Artist as Teacher

Using my art work to support work with children

ContentsMy art work

Artists

Angie LewinMary-Clare Buckle

My inspiration

My felting

Surface decoration

Final piece My work in the classroom

Websites

What it supports

Example of activities

Starting pointsHow to - process

How to use felt making

NC Links

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this pageWhen first viewing this presentation, view from beginning to end. On next viewing feel free to use this hyperlinked contents page to take you directly to the page you wish to look at.

Additional Information

Every piece of artwork should have an inspiration or a stimulus.

My inspiration was my Nan’s garden where I used to spend a lot of time as a child.

I specifically remember her chive flowers and their vivid colour against the green.

The decision to make felt

These are examples of my trial pieces of felt.

This felt didn’t work and needed something to make it more eye-catching.

Nuno Felting inspired by Mary-Clare Buckle

Buckle is an abstract textile artist mainly using the process of felt making to create her pieces.

Mary-Clare Buckle

These are examples of her work.

Embellishing the surface

My sketchbook was key to helping me think out ideas and consider the effectiveness of trial pieces.

Angie Lewin

Lewin is a printmaker who specialises in linocuts.

I was not inspired by her process, rather her beautiful garden depictions.

My Final Piece

Final piece displayed at our exhibition.The A-frame further adds to the garden theme.

Up close detail of the final piece.

My work can support learning and teaching about felt and the process of felt making.

Using my work in the classroom

As well as the process of felt making, my work would cover the teaching of the following elements of art:

Colour Texture

The other elements of art are:

Space ShapeFormLineTone

Click here to see additional slide on the process of felt making.

Colour Texture

ProcessColour is easily covered by

felt making as it is the main tactile element of felt because it is the colours that make the final piece aesthetically pleasing.

Children should carefully consider what colour merino wools they will use to create their work.

Colours can be mixed by carding two colours together to integrate the fibres.

Texture is also something that can be covered by felt making, as different methods of felting create different textures.

Older children should be given the opportunity to choose different methods of felting to create a texture to suit their purpose.

The process of felt making is clearly covered by teaching felt making, as it is almost impossible to teach about felt making and not teach the process or skills of it.

Skills can be introduced from an early age and developed throughout the children’s school career.

Felt making supports the following areas of the KS2 national curriculum for art and design:

• 2a - investigate and combine visual and tactile qualities of materials and processes and to match these qualities to the purpose of the work.

•4a - visual and tactile elements, including colour, pattern and texture, line and tone, shape, form and space, and how these elements can be combined and organised for different purposes.

•5c - using a range of materials and processes, including ICT [for example, painting, collage, print making, digital media, textiles, sculpture].

Felt making can also be linked to:•2b •4b •4c (If using artists to inform felt work)

Children using my work as a stimulus

“Look, this is how our felt will look when it is finished. I wonder how

Miss R. made it look like this?”

Where possible, use original art work. It is so much more valuable than seeing a picture on the white board.

Learning Objective (for year 3/4 activity):I can respond to a stimulus to contribute to a whole class felt piece

Activities:•The initial stimulus for the art work was a trip to study a local environment.

Here the children made sketches and colour samples to take back to class.

•Back in class, children decided on the colours they required for the felt. This supports the colour element of art. •As there are several stages to felt making, children were grouped so each group was able to be part of the main piece of felt.

•While one group was working on the main piece, the other groups were working as individuals to make small pieces of felt combining one of two of the colours used to create boarder pieces.

Children were encouraged to think wisely about their colour choices, to create an effective boarder piece.

Inspiration

Whole class felt completed

Final piece on display complete with

boarder felt

Felt making can be:• A result of any stimulus – I really mean anything!• A stepping stone in a textiles project – make the felt as a base to work on.• A piece of art in its own right• A way of recording – rather than drawing or painting, why not felt what you see.• A final piece or a starting point • Designed – plan desired outcome from a stimulus• Free flow (lets see what happens)

Felt inspired by literacy

Ideas for starting points to lead to felt work:

Nature

Why not use artist’s work

Why do we have to draw still life all the time?

Just a few ideas, the list is limitless!

