SUN MAGIC

SOLAR PILLOWS 

BEGINNING 3-D ART

photosensitive fabric, flat objects, polyester fiberfill, perle cottons, and the sun

We are getting close to the end of the 2016-2017 school year posts,

and every year it takes me longer and longer to finish.

So I just wanted to put out a great big thank you to last year's kids, 

and also to this year's students who are waiting so patiently to see their art on the blog.

These gorgeous pillows are the 4th Quarter Final projects of my talented 3-D Beginners.

They all really enjoyed this assignment 

and the results they were able to achieve with this fairly expensive photosensitive fabric

were a valuable learning experience.

I order it from Dharma Trading and even though they have the lowest prices,

it still costs a bundle per student.

But I feel the amount of effort they put into them 

along with their creative embellishments are so worth it.

This first beauty is the work of 8th grader Selina Luo.

She is really able to show off her design & embroidery skills here.

Junior Margaret Yu,

who has had impeccable craftsmanship skills since the 7th grade Art Wheel class,

 created this next one.

We all loved both her solar design and her delicate embroidery.

Next we have 11th grader Samantha Tan

doing this impressive crest in a striking Primary Color Scheme.

Senior Sara Woo made this very soft and feminine piece above

while 8th grader James Lara created a tribute to singer Prince below.

And we end with junior Lynette Lee's incredible pillow.

I was so sad to know that she wasn't able to sign up for the 2nd year of 3-d,

but then realized at the beginning of this year I was able to get her as my T.A.

because her schedule got goofed up.

With her ridiculous artistic talent,

she has been invaluable to me.

I have been able to entrust her with my most difficult and challenging art projects

that needed my attention,

but that I didn't have time to get to.

She has strung the group chime assignment from last year 

so that we can gift it to one of our dear staff at Xmas.

She is carving rubber stamps with tiny intricate designs for the 7th graders to stamp with,

and right now I have her watercoloring my porcelain clay Xmas gifts I made for the staff.

Lynette has the lightest touch and a terrific color sense.

Everything I give her to do turns into a work of art.

Santa is going to be very good to her this year.

hee hee.

And I feel very blessed to get to work with her again .

Thank you Lynette for all the help and effort you give me everyday!

You are very precious to me.

NIGHT NITE

SOLAR PRINTED PILLOWS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

solar printing fabric, perle cottons, stuffing & beading accents

A super fun way to end the school year is to make solar pillows with my Beginning 3-D kids.

I order the photosensitive fabric from Dharma Trading and the kids do wonders with it.

It's expensive and I buy enough so that each child gets to do a preliminary piece first, 

testing out at least 5 different things to print.

For instance,

 feathers, leaves, buttons, jewelry, paper clips, doilies, snowflake cut outs,

 the list is long. 

Whatever they pick,

 it must sit flat against the ground.

We use t-pins to help hold things in place so the wind doesn't blow them off.

I adore what junior Insha Khan thought to do.

She cut up both her prelim and good one,

 and stitched them patchwork style back together again using a whip stitch and perle cotton.

Next we have English teacher Deliana Park.

Hers again was one of the class favorites.

I had forgotten how crazy amazing it was until I pulled it up last nite to work on this post.

Incredible design Deliana.

Man oh man, 

do I miss you girlie.

(Ms. Park transferred to Troy High School in the Fullerton District 

to be on the same break schedule as her children)

Senior Elias Rodriquez did quite get to finish his,

but it was so extraordinary that I needed to post it as  inspiration for this next school year.

I love that he thought to do a self-portrait,

and the pine needles he used as resist in the photo process makes a wonderful boarder.

Sweet 8th grader Micah Yim,

another of my favorites who is gone this year

(transferred to Cerritos High)

created this glorious design.

Wow,

well thought out Micah.

Great contrasts between the play of lights & darks.

Another outstanding 8th grader,

Elliana Lee,

made this super clean & tight origami design.

Her craftsmanship is extraordinary for one so young.

And then there is 8th grader Sydney Eng.

The energy & effort she gives me in every piece is truly remarkable.

And senior Iris Xu

(don't let Sriram near this)

so touching & lovely,

the beads the perfect accompaniment.

I sure miss you & your gentle way.

We end with Eileen Wang and her bouquet of flowers.

Wonderful pops of whites against the blue ground.

With her tiniest of stitches here and there.

Perfect way to end the year.

Thanks you 3-d kiddos for giving me so much of yourselves!

And thank you Deliana for joining us and really raising the bar,

and making us laugh.  

You are one funny lady!

