Auction Art Project - 2 x 6" Wood Nativity with Seventh Grade

I recently wrote about my cool resin and wood trays, that I made with second and third grade, making a bowl from magazine's and newspapers with third and fourth grade, making a perpetual calendar with sixth grade, and making a velvet pillow with kindergarten.  Today, I'm going to tell you about this 2 x 6" Wood Plank Nativity.

One of the most popular items at this year's auction was the 2 x 6" Nativity made by my seventh graders.

 I originally saw an item on Etsy and thought, "Hey! My kids could do that!" So, I set out to figure out how.

I first figured out how big I wanted each piece to be.  I looked at the Home Depot website to see how long wood boards were, and how much they cost.

I wanted to make the nativity out of 4 x 6 wooden rails.  They would be able to stand alone better than a size not as wide.  Those proved to be way too expensive.

I settled with the 2" x 6" boards that came in 10' pieces.

I put my drawing guide grid on ProCreate, and went ahead designing some pieces similar to the etsy listing to figure out the sizes.

This is my sketch and scribbles on ProCreate;

I fixed it and made it legible.  I gave it to my husband to procure and cut the wood.  Home Depot won't make all those cuts for you, but our friendly neighborhood Ace Hardware does.

I lugged my pieces into school and prepped my seventh graders for the task at hand!  I let them choose which nativity figure they wanted to paint.  I only have 11 seventh graders, and they've known each other forever, so it is pretty easy having a conversation about who paints what.  We had several people who wanted to paint animals or Jesus - because it seemed like the easiest!  I drew names from a cup to make some final decisions. 

I wrote up those directions and the kids got to work.  I told them they did not have to copy my designs, or the designs from etsy - but it needed to fill the entire piece of wood.

We are displaced from the art room this year. One of the most difficult parts of this was the organization and distribution of paint.  I prepped the colors in airtight plastic jars before class.  Some of the more popular colors had more than one jar. After the kids drew with pencil and traced with permanent marker, they could come up and choose one color at a time to paint.  They cleaned and dried their brushes at their seats.  I purchased a new set of Arteza Acrylic Paint in tubes, and Sargent Art Acrylic Paint bottles.  The Arteza was thicker and more opaque than the Sargent Art - but we did have to use several coats of paint with some colors - especially white.

If I were to make these again, I would probably do something to prep the wood a little better.  The paint soaked in easily and sometimes the permanent markers bled.  

I do not know where parents plan to display these, but I would also put an acrylic clear coat on top.  

When all the painting was done and the paint was dry, we retraced our pictures with permanent marker.

Parents seemed to like it, I couldn't believe this thing went for $260!  Wow, awesome.

Auction Art Project - Kindergarten Jim Dine Hearts Fuzzy Pillow

 I recently wrote about my cool resin and wood trays, that I made with second and third grade, making a bowl from magazine's and newspapers with third and fourth grade, and making a perpetual calendar with sixth grade.

Here's what I made with my kinders!

I had this idea for a giant floor pillow with photos of the kids' art on them.  For the photo on the pillow, I had to use a project that I knew would have super successful results.  I wanted each kid to be proud of their featured design.

Long before Valentine's Day, I busted out the tried and true Jim Dine Hearts with Warm and Cool Colors lesson.  I copied this lesson from a co-teacher I work with, but made a few edits on the handout, and my execution this year.  Normal years, the students complete the warm and cool heart in oil pastel and we usually have some sort of interesting background or frame.  I also usually let the kids do some swirly's with puffy paint or colored glue over the top.  

I made the direction handout showing how you can use crayons or oil pastels to mix and blend the colors, because I wasn't sure my kids would be able to use oil pastel this year.  But, we did!

Even without the swirl or background, they still turned out super great.

I have a budget for completing these auction projects.  I never want to get too crazy with just one class.   I was trying to find a decent personalized floor pillow to upload the artwork to at a reasonable price.  This was more difficult than I thought it would be. Like, Redbubble had the size I wanted but was toooo expensive,

I finally settled on the hilariously named "Pet Photo Memories Personalized Throw Pillow" from PersonalizationMall.com.

