BEAD ON

POLYMER BEADS & BUTTONS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

polymer clay & toaster oven

For this first assignment of the year, 

before I even get to the beads & buttons.

I give the kids a small packet containing a piece of Polymer clay in each of the primaries 

plus white & black.

We use them to learn how to mix the secondary colors on the color wheel,

as well as how to shade and tint colors.

They also learn how to mix a brown & gray.

Then with those mixtures I demonstrate various techniques in  bead & button making.

Each child needs to learn 9 different techniques and turn those in on a piece of waxed linen. 

They are graded on correct technique (following directions),

craftsmanship & effort on all nine pieces.

In this first photo you are seeing the entire classes strung beads & buttons.

Below you are seeing many of the best ones turned in.

In this beginning class the age group is from 8th thru 12th grades 

plus we have another teacher on board again this year.

Ms. Donna Hall,

English teacher extraordinaire.

She has been at Whitney almost as long as I have and soon I will have a teacher feature on her.

Much to the student's delight and chagrin,

she

 like her predecessor before her, 

Ms. Deliana Park,

has raised the bar very high.

Instead of turning in the required 9 beads & buttons, 

Donna spent many a sleepless nite

and turned in over a 100!

Her's is the center string that snakes thru the middle of the photo.

She loved this assignment so much that she went out and purchased her own Polymer clay

in her favorite colors,

and couldn't seem to stop herself from making countless pieces.

In fact,

7 weeks into the quarter she is still at it,

experimenting and bringing in more beads and buttons for me to cook.

She is incorporating them into her other projects as you will see coming up in later posts.

She is hysterical and adds so much to the class.

The kids love her!