WHOOPS!

METAL AGED BOOKS

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

Just found this picture of senior Kaili Hamada 

using the propane torch to  add a patina to her copper book cover.

It was supposed to be included in the post I did last week on Metal Aged Books.

Believe it or not,

I do give a safety unit before allowing these children to use this equipment.

Kaili was supposed to have put her hair back in a ponytail before she turned on the torch.

oops...

Caught ya!!

THERE SHALL BE FIRE

METAL AGED BOOKS

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

copper, brass, aluminum sheets and wires, metal tools, propane torch

I save this metal unit until the end of the year.

It's complex and a bit dangerous,

and requires lots of expensive tools .

And there is a huge take out and clean up issue.

So by the end of the year my students are well trained in safety and critical thinking,

and not as likely to waste the supplies or get hurt.

I start with several exercises in cutting, aging, stamping piercing, and etching the metal.

We also experiment with various patinas.

The students are required to turn in 6 preliminary pieces that show all these exercises 

before being allowed to get started on their books.

Here we are seeing senior Bianca Tolentino's prelims. above and her book below. 

She has done a beautiful job of etching designs into her front and back covers.

I also see stamping and a torched patina.

The pages inside her book vary in color and edge treatment,

making it very interesting to the eye.

Next we have the prelims from senior Daphne Chiang,

and her booklet below.

Daphne was able to achieve an amazing rainbow patina with the propane torch.

She has also used stamping

 and a technique I call frog butt which makes wonderful bumpy textures.

She has filled her book with various neutral papers with lots of fun edge treatments.

And I love her pierced window opening on the bottom corner of her backside

with the word "good-bye".

So clever.

And lastly we have senior Kaili Hamada.

Kaili loved this unit and did way more then the required 6 pieces for her prelims.

She's built in an organic pierced window on the front side of her book,

and has also achieved an amazing torched patina.

She's got a lot of great frog butt going on along with some cute rivets.

And when you look thru her window you see this great piece of paper she has decorated.

Have you noticed that all three girls have made a metal bookmark?

Kaili has etched words into her tab.

And the backside is just as cool as her front.

Fantastic etched images and words.

When Bianca finished her book she had a bit of extra time 

so she played around with some thinner copper sheeting I bought.

Notice those cute little copper melted beads on the ends of the center wires.

They are so fun to make.

I'm not sure if she torched this flower piece by piece,

 or if she torched it after the flower was complete.

I also think those are staples holding the flower together.

Clever girl!

Let's Torch It!

PRELIMINARY METAL AGING UNIT

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

copper, brass, aluminum, silver

A favorite unit of my intermediate 3-D kids is learning to work with metals.

Expensive?

A bit, but so creative and exciting.

They learn to use a propane torch to melt, anneal and patina the metal.

We also do two other patina recipes, one with vinegar, the other, ammonia.

They etch the metal, stamp it, puncture holes, set eyelets, deckle it.

The list is long, and a great project to end the year with.

These two pieces belong to junior Laarnie Barcelon.

Laarnie did this one below first to try out many of the techniques required.

Next she created this book, again bringing in so many of the techniques she learned in the unit.

Enjoy looking at her book from various angles.

Metal Jewelry Unit - Part I

Every year I do a unit with my Intermediate 3-D kids to introduce them to metal jewelry and what you can do with copper, brass and a small bit of silver.  Techniques that are covered are stamping/embossing, cutting, acid etching, various patinas, setting eyelets, drilling holes, annealing, and a few other cool things.  Then I have the kids make 6 pieces in which they show me they've tried them all.

Above and below are the pieces that were done by senior Noel Kim.  You can see all the creative ways...

she thought up to design her pieces with.

These next six above are the work of senior Ingrid Huang, and as you can see in the two pix below she also came up with some really cool ideas.

This next one above was done by senior Andrea De Leon.  Love how she heated up the ends of the copper wires until they melted and formed balls on the ends.

This next group of six was the hard work of junior Nida Fatima.  Just look at her go with all these crazy, wonderful designs!  And i really like how she turned many of them into key chains.

A few close-ups.

And the ones in this last series are the incredible work that is senior Elsie Aguilar.  She went all out on her samples, dedicating her metal book to her older sister Heide.

And her stamped mica pieces to her mom and dad.

And my favorite, her feather below.

4th Quarter Final -Student Work

Check out these pieces from my 2 top 3-D kids.  They had to research new cold connection techniques in copper and brass from several books I brought in, and then pick 2 techniques to put together in one original work. 

This first piece is by senior Kelsea Lee.  She has actually put together more then 2 techniques, she is hammering the metal, weaving with wire and thin copper strips, embossing, and putting a patina on the metal.  Below is a close up of the tiny seed beads she strung before she started to weave.

The other student, senior Nandi Best, so loved this assignment that she came in every snack and lunch period, so that she could make several pieces.  She started off with these gorgeous pair of earrings for her grandmother.  The patina she is putting on the metal is from an ammonia dip.  And the balls she got at the end of the wire came from using a propane torch and melting the wire until it formed a bead at the end.

In this next work, a too dye for piece, she built a book with etched and patina-ed copper sheets.

I really like how she used many different kinds of paper and deckled the edges.  She also put on a layer of both gloss and matt medium to seal the patina on the metal.

And in her last piece she wove paper with copper strips, did some embellishment on top and around the edges, used several fun papers, and turned this into another book.

Really like the feather she put on top, you wouldn't expect it in a work like this, but it really softens the piece.

Aged Metal Booklets - Student Art

Almost done posting the artwork from last years students, just got a couple more to go before we start seeing what this year's crop is up to. These pieces were done last year in a jewelry unit on metal aging by my Intermediate 3-d class, and man oh man were they cool. The kids worked with a variety of aging techniques on copper sheeting like liver of sulfur, torching, hammering, ammonia, vinegar and sawdust, and etching to name a few. They also learned how to emboss the copper, pierce it and so much more. Then they took their favorite techniques and built a miniature booklet which included bringing in embellishments like beads, charms and metal brads. The top piece was made by senior Alma Gudino, and the piece below done by junior Olivia Hill.

As always, what I love is that all of them are so unique. The 2 above were created by senior Trisha Shah and junior Angeline Tran. You can view the ones made 2 years ago by clicking on Metal Aged Books. It's definitely worth a look see.