Come and see our etchings!

Last week during my school's Arts Festival, the Biology department (where I work) and the Art department got together so that our pupils could do some etching from cells.  The results were superb.  Here's how they did it:

Firstly they selected a pre-prepared microscope slide and did some drawings:

Then, they scratched their design onto an etching plate.  This is a piece of steel covered in black stop-out varnish:

These where then immersed in nitric acid.  The acid 'eats away' the metal in the places where the varnish has been scratched off:

 Then we inked the plates (very messy) and used them to create prints:

 Here are some of the fabulous prints that our pupils created:

The pupils had a brilliant time and their inner artists were definitely brought out.  Using slides as a basis for the prints focussed their minds and allowed them to explore the world in microscopic detail.  Time off-timetable to do things like this is priceless.  It allows us to see our pupils in a different light and lets our minds wander, allowing our brains to recuperate during such a frenetic term.  Our stress levels definitely dropped and we all learnt something new.

I can't wait until Arts Festival part II in the summer term

Biology is Art

In October, my school is running a two day arts festival where we are all stop 'normal' lessons and get involved in arty stuff.  As you can imagine, this is right up my street, so, together with another biology teacher and an art teacher, we are planning to combine biology with art.

First off, the students are going to select microscope slides and make some drawing of cells.  They are then going to etch the cells onto metal plates.  This is something that I have been wanting to learn for ages and Lizzy (the art teacher) is brilliant at it.  Lastly, we are going to make pendants with metal clay and use the etchings to create a texture in the clay.

Sometime next week, we plan to have a go and see what they turn out like, so I will post some photos.  I love cross-curricular teaching and I love that my school allows us to be free to experiment.  It is nice for the kids to see us out of our boxes and for them to be out of their's too.

Jewellery experimentation

I have just finished teaching my first metal clay lesson.  It was a one-to one lesson with my friend Fleur (so nothing too taxing) and she made a leaf with metal clay paste.  I think she made a lovely pendant:

 

We also did some Kumihimo bracelets, collage pendants and some shrink plastic earrings.  We have had a fab two days of jewellery experimentation.

The Upcycling Has Begun

After a few emails and announcements, we received quite a lot of unwanted and broken jewellery for upcycling.  Here it is all laid out on the bench in my lab.

My pupils had loads of fun rummaging through the Aladin's cave of items to find what they wanted.  I have taken before and after photos so you can see what the item was and what it is now.  It is so nice to think that someone's unwanted jewellery has now started a new life and will be worn again.

Sorry the photos are a bit green, I forgot to change the settings - doh!
Sam x

Upcycled Jewellery

We started our upcycled jewellery course with a session on skills.  This week, my pupils have been learning how to make a headpin and how to open and close jumprings without distorting them.  They got on really well and everyone had made at least a bracelet by the end of the session.  I hope you enjoy the photos.

Sam x

Upcycled Jewellery

Like many schools these days, our pupils do a lesson per week called options.  For nearly ten years now, I have been running a beaded jewellery option which has always been quite popular, but to be honest, I am getting a bit bored of it.

Anyway, last Thursday at my craft club meeting, we were going through a couple of bags of jewellery that we had been given to see if any of it was worth selling.  A lot of the pieces were either broken or not very attractive and there was a bag of unwanted jewellery at the end.  Rather than see it go to waste, I have decided to run an option on Upcycled Jewellery.  Upcycling is the art of reusing unwanted items by converting them into something better.

I am hoping that we will have hours of fun rummaging through the pile and creating beautiful things from what we have found.  I will take before and after photos and post them on the blog.  I can’t wait to see what they will make!

Sam x