ALL BOXED IN

 MOSAIC TILE BOXES

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

glass shards, wood boxes, polymer clay, gold, silver & copper leaf, 

acrylic paints, misc. beads & buttons, tacky glue

 I'm always so very proud to show off this complex and challenging assignment.
Senior Rachel Kannampuzha last year gave it a whole other spin.
To see what I'm talking about put Mosaic Boxes in the search engine and see.
There is only Rachel's box here because she was the lone ranger in this 2nd year 3-D class.

I asked her to work to a theme,

and I liked the one she picked about how sometimes life gives you lemons.

I remember growing up in the 60's & 70's and hearing that expression a lot from the adults in my life.   ha!

So early on I learned to always have a Plan "B".

Just ask my students,

when something goes wrong with one of their art pieces I always look on the bright side.

I tell them this is a great opportunity to do something even cooler with their piece 

to make it even more original that ends up fixing the mistake.

Look closely at the pix below and you will see how Rachel incorporated 

gold, silver and copper leaf a top her marbleized polymer tiles.

So well crafted and designed!

WHAT'S IN HELEN'S BOX

MOSAIC TILE BOXES

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

polymer clay, wooden box, collage papers, beads, metallic embossing powders

Senior Helen Park created this lovely mosaic box 

by making her own Polymer tiles to use on her lid.

If you've never worked with Polymer and embossing powders

you are missing out.

They are so much fun and easy!

What takes a lot of effort and knowledge is designing the tile's layout,

the color scheme,

and completely covering up all the wood with either acrylics or collage

or more tile work.

I adore the paper text that Helen incorporated into her box design.

And take a peek inside to see the Polymer fish she made.

DELIGHTS FOR THE EYE

MOSAIC TILE BOXES

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

wood boxes, polymer tiles, gold leaf, metallic rubbing compounds, acrylic paints, glass beads

After a week off for the Thanksgiving Break,

 I feel refreshed so that I can get thru the remainder of the 2015-2016 school year. 

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving with their family & friends.

Our family was very blessed and thankful to be invited to my son Zach's girlfriend's parents home,

for a day filled with delicious homemade food, love & laughter.

Thank you Mary and Nick for sharing your home, family & friends with us.

I was also thankful this year for not being responsible for everyone's food happiness.

Ha ha!  So stressful!

Thankful for my job that I love,

thankful for my two children and their health & happiness,

and thankful for the love & support of my blog friends;

namely Liz , Hazel, Lori, Grace, Jen & Jude.

So let's get to these stunningly designed & executed boxes. 

Each was built to a theme along with a specific color scheme.

They were inspired by the Polymer work of Laurie Mika in her book Mixed Media Mosaics.

This is a very popular assignment,

and as always the results are remarkable.

We'll start with senior Antoniette Jabat.

We all loved her theme and choice of colors,

along with all the little details like the glass seed and bugle beads.

And the bit of gold & copper leaf on the inside cover.

In this next one by senior Liana Chie,

she chose to replicate the ocean & sand.

We all felt it was exquisite!

Besides her top cover being so gorgeous,

I also loved how she painted the sides.

It feels as if you are under water.

I am the lucky owner of this next one by senior William Kim.

It's the first I've ever been able to purchase to teach with.

That's because most of the time these aren't finished by the Open House Show & Sale,

or if they are the kids don't want to part with them (which I don't blame them).

But I was fortunate this year to get this beauty of Williams.

His reminded me of a treasure chest,

which I think was actually his theme.

And don't you just love what he did with the gold & copper leaf around the hinges?

So beautiful Will.

I will take good care of it, 

and also have a beauty to teach with.

Thank you!

Senior Amber Wu created this next lovely piece.

Notice how she thought to put clear glass shards over top her gold & copper leaf?

We all loved her soft color scheme 

along with her subtle use of the metallic compounds rubbed over top her polymer tiles. 

So pretty Amber!

