Fused Glass/Jewelry Unit - Student work

PARTIALLY FUSED GLASS

In the Intermediate 3-d class, my students learn how to fuse glass in the kiln that we fire our ceramic pieces in, and in the process make some really beautiful jewelry pieces.  This is an extremely expensive assignment, and we don't waste a thing, just recycle it next year.  

These first ones that you are seeing are called partially fused.  That means I didn't take the kiln up very high so that the separate glass shard edges are still visible, yet they've melted enough to bond together.  Then I teach the kids to wire wrap them for wear.  Each student made two of these.

The striking one above was created by senior Sheila San Agustin, and the two lovelies below by senior Ashley Chowdhury. 

Above we have the beautiful work of senior Amy Hsu, and below hers is very talented senior Lauren De Belen.

And then senior Angela Wan has created this gorgeous piece above.

FULL FUSED GLASS

To build a full fused piece you just fire the kiln a bit hotter and it melts all the shards together for one blended look.  Each student made at least two full fused pieces.

Senior Julia Faith Chanco crafted this brilliant piece, and then she solder around it so it could be worn.  You will see more soldered work tomorrow.  I'm not sure but I think the two below are also Julia's.  Correct me if I'm wrong kiddo.

My favorite was this really spooky looking eyeball.  I think this also belonged to young Julia.  Nope, it was done by Ashley.  Thanks Julia and Ashley for getting back to me and making sure I label all correctly.  You all have no idea how challenging this is for me to keep everything straight in the summer  LOL

Eco-Dyeing with Cabbage - My Work

I'd been reading about the dye properties in cabbage recently so I wanted to try it out.  So I twisted and folded up some misc. pieces of linen, silk and string to see what I could get.

I chopped up some cabbage into fairly fine pieces and boiled it for about 45 mins. to an hour.

This is what the cabbage looks like when all the dye has been stained out, just a tiny bit of color still there.

I took 1/2 the dye along with a few pieces of cabbage and added vinegar to it and it turned the purple dye to a beautiful shade of pink/magenta above, and you can see below how it stained the  linen embroidered tablecloth.

The other 1/2 of the dye I added a bit of slat to and it turned a gorgeous shade of blue-violet.

I also had a silk scarf that I had put in a eucalyptus bath, so I refolded it and stuck it into the bluer dye shade, and I was really pleased with the outcome.

Above are some linen strips that I put into both the pink and the blue, and below are some cotton and linen/silk embroidery string that I felt came out really well.

I also had another silk scarf  that I'd dyed in an ornamental plum vat, and wanted to see what would happen if I put it in the cabbage.  I was very pleased with these results as well.

The only bummer is that when these dry out and are laundered, the color isn't as rich looking as when they are wet.  Oh well, just have to do a bit more experimenting.

Wood Sculpture - Student work

These are the wood originals that I was posting about yesterday, done by my Beginning 3-D students.  For this assignment they had to turn the wood into an abstract human, animal or recognizable thing thru sawing, sanding, drilling, gluing, woodburning, carving, paper collage and staining.  I feel the kids did a remarkable job and probably worked harder on these then any of their other assignments.  They really got into this!

Senior Prianka Shah started with a block of wood and used a Dremel sander to shape her lion's body, and another thin piece of wood for the head, and glued the two together.  Then she woodburned in it's features.

For her finished piece she stained the wood and glued on fibers for it's mane and tail.  Fantastic piece Priyanka!  And so much effort with that Dremel tool!!!

Next we have senior Fernie  Jacinto with his playful interactive man.  He used a special drill bit to rout out the hole from the body, then instead of gluing the head on, he thought it would be cooler to be able to display it 2 different ways.  Great idea Dude!  :)  Also love the springs he used to attach the arms and legs, and that they aren't the same lengths.  Way more interesting for the eye that way.

This adorable Frankenstein was done by senior Kasie Le-Nguyen.

And senior Michelle Yoshimoto created this too die for choo-choo train.  Notice the woodburned smile  :)  Love it Michelle!!

This next rosy cheeked one with the really nice paper collage was done by 8th grader Jacqueline Yu.  Really like how she wire wrapped her nail legs too.

One of everyone's favorites this year was done by senior Briana Johnson.  Of course she based it on Disney's Pinocchio.

This little cutie here was created by junior Kaya Quarles.  She had to spend a lot of time rounding off the top of her wood plank, and then tons of hours putting down those tiny paper collage pieces.  But so worth all the effort.   

And what a sweet piece this one is by senior May Luong.  Notice the metal hardware she used for the legs?  and the clever wire wrapped nail s into arms.  I also like that she mounted it for greater stability.  The kids had a choice to either put a hanging device on it or to make it free standing.

And this darling piece is by one of my other 8th graders, Lauren Kennedy.  She has also come up with very clever arms, and done some pleasing paper collage.

Another favorite of the class and one of my personal favorites was this highly expressive and pleasing piece by our last 8th grader, Jenna De La Paz.  Jenna put so much extra time into this piece, coming in everyday at lunch to use the power tools.  And it shows Jenna, all your hard work was so worth it.  Fantastic piece!

Another favorite of mine was this sweetheart by senior Eugenia Jacobs.  Clever tutu creation with tissue paper, love how she attached arms and legs, and I adore those spring pigtails  LOL

Preliminary Wood Unit - Student Work

I think the favorite project this year for my Beginning 3-D young ones was learning to work in wood, making a sampler then a one of a kind sculpture that I will post at a later date, like maybe tomorrow  :)

Anyways, I love watching the kids work with the power tools, they get so into it that I just have to take their pictures.  Up top we have 8th graders Jacqueline Yu and Jenna De La Paz, and down below junior Derrick Lin.  

An important note:  before I let the babies anywhere near these tools, I give them an hour of safety demos., then I take each child and have them show me they can successfully use all the scary tools.  Then forever more, whenever a student is using the tools, either myself or my T.A. Phoebe, watch them like hawks.  Just saying  :)

And did I mention that Derrick was one of my most hardworking youngsters this year as well as most improved.  OH YEAH!!

So anyways, in these prelims., the kids need to drill a hole, sand the block, saw the dowel, stain the wood and paper collage parts of both.  I only give them a few days to do this so we can move on to the originals I'll show off tomorrow, so most of the kids turn in something similar to the one above and below.

I do love how senior Mylan Jefferson recycled her Starbucks labels.

And senior May Luong found some cool text and music to collage with.

Now senior Eugenia Jacob took hers one step farther and sawed off her corner edges to make her block more appealing.  That took a lot of extra time and sweat  :)

And isn't this next one clever by senior Celine Phong, made to look like a Popsicle?

And then was senior Alison Lee, who made this lovely sailboat.  I loved this prelim. so much that I put it in the Open House show.

But the one that really impressed us all was done by sophomore Reis Misaka.  

So much extra time, brilliant Reis!