Helen told me to tell you hello.

xoxooxox

HERE COMES THE SUN

SOLAR PRINTED PILLOWS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

photo sensitive cloth, perle cottons, beads

This assignment is a class favorite and wraps up the year for my 3-D beginners.

They were a terrific group with positive attitudes and hard work ethics.

They bought joy and happiness everyday when they came in.

Each child got an 8" by 8" square of photo sensitive fabric.

We used my kiln room as a dark room and 

they laid out a variety of goodies on top of their fabrics.

Anything that might block the sun.

Then outside we went to try and get as much sun as we could.

Sadly,

it was overcast that whole week,

so we just stayed outside an additional 5 mins.

The results were extremely pleasing to the eye,

especially if the student planned out their design ahead of time

(which most of them did)

like this lovely one by junior Antoniette Jabat.

She used several resists:

jewelry, washers,buttons,paper cut outs and lace.

And then her backside is as wonderful as her front.

Next up we have sophomore Shreya Seth.

I liked many things about this one

 but mostly that it was so different in design from everyone else.

I especially love the pop of red against that wonderful indigo blue.

Shreya used photographs on clear plastic to get her resists.

Windfall works really well in this assignment.

The movement junior Liana Chie has created with diagonals is very pleasing.

and I adore all those little french knots she sprinkled around with the perle cotton.

Senior Sunny Kim went all out on her pillow,

even making her own tassels!

And junior Sara Chea got a really cool effect

 with her paper snowflake resist cut from card stock.

I'm pretty sure she lifted the paper off 

while she was standing in line waiting to rinse the photographic solution off.

This caused a bit of light to go where her resist was for a few minutes,

causing a very atmospheric effect.

A very pretty piece.

And anything that is solid and heavy work great as resists

like these items from the hardware store for a very masculine design by

junior Chirag Bisht.

I'm loving the added seed beads which give a splash of color,

and I also think it's clever how sophomore Amy Wang

 whip stitched on additional pieces of printed fabric, 

And last but never least,

is junior William Kim.

I get a real outer space feel from his design.

He told me he used lace pieces for his resists in either corner.

Great work all of you!

This was their 4th quarter final.

Here Comes The Sun

SOLAR PRINTED PILLOWS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

8.5" photo sensitive fabric squares from BLUEPRINTS ON FABRIC, perle cottons, embellishments

This assignment is a great way to end the school year for my beginners in 3-D art.

They get to use their newfound design, sewing and creativity skills.

Junior Clarissa Bloemhof put a lot of thought into her pillow for her father to take with him when he ships out to sea.

I really like how she pulled it all together thru stitch.

It's almost endless what will print on this special fabric.

Basically, anything that will block the sun.

The project is pricey, but I found that the cheapest way to buy the fabric pieces is thru Dharma Trading.

This next one by 8th grader Cassidy Chansirik is adorable.

Love that she added the colorful fringe along with her cute animals.

The red in this piece really makes it pop.

Junior Bianca Tolentino is the artist.

And lastly, my favorite, by my other 8th grader Annie Lin.

What a creative, original idea.

To cut up the fabric, braid some of it, add other pieces, and then back it to show off all she had done!

I felt her critical thinking was brilliant!

Solar Pillows - Student Work

Senior Fernie Jacinto's girlfriend is a lucky woman since I'm sure Fernie is dedicating and giving this to her as her graduation gift.

This is the Solar Printed Pillow assignment that my Beginning 3-D kids finished the year off with.  These really showcase their sewing skills they acquired this year along with their design skills.  I get this fabulous photo-sensitive fabric from Dharma Trading Co.  It comes by the yard, or in an 8" by 8" pack of 20.  It's a bit pricey but so worth the fun that the students have with it.  We use the kiln room for our dark room.

This next piece with all this crazy wonderful decoration is the work of sophomore Laarnie Barcelon.  She always comes up with the coolest ideas.  And all that work below belongs to 8th grader Jenna De La Paz.  Talk about a lot of effort, WOW!!

Here we have another 8th grader, Lauren Kennedy, with this great skyline.  She spent a lot of time sewing on each of those beads, but it was so worth it Lauren!  And the lovely ballerina was made by my 3rd 8th grader Jacqueline Yu.  All 3 of these girls worked their hearts out for me all year. 

Above we have 2 super strong designs by seniors Jessica Barnett and Michelle Yoshimoto

And let's not overlook the works by senior Mylan Jefferson and junior Ashley Duru.  So much great stitching going on, look closely.

And the cutie above was made by senior Eugenia Jaccob.  I love that she thought to bring in pieces of fabric for applique.