 Senior Kristine Luong has chosen to limit herself using only golds & coppers,

and working to a nature theme.

Your lid is breathtaking Kristine!

And let's see what junior Shreya Sheth has done.

Something completely different from the others.

Her theme,

downtown East Los Angeles and the skyscrapers & palm trees 

she'd see on her ride on the metro into L.A. for her internship.

Look closely and see how well thought out her piece is.

Notice the telephone lines, 

train tracks as well as how she achieved the color changes in the sunset skies.

Brilliant Shreya.

And a fun peek at her inside below.

We end with senior Hazel Cruz.

I felt like this box was fit for royalty.

We have a sun motif theme on top,

but it's her beads that really make this piece pop.

I love that she thought to change up the scale of the round ones,

along with the length of her bugles.

She spent hours gluing these all down but it was so worth it!

And the inside compliments the outside perfectly.

Thanks all of you for putting so much of yourselves into these glorious pieces!

It was an honor to share them.

xoxoxox

IN THEIR OWN VOICES

MIXED MEDIA MOSAIC TILE BOXES

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

polymer clay, glass shards, wood boxes, metallic powders, acrylic paint, stamps

I thought it would be fun to hear from 3 of my favorite students about their art pieces.

So seniors Bianca Tolentino, Daphne Chiang and Kaili Hamada,

take it away!!!!!!!!

Heyo!

 My name's Bianca,

 and I'm actually very surprised as to how this box came about. 

I was jokingly saying how I should make a box to reflect how much of a drama queen I am,

 and it turns out, 

that's what the theme became! 

The words on the box say "Je suis la reine",

 or "I am the queen" in French. 

I think French is a beautiful language,

 and I loved how the metallic rubs looked on the black tile, 

so that's what I based my whole design off of. 

At first,

 I had no idea how to put my design together.

 It is a mosaic box, 

so I made the (totally painfully time consuming) choice of making tiny tiles to put together. 

That bit me in the butt later on when I put all of the tiles together.

 WOW that took a lot of patience, 

something I don't usually have. 

Still,

 I am so happy with the end result.

 My mom has fallen in love with the box,

 and I'm glad she did,

 because she truly is a woman of royalty. 

Thanks so much Ms. Sposa,

 for this assignment and everything you've exposed us to. 

Global skills are for life!

 :D

Hello, 

this is Daphne,

 and you're currently looking at the box I created! 

 I often use sun motifs or warm colors in my pieces. 

 The reason why?

 Well, 

I'm a pretty happy person who's absolutely terrified of the cold.  

The sun and warm colors remind me that when I'm having a bad day or feeling a bit down, 

the future will always be brighter. 

 Since I am graduating this year,

 I figured I would create a memory box where I can put little notes,

 reminders and trinkets,

 that help me remember all the happy moments I have had this year....

and in the future!. 

 It was a pain in the neck gluing all the tiny seed beads down between the clay tiles and glass mosaic pieces, 

but it was definitely worth it. 

I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to spend 2 full years with Ms. Agrums, 

who constantly encourages me to be creative and confident in the pieces I'm making.  

She has taught me more than just about three-dimensional art

 but how to be a kind and hardworking character. 

 I love you, 

and I sure am gonna miss you when I leave for college. 

 Thank you for everything!

Hello everyone!

 I am Kaili Hamada,

 and the mosaic box pictured here is mine! :) 

I  based my box off of a song called Midnight City by M83, 

and the midnight aspect of the title is what inspired all of the blue tones.

 As you can see,

 I covered every outer surface of my box with tye dyed fabric. 

I absolutely love color and dyeing it into fabric,

 and I incorporate tye dye into every assignment that I am able to! 

The song Midnight City has always put a specific image in my mind.

 I imagine myself biking down a street lit by lamp posts while it is softly drizzling.

 I tried to portray 'night' with the color scheme I used,

 and I used the metallic rubs on my Polymer tiles to represent the lights aligning the street in my imagination! 

