Welcome to The Online Art Club with Mrs. Hayes.

No sign-up...

JUST DO IT...

This club is without an official name, so until then, it will be known as
"The Online Art Club with Mrs. Hayes".

Being a member means you will participate in regular assignments of fun art activities.
Each activity will have a due date. That is when I will post the picture you send me of your results.Complete the project, scan or download a picture of your finished work, and email it to me.
I will post the results the day after the due date in a Project Gallery.

There will be no personal information posted, other than your first name, age and title (or other thoughts about the project). You may also choose to have no information tagged to your project.

Future projects will be posted soon after the Gallery is posted.
Usually the next day, unless otherwise stated.

To view the artwork from project # 1; click on Photo Gallery # 1 to the left.


We are now doing Project #2
TESSELLATION

Due date will be 9/24/2012
I have a co op 9/21 and will need a little extra time to get the gallery together...

Since we mentioned M.C. Escher last project, I have decided to do a tessellation.

If you visit this site, you may read more about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher
http://www.mcescher.com/

You can find this project and another by visiting this site:
If this doesn't come up at the right spot, go to the right of the blog and scroll down, to the left of the page will be a label "tessellations"...

http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/search/label/tessellation

Some more information about tessellations:

http://www.tessellations.org/eschergallery1thumbs.shtml

FYI
I haven't reviewed the sites in their entirety, so view them with that in mind...


The hardest part about this project is in making the template for the design.

Here we go....


Project #2

A Tessellation

For the template, you will need:

a regular piece of paper (copier or lined, doesn't matter) 8.5 x 11
pencil and eraser
tape
scissors (paper-cutter is nice)
an over sized piece of white paper for the final artwork
any medium you choose for coloring and finishing your design

I will be referring to the shape we will be making as "pattern" or "template"


Creating a square...

Using the paper cutter, cut a square; I suggest 4", give or take an inch.

Here is another way to make a square (4.25") with out using a paper cutter:

Fold the 8.5 x 11 piece of paper diagonally, lining up the top (shorter side) to one of the (longer) sides...

Fold up the bottom part to meet the edge of the side you folded toward, making sure that the fold is also following the bottom part of the folded "triangle" part.

Cut off the rectangular piece (see the above picture).


Now, fold this square into quarters and you have four 4.25" squares. Carefully cut and use one of the squares for the template.

You might think we are doing an origami project with the majority of these instructions, but I will have you doing a tessellation, I promise.

Fold your paper square in half, meeting up the sides and creasing the fold. Do this in the other direction so that your folds look like a "+". It would be a good idea to mark these folds lightly for future reference.

 1

With one of the center folds, bring the edge of one side to it and make a crease.

Next, bring that new crease to the center line and fold again.



 2

 3

This gives you a line that you will use to bring the bottom corner of your paper up to.

But first, do the same to the other side, making another crease on the opposite side of the center line.



 4

NOW, use these folds as a guide to bring the corners of that bottom line up to the folds. When they look symmetrical (same in size), crease them and then cut the corners off at the fold.

 5

You should have two triangles. Tape these to the top (opposite from the end that the corners were cut.
It should look like a cat or dog or horse....

 6

You could use this template for younger ones, making this their tessellation pattern.

Trace the pattern, starting on the edge of the paper and repeat by moving the template up the paper edge, butting the shape on the previously made outline.

In the picture below, I have off-set the next row, slightly, but they can be placed how you desire.

Follow the pattern up and across to cover the whole page with the pattern, drawing off the paper when you get to the edge.

They can color the cats differently to finish.
(I used colored paper for contrast, it would be best to use white paper for project)

Now they can take a picture or scan it and send it off to me by the due date to go into Gallery #2

But for more of a challenge, please continue...

From the above shape, we are going to make a chicken (because I love chickens). You may call it whatever you like.

We must fold our paper in a particular way to get the cut just right.
I could use a ruler and be more mathematical, but that is not my kind of art...

Some important information before going further:

I will be referring to the pointed part of the tessellation as the top and the cut off corners as the bottom...

Vertical folds are top to bottom, horizontal folds go side to side

On to more folding...

Remember that I said to lightly mark the "+" folds on the square center? Now would be a good time to locate that "+" if you did not mark it.



Make a horizontal fold by bringing the bottom up and folding it at the top of the cut corners.

 7

In the picture, the dotted lines show the center vertical fold and the horizontal fold made at the cut corners.

 

 

Bring the last fold up to the top of the template (the line between the taped triangles) and make a crease.

 8

You should have three guide lines from these last two folds and the center fold.

These will be used as guides for cutting out a triangle from the left side of your template.

 9

The first fold will be the bottom of the triangle to be cut.

The top fold (last one made) will be the top of the cut.

The center fold will be used in finding the meeting point of those two (the angle)...



One more fold!

Fold the left side of your paper into the center fold.
Use this fold to make the meeting point of the triangle to be cut.
Where the center horizontal fold meets that last vertical fold you made, this is the meeting point to cut the triangle out of the side.

 10

Make dots and cut from the edge dots to the inside dot.

 11

12a 

Use this triangle piece to tape to the upper right of the template edge, like so:

 12b



Clear as mud?

Review for template-

1.  Cut a square (approximately 4")
2.  Fold it in half and mark the "+" fig. 1
3.  Fold again into quarters, bring sides into one of the center lines so the folds are going the same direction. fig. 2
4.  Fold those quarters into eighths, only needed to the sides of the center, still having all folds going the same directions. fig. 3
5.  Bring the outer corners up to the inside (eighths) folds. fig. 4
6.  Cut the corners off at the folds. fig. 5
7.  Tape those corners to the top (opposite of cut corners). fig. 6

These steps (1-7) complete the template for the younger student
The remaining steps complete the template for the older child

8.  Make sure you can locate your "+" from step 2. Bring the bottom (cut corners) up and fold at the top angles from the cut-out areas. fig. 7 (horizontal dotted line show where fold should be)
9.  Bring that fold up to the top, the line between the taped triangles. fig.8
10.This should give you three horizontal folds. Mark dots at the left edge where the fold meets at the top and bottom folds. fig.9
11.Now make a vertical fold by bringing the left side edge into the center vertical "+". fig. 10
12.Mark where the center horizontal meets this vertical fold. fig. 11
13.You will now cut this triangle out at the three dots and tape to the upper right edge of the pattern. fig. 12a and 12b

Now, you are ready to use your template to make a repeating design on your over sized paper.
Use a light pencil to outline, lining up the edges as you go.
Don't worry if they aren't lining up exactly, just make adjustments.

Fill your paper, drawing off the edge when you get there.

The beak will fit into the back (left side of template) under the back "wing".

Notice, from the picture below, that the lines don't always match up. You will have to adjust when you add to the pattern of your design.

After you finish making the first pencil outline, use a dark marker or pen to retrace your work before coloring and finishing your project.

Color your design with any medium you choose, take a picture or scan it, and send it off to me so that I can post it on the due date (9/24/2012).

Some notes of advice:
When tracing with the pencil, use a light hand so your lines are not too dark
Use white over sized paper, not red like my examples
OR you could cut the pattern out of different colors of paper and glue them to a large paper or board like a puzzle

You are free to email me with questions, I will try my best to answer them.

Hope you had fun,
Mrs. Hayes
hayes_ew@yahoo.com