I went with the 18" x 18" velvet pillow.  I would loved a 36" x 36" floor pillow - but I had a coupon and the price was right!

Obviously I didn't order it with a cute yellow lab on it.  I wanted to showcase my 12 kindergartners.  I photographed each of their projects and cropped them to a square.  I tried to use on app on my phone to make a single .jpg of all 12 - but it wasn't turning out the way I wanted.  I ended up putting all 12 photos into one ProCreate doc.  I originally only made the square design with each artists' work featured large one time. No matter how I edited it, it didn't look right.

no background

faded background

 When I uploaded it to PersonalizationMall.com though - it cut off the artwork, and didn't look right.

I went back to ProCreate and made the images smaller and the pattern repeat several times.

I liked this much better.

Luckily, the kindergarten parents did too.  It sold for $180!

Painting Winter Tree Silhouettes on Slices of Wood for Gala Auction Class Art Project

 I made a video to teach my second graders how to paint a winter tree silhouette on  Wood Slices I got off of Amazon. 

  

The genesis of this project came from my ridiculous need to make our group art project for the annual Gala Auction something curriculum appropriate.  Even in weird Covid times I thought it would be a good idea to bring acrylic paint into the second grade classroom and teach the kids about proper painting skills while also teaching them about analogous colors and silhouettes!  What could possibly go wrong?

The end results weren't anything like my expectations on the video, but they still turned out cute.

I have another whole blog post about how I put the Wood Slices in the bottom of some cheap wooden trays and covered them in EnvirotexLite Pour on Resin in case you wanted to know the WHOLE process.

Here's a quick time-lapse of when I poured the resin on the paintings.

Waaaaaay more exciting than the video of me filling the Paint Pots I used for this lesson.

Update 4/11/21.... Uh, for being such a headache, this project made the most at the school auction!

Making a Bowl from Magazines and Newspapers with Third and Fourth Grade

Every year I am charged with coming up with an art project for students to create and contribute to our school's Gala Auction. I've recently shared one of my awesome ideas, that I did with my third graders.  And really, I should share all the crazy things I've done over the past few years because some of them are real doozeys.  I'm of the philosophy that if I'm using art time to do these projects - they should be art projects that have something to do with our curriculum.  That has lead me down some weird paths.

This year has been especially tough because I am on cart due to Covid.  Kids can't share supplies, and my entire curriculum is turned on its head.

I usually try to think of a project that 1) students are making the parts individually and I put them together 2) doesn't stray too far from something I was already going to do, or have already done.  In other word... I don't want to teach a whole new skill for no reason. 

This year I had the great idea of having my combined third and fourth grade make a giant bowl out of newspaper and magazines.  I thoroughly researched how to do this, and how I could make it simple to do in their classroom. 

The skill I would be reinforcing was manipulating 2D shapes into 3D forms.  We would learn all about making cylinders and putting a 3D work of art or a sculpture together.  I made this video to teach them how to do it. 

That R2D2 is going to college this year.

Well, you know.  It went okay.  Some kids were good at making the tubes, some kids were good at making the rings, some kids were only good at flattening the tubes.  It happens.

The tube/ring building seemed to be going on FOREVER.  I only see these guys 2X a week for a half hour... and we have other stuff to do!!

After what amounted to about 2.5 hours of tube, ring, and flat circle building, I knew I had to put the kibosh on it.  There was no way we were ever going to make enough pieces to build up my giant R2D2 head punch bowl.  

I told the kids to power build what they could and I would take the pieces home and see what I could do with them.

If you are looking at this picture and thinking "There is no way 15 third and fourth graders took 2.5 hours of art time to make these.  That is insane.  That teacher is crazy." Well, guess what?  It did.  Rolling newspapers and magazines actually takes a long time, and then YOU NEED A TON!

