If you ever want to quiet down the studio, introduce silk painting. The students become so engaged in the project, they get completely lost in their concentration and focus on what the dyes are doing on their silk and you can hear a pin drop.
I absolutely love silk painting with children. But I won't lie, I was horribly intimidated by it the first time around and am very grateful for the support of another friend who is also an children's art instructor who shared her knowledge with me.
Although I'm not there by your side, I hope to pay it forward by sharing how easy this is to do as a teacher so that you too might share it with your students.
Aren't the works lovely all hung together? Even if it is done half-hazardly for the day until they go home?
I did these silks on embroidery hoops. I am quite happy with the round it created for the final artwork and everyone can gather hoops easily. I found mine for free on Craigslist. I'm also lucky that I am a part of the very supportive North Shore Needle Arts Guild, where the women know I am thrilled to take any frames, odds and end threads, and any other unwanted stash to use in my studio. I'm sure if you sourced a local guild in your area and let them know your needs, you might find yourself lucky enough to be on the receiving end of great materials for your projects.
First the students did some sketching and came up with a drawing that pleased them. Once finished, I taped their sketch to the table and then taped a square of silk on top of the drawing. They traced their drawing lightly onto the silk with a washable pencil, however a regular pencil will work but I must stress to you to have them draw very lightly or the pencil lines will show up on the final work.
Although pencil lines showing through the final work could be a nice design element...
Once the sketch is on the silk, it's time to put the silk into the hoop. Make sure the silk is taut.
11 year old
I have clear water based resist, but I think I will be buying some black resist once I run out. I have two small applicators for the kids to apply the resist over their lines, so there is some wait time. Luckily the students are usually at different stages with their sketching and tracing, so not everyone is waiting for the resist at once.
I stress to the students that they must make sure all the resist connects so that the dye does not travel to an area where they want it contained.
8 year old
Once that is done, I place the hoops to the side and introduce another project while the resist dries. Also I make sure myself or my teenage daughter double check each work and touch up any resist that is not connected together well.
Now the fun part! Working with the dyes! I will have a piece of silk where I will show the students all the different ways they can use the dye, basically the same techniques you use with watercolor. I do tell them to make sure they wash their brush out prior to using another color. That's the most important thing or they will end up with just a bunch of brown mucky color dye.
You don't need a lot of colors since you can blend them to create what you need on the silk. They also do not need a lot of color put in the palette pots, as the dye goes a long way on the silk.
(I have eye droppers to put the dye on the palettes, one for each color.)
Give each student a palette of dye, a couple of different size brushes, water, and a bit of salt. Let them have fun!
And how fun are these finished silks? When we were on our hike, the kids started talking about a Reindeer Chihuahua. I caught the tail end of the conversation so not sure of all the context, but I thought it would be a fun subject matter for a painting and below we have a few Reindeer Dogs!
I also brought down my Jack-a-lope for them to look at as an example, which was met with the strangest stares and I think I might of just cemented my status as the weird art teacher.
But back to Reindeer Dogs, these are so stinkin' cute.
10 year old
7 year old
Once they are finished applying the dyes, your work begins. I use a heat set Jacquard dye. I love it and it makes it easy for me to finish up the artworks in the studio. So first, I use an iron to heat set each piece. (it's suppose to be 3 minutes a piece but I find these works are small enough a minute and a bit was enough)
8 year old
Then once everything is heat set, I take them to the sink and rinse them out in lukewarm water to take out the resist. Any pencil lines that are left, I rub a little hand soap over and give a light scrub and again rinse it well.
Set out to dry once all the resist is out. This does not take very long.
11 year old
But if you are impatient like me, you can go ahead and iron them out while a little damp. Good news is that silk dries quickly and the damp helps me quickly get rid of any wrinkles. Sometimes impatience pays off!
7 year old
Now your silk is either done and ready to give back to the students, or as in this case, you can put it onto a canvas for display. I got my canvas on a 3 for 1 deal at Michael's, however I have also put the silk on Bristol with great success too.
Place the silk over the canvas and then starting from the middle of the silk, brush on a gel medium matte until it is adhered to the canvas. I start in the middle so I do not get any wrinkles or bubbles in the silk. You could get away with Modge Podge if that is what you have also.
Put aside to dry.
As an instructor, you have probably put in an hour from start to finish at this point.
Once dry, I give the students the option to do some work over top the silk. I offer up oil pastel and sharpie pens for any detail work they wanted to add to the artwork.
And voila! You are finished and the students are thrilled. So worth the time you put into the project, don't you think?
11 year old, "Reindeer Scottie"
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