Click here to open the above pages in Adobe PDF

Although the instructions are for felt making with young children, the process is very simple and suitable for all ages!

Back to ‘Using my work in the classroom’

http://www.maryclarebuckle.com/

Website where you can view Mary-Clare Buckle’s beautiful felt work, her contact is also there and she is very happy to email advice if you need it.

http://www.angielewin.co.uk/

This website is Angie Lewin’s official website and shows a huge range of her linocut prints.

http://www.feltbetter.com/feltMaking.asp

Brilliant resource for felt making! Hyperlink takes you to a method page but the whole website is useful.

http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-1-and-2/subjects/art-and-design/index.aspx

Link to the Art and Design National Curriculum statutory programmes of study for both Key Stages.

Useful Websites

Additional Information - Resources

Merino Wool Tops – The main material that felt is made from.

Carders – To ‘brush’ fibres together to mix colours.*Safety Warning* Carders are sharp metal brushes so with younger children should be used by an adult.

Soap or Washing up liquid – bubbles help the fibre bind together.

Warm/hot water (hotter the better but consider the children) – heat helps the fibres bind together.

Containers for water – seems simple but useful to get ready before lesson.

The rest depends on the method you are using to make the felt. The following resources are for my recommended method:

Bubble wrap – Provides friction for the felting process to occur.

Fabric (ideally cotton, but whatever is lying around) – Allows for children to rub the felt without disturbing the design and arrangement.

Additional Information - My Felt Making Method

This is the actual felt making method. It doesn’t include the previous stages of designing, etc.

1. Onto the bubble wrap, laythinned merino wool with thefibres all running in one direction(horizontal).Thin merino wool by teasing itusing your fingers.

2. The next layer fibres should belay vertically and the 3rd and finallayer should be horizontal again.

FibresLayers can be any colours. Ifyou want to save your coloured wools use cheapernatural wools for the first 2layers and create your designin coloured wool on the top.If there is no design, I wouldrecommend using colouredwool on all layers.

Ensure there are no gaps in layers! You don’t want to see the layer below.

You can card fibres

together to fix colours

before laying them

down.

Additional Information - My Felt Making Method

3. Gently lay the fabric over your carefully placed merino wool.

4. Pour on a little hot water onto the fabric and press down gently to ensure the wool is wet. Too much water will not cause a problem, it will just be really wet.

5. Either rub with a bar of soap or squeeze on a small amount of washing up liquid and begin to rub the fabric, slowly at first.

6. Once you can feel that the wool it wet and soapy you can begin to rub harder and in all directions. Circular motions are best.Continue for around 10 minutes.

7. After this time, lift the fabric and the wool should come with it. Gently pull at the wool to see if it has become one thick piece of felt.

If it has:Peel off the fabric, wash the felt in clean water and leave to dry.

If it hasn’t:Continue from step 6.

Additional Information - Where to get Resources from

As you can imagine, Merino wool tops are not as easy to come across as a set of art pencils, but by looking in the following places, resourcing felt making should be easy.

Although merino wool can be found in art catalogues that you might receive at school, I have found them to be expensive for what they provide. I much prefer ebay to buy good quantities of merino tops for reasonable prices.

xxstarburstxx is one of my favourite sellers offering 100g of merino tops for £3 and you can choose an assortment of colours! This is brilliant for a first time felting experiment.

forestfibres are also a well priced ebay company but specialise in single colour bags of felt. Their bags are normally 50g and vary between £2.50 and £5.Their colour range is extensive!

Additional Information - Where to get Resources from

One the previous page I talked about Merino wool being sold in grams. It is difficult to say how much Merino wool you would need to buy for whole class felting, but I have 200g for a class of 30 to make the lighthouse piece and there was lots left. Obviously the bigger the felt the more you will need!

http://rosiepink.typepad.co.uk/rosiepink/how-to-use-hand-carders-for-needle-felting.html

Carders are not a necessary piece of equipment for felt making and may only be required for advanced felt making rather than the first attempt. However, I have been unable to source where the can be bought.

Here is a really good guide on how to use carders if you do have any and wish to use them:

Happy Felting!