I know, I know, I know it does not look like that many pieces.  You guys, it takes a long time and you literally need 100,000,012 to make anything.  I have way more respect for those ridiculously expensive recycled wastepaper baskets, owl door art, and earrings I saw on etsy.

Once I saw what I was working with I tried to come up with a new plan.  I tried multiple bowls that I had in my house, and found that the wooden salad bowl was the best since it had a flat bottom.  I could easily lay the pancaked pieces at the bottom and build around it.  

I used a ton of glue.  Before it was completely dry I removed it from the bowl and peeled off the paper liner just so it wouldn't stick on there permanently. 

When the glue was dry, I applied two layers of glossy Mod Podge - allowing it to dry completely in between layers.

It is actually very sturdy!  I am very pleased and proud of the results! Great job third and fourth grade.  

Update 4/11/21

Third Grade Auction Art Project- Wood & Resin Tray with Woodland Animals

I recently shared a post about my third graders painting woodland animals slices of wood that I was going to use for our Auction Art Project for our school's annual Gala.

If you've been waiting for an update - here it is!  

If you prefer your updates in video form...Here it is!

Even before I gave the kids the slices of wood to paint on, I wanted to make sure they would fit in the bottom of the tray.  Once they were painted I laid them back in there to double check.  Wait a minute, I have 15 third graders... uh oh.

Luckily the wooden trays I purchased on Amazon came with multiple sizes, and I must of just selected the wrong one.  After some finagling... they fit!

I used some Minwax 66060000 Gel Stain , quart, Walnut to stain my cheap trays. I knew from the Amazon reviews that they were not going to stain too well, but I wanted them to look a little rustic.

Anyplace where there was glue, the stain would not cover and the cheap wood had a lot of striations that the stain could not penetrate.  Perhaps some prep before staining, like sanding the crevasses or some sort of base coat would be smart.
 

Once the stain dried, I coated the trays in generic Mod-Podge.  Also known as Sargent Art Lamination Glue I tried to use the Mod-Podge, but couldn't get the jar open.  The Sargent Art Lamination Glue doesn't smell as bad.

I also coated the tops of my students' paintings with the clear coat.  You have to make sure you coat the entire surface area of the clear coat, or once you apply the resin it may become discolored. 

I used the Sargent Art Lamination Glue to secure the wood slices to the inside of the tray.  This wasn't a good idea.  Even though I had made sure the wood slices fit before I stained and clear-coated the pieces, I was having a heck of a time getting everything to fit once again.  I kept having to peel pieces up, push them down, pry pieces of bark off... it was a mess and it ruined my manicure.  Oh yeah, and it made the bottom of my tray very bumpy and gluey textured.

The next time I make a wood and resin tray, I will make sure all the Sargent Art Laminating Glue is dry, put the pieces in, and lift them up one at a time and glue them with E6000 or something.

Once everything was secure and dry (the next day) I decided to try my hand at applying a resin coat.  I used EnvirotexLite Pour on Resin This was super easy to use.  I had it in my head that I would have to be mixing and stirring powders together - but it was all liquid.

I poured equal parts of the resin and hardener into party cups.  Mix them into one cup and stir and scrape for 2 minutes. Pour to the other cup - stir for one minute. 

I poured the first coat onto my tray and concentrated on filling the spaces between the wood slices.   Every five minutes or so I would go check on it and pop the air bubbles.  It said in the directions that your breath would pop them - but I used the end of a paintbrush.

I left the tray on my work table to harden.  I was paranoid someone was going to knock it over, put something on it, or somehow let sawdust loose and ruin the whole thing… but it was fine.

24 hours later I mixed and stirred and mix and stirred and applied a second layer of resin.

I really wanted the bottom of the tray to be level and thought I could get away with two coats - but no such luck.

24 hours after that… I applied my third layer.

I knew this had to be the last layer so I really worked on making sure the resin was level.  Once I filled in all the pits and tried to get it as level as possible, I had to let it cure for 72 hours.

FINALLY, it was done. 

Update 4/11/21