SAYING GOODBYE IS SO HARD TO DO...

...to my 1st Quarter 7th Graders this year.

It was bittersweet today as I bid these characters aidu.

They have left a big impression on my heart for their innocence,

sweetness, co-operation, and enthusiasm.

But I know they must move on for more fun adventures and learning at our school.

Some will go to Drama next, others to Global & Study Skills.

But I know they will be back to visit.

Especially at Open House time to see all their beautiful work on display with their parents.

Here are many of my favs above,

 right after working in the Indigo Dye Bucket on their Shibori project.

We've got Andrea, Meera, Shreya, Kevin, Genesis, Ashley, Aiden & Shawn.

I hope you all will carry art in your heart for the rest of your life,

I know you all will be in my heart.

THANK YOU GLENNIS DOLCE

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2ND QUARTER - 2017-2018

white paper towels, Indigo vat, washed cotton squares, rubber bands, string

This project is so in vogue right now, 

even Target is selling Indigo dyed and patterned pillows, sheets, etc.

I began working with Indigo several years back 

when I took a class with Shibori Girl,

Glennis Dolce.

You can see her blog under Artists I Follow on the right column of my blog.

Her work is quite remarkable,

She usually takes a trip to Japan every year to collect fabrics and learn more techniques.

My 7th graders love this assignment because they get to turn their hands blue,

or not (I have gloves for them to wear).

Plus it's so much fun to see who does the most amount of dips

and achieves the darkest, blackest blue.

Of all the Shibori pieces done by 7th graders,

 I think this one by Kayla Vicencio is probably one of my all time favs.

I just adore the design she used and the ranges of values she achieved.

It took my breathe away the first time I saw it,

and still continues to do so.

This next one by Kayla Hamakawa is also really cool.

It almost reminds me of butterfly wings but going in opposite directions.

Krystal Lin got her piece to go in the perfect traditional tye-dye circle within a circle design,

and it almost looks like it's being kissed by the sun's rays.

Esther Lee used a more contemporary design technique

 where you pinch the cloth in a spot then start to twist into a cinnamon roll and bind.

It reminds me a bit of a spiral sea shell. 

Another favorite of mine from this group was created by Salome Agbaroji.

Isn't this just the most gorgeous example of a jelly fish floating in water?

A stunning work Salome.

And if you are wondering how some of the kids got those wonderful rusty shapes,

they had an option to wrap or clamp rusty objects I've collected for them into their cloth designs.

 This super cool piece was done by Zoe Hoksbergen.

TO GLOVE OR NOT TO GLOVE

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 4TH QUARTER - 2016-2017

cotton squares, gloves, indigo vat & various items to clamp & resist with

To put gloves on or not to and risk their parent's wrath,

that is the big question these kids face before they dip their cotton bundles into the Shibori bucket.

Youngster Annie Nguyen did not want to risk it

so on the glove went,

but good old 8th grader James Lara went for it

knowing his parents would hopefully be cool with it.

And they were.

He even added a bit of decor with a marker.

They crack me up!

Here are a couple of the 7th graders results from 4th Quarter.

We begin with Hannah Narcelles.

I choose hers because of the upward diagonal movement she was able achieve.

Feels so much like a turbulent sky right before the sun comes out.

With Serah Park's I felt like we were looking thru a microscope at the splitting of cells.

And I can see partial faces in Jennifer Corrales' square.  

Almost like looking at a sonogram of a fetus.

Very cool work young ones!

DIPS & FOLDS

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 3RD QUARTER - 2016-2017

100% cotton sheeting ripped into squares, indigo vat, rubber bands, string, staples

gloves (optional)

These Shibori pieces were beyond gorgeous this quarter.

The indigo vat loves 7th graders

:)

Tiffany Cheng

Sriram Murakonda

Hana Sandomirsky

Siri Gullapalli 

Daniela Reyes

Pearl Wang

Madison Plotkin

These are all so exceptionaly done I can't seem to pick a favorite.

Check out those smiles below.

Nick, Izzy, Brandon, Bhumika, & Siri

TO RUST OR NOT TO RUST

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2016-2017 - 2ND QUARTER

recycled white cotton sheeting & indigo vat

plus some rubber bands, cotton string & clamps

and of course anything rusty

There are several techniques used to make Japanese Shibori cloth,

but with the 7th graders I pick the fastest & funnest,

using tye-dye methods.

The results are always spectacular & varied.

Youngster Janice Ji folded her cloth like when making a paper airplane.

Then she held it tightly shut it with a rusty paper clamp.

And tah dah,

all different shades of indigo plus speckles of orange rust.

Are you wondering where the pink is coming from?

I hope you noticed.

She also clamped it with a wooden clothes pin

 that had previously gone into a red tye-dye bucket.

The clothes pin became stained and passed it onto the cloth.

Ooh, ooh,ooh, Liz from Texas,

what cool things you could do with that idea!

Right???

Lorenzo Rodriguez fan folded his cloth on the diagonal 

and then used rusty clamps as well all the way down his fan,

so that when he opened his cloth he had beautiful orange spots all the way thru.

So beautiful Lorenzo!

