Zoomorphic Vessels with Mrs. Felegy

Great creations that double as containers!  Students wrapped an object in clay and then created their creature.  Once they were half dry we cut them open and removed the object inside.  The clay was dry enough for them to still work the surface.  Then we did a bisque fire, glaze, and high fire.  Awesome results!

Shimon and Tal create incredible monsters.

Tops off!!

Abraham assembled the only vessel with legs.  A robot with a modern twist, all done in clay!

What lies inside?

3d Printing Camp

This summer I have worked two camps doing 3d printing, or "Making and Tinkering".  The first camp was in June.  We partnered with 3d Parts and 3d printing company in Indianpolis.  Students started off making name tags.  They learned the safety aspects of printing and how to design 3d files in Tinkercad.  These were called stl files.  Here are some camp pictures.

Lots of collaboration going on.

No Boys Allowed!   Wow some students were able to print their own creative ideas once they were finished with a project.

Prints took anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours to print.  The waiting was hard.

The options are endless.  Car parts, bookmarks, light boxes, bats...

Middle school students worked in groups to print a car, add a motor and battery and race them.

Doorstop: a 3d printing project with purpose.

3d printing is quite fun and easy to learn how to do.  Tinckerdad is the software we used to create custom 3d files.  It is also easy to browse the millions of files that have already been created and print one of them.  Too easy.   I find that students can get lost on Thingaverse.com or tinckercad.com, browsing through what others have created.  3d printing only becomes a useful tool for learning if students are innovating and creating their own solutions to a problem.

It can be as simple as a doorstop!!  Students need a problem.  In this case how to keep a door open. This doorstop needed to be  functional and interesting.  Something someone might buy because it would hold a door open and have a "Wow" factor.  Here is a picture of what the groups came up with:

 The first is the fabulous pick doughnut, it holds the door, and who does not want a pink doughnut holding up their door.   The 2nd is a green STOP.  Underneath is a secret compartment for an extra key or hidden spot for jewelry.   Nice dual purpose doorstop!  The small yellow doorstop is similar to the green it has an opening for secret treasures.  The next doorstop is the green STOP.  This printed out a bit spongy.  It is not as solid as the rest of our prints.  Maybe due to the curved lines?  It is quite functional, and the sponge nature of the plastic makes it a very good stopper.  The last stop is a blue weight that has crushed an iPhone.  A clever image of "15 tons" that has crushed the iPhone and cracked the screen.  The white iPhone is a nice representation of what we do not want crushed!  But wait this doorstop stops the door from crushing things,it should not crush?  Right?  I like the image students have created that plays with the idea of the purpose of a doorstop.

Notice how students have solved the function of stopping a door in fabulously different ways.    And, they worked to create forms for a doorstoop, hoping to dazzle us with ideas for this simple tool.  Here is an up close picture of the final products.  Nice 3d prints!  These were two hour prints.  Some might have been close to 4 (pink doughnuts).  

Patterns are Everywhere Camp!

Last week I,did a week long camp for children ages 6-10 at A Space to Create.  Great time.  We found and created some awesome patterns.  Students made visual, letter, and number patterns.  We looked at the Fibinacci Sequence and Perfect Squares amongst several famous patterns. Here are some pics:

Charlie and Daniel work with Omnifax cubes to create sculpture patterns!!

Claire so sad she can not play with Frida Kala puppet.

Jackson and Bennett are proud of their pattern!

Pull out homes.

Architecture Models.  Students "pull out" 3d models of their buildings.  Designs are carved into card stock.   We used x-acto knives to create the details around our structures.  This proved to be a difficult task.   Several of the sixth-seventh graders were unable to work with such precise detail.   These were done on 8.5x11 cardstock.  It would be fun to do these on 11x14 and take more time on them.  I think we spent about 40 minutes.  There are several nice YouTube  videos that help show how these are created.

Gumdrop Geodesic Domes

 More Architecture: Gumdrop Geodesic Domes

Another great building project is geodesic domes made with gum balls and tooth picks.  Students find out how strong triangles can be compared to quadrilaterals when it comes to building and structure. A fun challenge can be created by having students cut their gumdrops in fourths, this allows them more material to build with, but they need to be careful to make sure their connections are strong.  Students enjoy creating different patterns which often become their sculpture.   No competitions here, just fun.

Remembering Israel

Two years ago I was invited to go with the Hasten Hebrew Academy to Israel.  We took eighteen students on a three week trip to Israel.  I was able to visit Jeruselum for two nights on my own.  During this time I spent a day at the Israel Museum.  I came upon a James Turrel installation out in the sculpture garden boarding the modern art wing of the museum.  Turrel creates amazing space using light.   He uses proportion, scale, and light to describe a place.  Here is the entrance to his space in Israel.

My favorite paint at the Israel museum. A Rembrandt. I think it was called Saint Peter in prison.

Another Architecture Challenge

This activity is all about defying gravity.  Each group is given the same odd assortment of materials and is told to build the tallest structure possible.

Given:

- fifteenPopsicle sticks

- a roll of masking tape

- 3 paper clips,

- a dozen toothpicks

- a plastic cup

-11x14 piece of construction paper

They had 50 minutes to design and build.  This tallest tower was over 2 meters tall.

This structure proved to stand the tallest.  This year a new twist to these constructions has evolved.  The tasks each have a set amount of materials that can be used.  Students often ask for more tape, or more paper and in the past I have stuck to the "given".  This year I let students vote if they want more Popsicle sticks or more of one of the other materials.  We had 4 groups working on the towers pictured here.  Excellent debates and lobbying would follow.  It added a political game to the process which I plan to keep incorporating.  Fun stuff.  

Building Long Bridges

We did this activity in an elective class called Architecture.   This is a really fun way for students to work together to build structures.    This time they were trying to build the longest bridge structure.   I gave them a variety of items, paper, masking tape, aand one piece of paper. Four groups spent 50 minutes building.  Here are some pictures.  The longest was about 5 meters long.

This student has used her tape to create a really long grunge.  It measured over 5 meters long.

This activity is great for teams of two students!