And my favorite below is the work of sophomore Reis Misaka.  Love the random spacing of the fish, and how they feel like they are swimming, and then the simple splashes of color embroidery.  Perfect Reis!

Finishing Touches...

on the 2011-2012 school year.  

Don't know why this missed getting posted in June with the other Solar Printed Pillows, but  it really needs to be shared.  I'm pretty darn sure it belongs to junior Niki Shah, who always creates incredible pieces.  We've seen a lot of her art work over this past year , and she's back again this year for more.  :)

Solar Pillows - Student Work

The Beginning 3-D kids have fun with this photo-sensitive cloth.  They make or bring in flat items to lay on top of their 8" by 8" piece.  Because the fabric is coated with photo sensitive chemicals, we do this in my darkened kiln room, and only turn the lights back on when all the kids have placed their designs down and secured them into place.  I give them each a 9" by 9" piece of foam core board and a bunch of T-pins to secure both fabric and designs to.  This way if there is any wind the whole thing won't get blown away.  The kids place their cloth with design into the bright sun for 20 minutes then bring them in, take all the pins out and wash the chemicals out of the cloth.  They hang them to dry overnight and magically the design appears.

The super cool snowflake above was created by junior Julia Faith Chanco, and the beautiful button and lacy work was done by senior Shivanti Kariyawasam.  What I love about both these girls is that they always give me everything they've got into all their work, and that's why I feature their pieces so often.  Makes sense, right?  

The students are required to embellish their cloth with whatever goodies they could still scare up from the near empty art room, since this was their 4th Quarter Final, and almost everything was either put away or used up.

After embellishing they pick out a piece of cotton for the backside, and sew their work into a pillow.  They do this by hand using a backstitch.  The stuffing for the pillows was donated by alumni Rikaya Obilio's mom. Thank you for your generous gift!

Above is junior Hannah Park's very sweet & colorful elephant.  As you can see in all the pillows, these kids can really sew.  I'm so proud of the stitchers they've become.

 I felt that junior Lily Lin did an outstanding job with her design.  What a great piece Lily!!

Solar Pillows - A Correction

I couldn't find this pic the other night when I was posting these pillows, so I thought it wasn't there.  But tonight I found it hiding amongst another group of shots.  And this piece is noteworthy.  It was done by sophomore Rita Labib, who always puts extra time and effort into all her work.  She was the only one who asked if she could cut up her pillow and put some really exciting raffia inserts between the spaces.  I believe the knots she used were half hitches like in macrame'.  I was skeptical because we were running short on time and I was scarred she was biting off more than she could chew, but Rita came thru Big Time!  Way to go Woman!!! 

Solar Pillows - Student Work

Another favorite assignment, this time for my Beginning 3-D kids, is printing in the sun on photo sensitive fabric.  They use silhouettes that they make from stiff paper, or they find flat objects such as jewelry, paper clips, feathers, leaves, the list is endless, and they lay these things on top of their fabric and expose it in the sun.  Afterwards, if there's time, I have the students add some embellishment, and then sew them into pillows.  The colorful one above was made by senior Sylvia Tran.  And the gorgeous floral below by junior by Lorena Morales 

Eighth grader Karisma Dev, did this highly creative piece above (I'm really enjoying the book on Indian textiles, the handwork is truly remarkable and inspiring, thanks Karisma!).

The two pillows above were done by senior Anika Haque and sophomore Shivani Patel.  These kids come up with so many cool ideas, and they are all so different.

And this last one was one of my favorites cuz it was so very unique.  I asked senior Suzanne Kang how she did hers and she said that she didn't like how her piece turned out so she took it home and dipped parts of it in bleach then rinsed it out.  WOW!!  What a great idea kiddo.  You've given me a new idea for next school year.  Thanks  :)

Solar Pillows - Student Art

These solar printed pillows were the final assignment for my Beginning 3-d class and they always turn out so well. Plus the solar printing is always fun for the kids to watch as their images develop. I order chemically treated cotton fabric from a place in Washington state called Blueprints on Fabric (http://www.blueprintsonfabric.com/) These pillows showcase the student's design, sewing and embellishment skills that they have picked up throughout the year. The top four belong to from left to right, top to bottom: senior Shahnaz Khandoker, junior Jessica Lee, and seniors Emily Choh and Jenny Ham.


This is one of my all time favorite solar pillows done by the very talented senior Ivy Hu.


And this outstanding piece was done by 8th grade perfectionist :) Lilith Huang.


And lastly this pillow was done by one of the sweetest 7th grade boys I've ever worked with, Aman Patel, who also proved to be a very talented designer. Hopefully, you'll be coming back to me Aman in your junior or senior year!