Although at times, 

I was really frustrated while trying to fit my glass pieces together nicely, 

my box "Midnight City" turned out to be a piece I'm very proud of. 

A huge thank you to Mrs. Sposa for her constant encouragement to all of us,

 and for helping me be confident in my art work!  

Ahhh,

I had no idea when I asked my beautiful girls to write about their boxes,

that it would turn into a cry fest for me.

Daphne, Kaili and Bianca, 

your heartfelt words touched me deeply.

Know that you will always be with me.

We have made so many wonderful memories together.

I'm going to miss your sweet faces coming in everyday at snack,

giving me a great big hi,

and often a hug,

to get a head start on your projects before class starts.

The hard work and effort you have given me is truly a remarkable thing.

Thank you for your enthusism and honest feedback.

It  helps me everyday to be a better teacher.

And know that I look forward to seeing what the future holds for you dear ones.

More to come to you this summer in my Senior Tribute.

All Boxed Up

MOSAIC TILED BOXES

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

wood box, polymer clay, glass shards, wood stain, gold, copper and silver leaf, india ink

Juniors Laarnie and Reis just finished up these stunning boxes in time for the Open House show.

Laarnie picked a wood box with a glass insert and filled in the glass area with polymer tiles embossed with gold, copper and silver leaf.  

Around those tiles she fit in bits of glass shards.

All pieces were glued down with tacky glue.

After staining her box she came in with india ink and dew lots of design elements to enhance her piece,

And when you open the lid you have addition mosaic surprises along with a bit of colored sand.

Tons of hard work went into getting this piece done on time.

Beautiful Laarnie!!

Reis picked out a round wooden box.

Both kids worked to a forest theme.

Reis focused on the age rings inside the tree truck for his lid design, using alternating rounds of polymer and glass.

He spent hours on the box side fitting together glass shards to ring and flow around it.

What precision!

Tremendous patience  :)

Mosaic Tile Boxes - Student Work

My Intermediate 3-D students loved this assignment.  We start by making Polymer tiles (above and below) ala Laurie Mika of "Mixed Media Mosaics", bake them, ... 

then arrange and glue them down to the sweet little wooden boxes I pick up for the kids at Michael's (below).

This striking "Star Gazer" box was made by senior Ashley Chowdhury.  Love the pearlescent paint she used on the inside with the alternating black stripes.

In this next one by senior Amy Hsu, you can see how she incorporated her soldered piece into the lid design (a requirement).

Another requirement was to find a place for one of their fused glass pieces.  Both Ashley and Amy chose to put theirs on the inside cover.

In this next gorgeous work by senior Lauren De Belen, she has chosen to keep her colors in a complimentary color scheme (purple and gold).  She has glued her fused glass piece on the top cover...

and attached her soldered work to the clasp.  Clever girl!

And then there is over achiever (I love it) senior Tiffany lee, you go girl!  Instead of working on the box foundation, she chose a wooden birdhouse instead.   And I don't know where she found the time to make all those tiles.  It's really remarkable. 

Also notice all those gold and silver beads and charms she has incorporated along with the tiles.  A great look.

And wait till you see this next one by senior Angela Wan.  Brilliant use of color and design as you will see below when you open the lid.

She has stayed in a primary color scheme and played up all the value of red and blue.  Fantastic piece kiddo!

I

This next one by junior Josh Berger is so serene and peaceful.  Notice his solder piece in the center works so well with the designs he has built around it.

And then there is senior Sheila San Agustin with her tree box.  Another overachiever  LOL.  She found a bunch of twigs in my room that I'd collected last summer and paper mached them to the box lid, and then did a great surround with her glass shards and beads.

She put her polymer tiles on the sides along with her solder pieces.  Pretty cool tiles, huh??

And then when you take off the lid she has built dividers into her box, padded and lined the inside for a truly remarkable work.  Sheila took this piece home with her every night so she'd be able to finish on time.

Doesn't get any better then this!!!  Love these kids!