is definitely a early fall project here in Virginia because you don't want to use dried leaves.  I went out each morning we were doing this to get fresh leaves for the kids to use.

Disclaimer:  I have to fess up and let you know that this is NOT my original idea for an art project.  I didn't even know Paperclay existed until I found this lesson plan from my good friends at Dick Blick.

The kids rolled out the Paperclay and pressed the clay onto the BACKS of the leaves.  I had to explain to them that it wasn't going to look as nice if we used the fronts because we needed the veins to be protruding on the leaves.  It brought up a great discussion with the little kids on what leaves were the best to use out of the bag I brought.  Hydrangea?  Good leave to use.  Maple?  Not so good but a challenge never-less.

Another challenge was getting the little kids to understand that they needed to make holes in their clay leaves BEFORE the leaves had dried.  I had a couple of kids disappointed when they tried to make holes at the end of the project when they decided they wanted string to hang them.

I used take-out boxes from Dollar Tree for them to place their leaf sculptures in.  This made it easy for me to transport home and bring back to class the next week.

The following week had us use tube watercolor paints to paint our leaves.  I find that most children do not have experience with tube watercolor paints.  They think watercolors are basically the pan watercolors in the 6 dishes that get yucky after you use them for awhile.  I explained to the kids that it is my mission in life to BAN those watercolor boxes from kids' to use!  I think it turns them off from wanting to use watercolors. 

I had the kids try to experiment by using different colors between dried layers of color.  I used my samples to show them how wonderful purple looks shaded on top of green. 

The final step is what I think makes this project look really good.  I let the kids chose a Pearl EX pigment powder which I mixed in acrylic medium to wash over their leaves. 

It gave the leaves a beautiful iridescent finish that really made them look wonderful.

I would love to know what you think of our project.  I think the kids really enjoyed this one!

Thanks for reading!