Now compare,

young James Lee also fan folded on the diagonal

 but mostly used rubber bands or string to resist the dye with.

Which look do you like best?

Hard to decide,

right?

Then there is Roshni Powers

who looks like she folded her cloth in half,

 then in half again,

and two more times to get 16 little squares in her design.

But it's what she did on one of her corners that turned out super cool.

Looks like she wrapped it with rubber bands,

and when she opened it up she had an eye going on.

Wow!!!!

That's so neat-o Roshni.

Kira Curry fan folded on both the horizontal and vertical

to get these really intricate squares using clothes pins to clamp with.

Gorgeousness!

And oh my,,

Justin Lee did the class favorite with this one. 

How?

You'll have to ask him,

he's not telling his secrets.  

ha ha!

TRUE-BLUE

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 1ST QUARTER - 2016-2017

recycled cotton sheeting, indigo dye vat, rusty items, rubber bands, string & clamps

Teaching this Japanese dye technique is so much fun for the kids.

They love turning their hands blue,

even though gloves are provided,

and the unveiling is so exciting for them.

I have them do a couple of practice pieces on paper first before I give them the good cotton.

But they are still surprised and delighted with their results.

Let's take a look.

Katherine Chen's reminded us of a butterfly,

or perhaps an X-ray of the rib cage.

Really beautiful Katherine!

Ethan Z. used clamps that had a bit of rust on them to create this cool design.

And instead of wrapping this traditional technique with string,

Jason Park used clamps instead. 

I believe Adiyan used two different types of clamps

and fan folding to get this repeat design.

And we all loved this one with the rust spots by Willmer Lizardo.

We end with Sophia O. and her very lovely piece.

Do you see some the big hibiscus?

I only wish I would have brewed the indigo vat a bit darker.

I'm really bad at measuring things.

I know I've mentioned before that I have that problem when I cook.  hee hee

I think you will see the second Art Wheels Shibori pieces a bit stronger blue.

LET'S TAKE A DIP

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2015-2016 - 2ND QUARTER & 3RD QUARTER

indigo bucket & cotton cloth

The technique used to make these resist marks is very similar to tye-dye,

only the kids are learning about using the ancient Japanese process of Indigo Dyeing.

And they had a ball getting to turn their hands blue in the process.

Let's see how they did.

William Chung used a fan folding technique to resist his dye 

to achieve this very cool design.

Gabriel Lim also did some folding on the horizontal, vertical & diagonal.

Looks like Cameron Dang folded his into thirds and then diagonally.

The little touch of red might have come from the recycled strings we tie off with.

Most of the kids use white,

 but some like to experiment with the colored ones left over from the Tye-Dye unit.

Anastacia Son did a 1960's traditional wrap

 which has never gone out of style and always looks terrific.

And Agatha Manzano first pinched & swirled her fabric like a jelly roll before she bound it up.

These are some great photos I found from another Quarter's 7th graders at the Indigo bucket.

I just couldn't resist putting them in.

They are from left to right 3 of my favorite kids from last school year.

Mmasiolu (Mossy) Gamero, Eli Bertel & Gabe Mapa

And Ahaan Rajnekar, Mossy, Eli & Palmer Patel.

The kids had the option of gloves or no gloves.

It was about half/half.

Many of them like shocking their parents with their blue hands.

hee hee

PACKING A PUNCH!

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 4TH QUARTER 2015-2016

indigo vat & cotton cloth

Wow!

These Shibori pieces are incredibly vibrant & stunningly beautiful,

and the kids had a blast working on them.

When Samantha Yamaguchi opened her's up 

everyone in the class gasped and oohed and awed at the results she achieved.

Bravo Sam!

  

And here's another brilliant design by Reese Guitche.

It's amazing what a bit of rust will do to these designs.

We loved Malena Santos' asymmetrical circular piece,

like something you'd find in nature.

And we end with Alex Ross.

Look closely and you will see how he folded this first,

a bit like a paper airplane with several areas that he bound over.

Gorgeous Alex.

HAVING TOO MUCH FUN

SHIBORI

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL 2015-2016  1ST QUARTER

cotton cloth and indigo dye bucket & various clamps and resists

Our 7th grade history teachers do a big unit on Japanese life & culture,

and asked me to do an art project that might relate to their studies.

Since I already had the Indigo vat ready to go,

I thought I'd pull it out for the young ones.

Here are my cuties,

working that indigo bucket like pros,

resulting in many incredible designs.

Let's take a look see.

But first let me show you how critical thinker,

 Ryan Tseng,

 figured out how to resist the dye above.

Very clever boy!

Sweet Astha Bisht made this amazing design above.

She got so into the process,

working extra hard at lunch 

that she was able to finish two pieces.

Jonathan Gutierrez created this incredible piece above.

And below,

Keanu Keopimpha thought to use bits of rusty hardware to wrap into his design

for added interest.

Alex Min was another who loved this assignment

 and worked extra hard to be able to make two.

Above is his best one.

Notice all the great ranges in value within the blue color.

Beautiful!

And I'm pretty sure this is Ryan's from above.

The one we saw bundled before going into the dye.

Ryan told me several times that he loves symmetry  :)