Create rich, multi-layered, patterned papers for card making or art collages by making your own rubbing plates at home.

Picture of handmade painted papers for card making or collage art.

Making your own textured rubbing plates is an easy, cost effective way to introduce young artists to the frottage technique, a term derived from the French verb frotter, which means “to scratch” or “to rub.” In visual art,  this technique makes an impression of a surface’s texture by placing a piece of paper over it and rubbing it with a soft pencil or crayon. According to the Tate Museum,

 (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/frottage

the frottage technique made its debut in art history in 1925, when Surrealist painter, Max Ernst, used pencil rubbings from the grain of an antique wooden floor in his artwork. Ernst published a collection of these drawings, that he felt “suggested mysterious forests with bird-like creatures” in 1926, titled Histoire Naturelle (natural history).

Crayon or oil pastel rubbing is a common technique in children’s art projects. However, in this project, we are making the actual plate to create a rubbing from. The texture plate will be required to dry completely overnight before it’s used. 

 

60 MINUTES | Intermediate/Advanced | Ages 8+

Materials needed:

Dark colored cardstock

Modeling paste or joint compound

Palette knife

Stencils or masks

Wash bin with warm soapy water

Rice paper or thin drawing paper
or deli sheet paper

Wax crayons or oil pastels

Watercolor

Paintbrush

Water to rinse brushes

 

Planning to Make the Plates

When working with modeling paste or joint compound it is important to know that either material has a very fast drying time, so you will need to work quickly. Be sure to have all your materials set out, ready for use before beginning this project.  Cover your work surface by placing your sheet of dark-colored cardstock on a messy mat to protect the surface of your table or work area. 

Key Steps:

1) To begin, center the stencil on top of your piece of cardstock.

2) Using a palette knife, scoop out the paste, or joint compound–whichever one you are using–and spread it on top of the stencil as if you were frosting a cake. Be careful not to move the stencil; hold it very securely while you spread the paste across the stencil.

3) Once you have spread a thin, even layer of paste over the entire stencil and paper, carefully remove the stencil by gently lifting it up and away from the design.

4) Immediately place the stencil in a wash bin of warm soapy water. Set the sheet of patterned cardstock, aka your new rubbing plate, aside to dry overnight.

5) Repeat the process to make as many rubbing plates as your heart desires.

 

What to Do With Your Rubbing Plate Once it is Dry

I prefer to use a thin but sturdy rice paper for most of my collage work. But when working with children, rice papers tend to be pricey, and they are not something you most likely have laying around the house. I recommend using white, sulphite drawing paper, and cutting the paper to fit the size of your new rubbing plate.

Key Steps:

1) Cover your rubbing plate (textured side up) with a sheet of white paper.

2) Using the side of a wax crayon or oil pastel, rub back and forth across the paper with enough pressure to pick up the pattern from the plate underneath. Cover the whole sheet with crayon rubbings.

3) Repeat step 2 with another color. For best results, use analogous colors, or colors that are friendly, and next to each other on the color wheel. 

4) Repeat step 2 again, but this time with a different patterned rubbing plate.

5) Once satisfied with the amount of wax rubbings on your paper, remove the rubbing plate and set it aside. Apply watercolor paint, or watered down acrylic paint that is the consistency of heavy cream, over the entire piece of paper. Set aside to dry completely before using in collage artwork or card making.

CityScape Printing
for tweens

This relief printmaking project for tweens highlights drawing, printing, and collage. It’s easy to do independently at home, and won’t make a mess of the house.  

PLANNING

Printmaking has been around for centuries and has a rich and lengthy history. According to the Encylopedia Britannica, The earliest known woodblock print originated in China in 868, with an authentically dated scroll of the Diamond Sutra, found in a cave in Turkistan.

Printmaking is an artistic process in which an image, or matrix, is pressed, stamped, or transferred to onto another surface like paper or fabric to make a print, or impression. A matrix can be made from a variety of materials like wood, metal, linoleum, or concrete. My Art Enthusiasts, ages 7-9, tried their hand at printmaking this Fall. We chose foam sheets as the substrate for our images. These materials listed below are not expensive, and are safe for your tween to use at home.

Relief printing offers young artists the ability to produce multiple prints from one plate, and hours of active learning and fun.

 

Materials needed:

Foam sheet 8×10″
ballpoint pen
black tempura paint
3 sheets of 9×12″ colored paper
1 sheet of white paper 9×12″
Yes! Paste or Elmer’s ALL glue

12 HOURS | Intermediate/Advanced 
Ages 9+

It’s important to remember that only a thin layer of paint is used on the surface of the plate to avoid paint getting ink in the valleys of the line art. Too much paint will result in blubby, sloppy prints, and will not look good. Artists need to work quickly in order to print while the paint is still wet and tacky,

4. We printed on different colored card stock, and made sure to orient the paper to match the width of the foam plate. Some chose to flip the plate over on top of the paper and press, others laid the paper on top of the plate to burnish a print. It’s important to gently rub or message the paper completely across the plate, pressing firmly and evenly to make a complete print of the entire plate with all of its’ details. (Don’t forget to rub the edges and corners of the paper.) For this part of our project, artists were instructed to choose either warm or cool colored papers for printing. We set the prints aside to dry and worked on the background papers where they were instructed to use paint sticks to paint a sky in warm or cool colors, using the opposite color family they used for their buildings. 

 

5. Once the prints were dry, my students cut out three of their best prints from the colored cardstock. They stacked the prints and glued them in place after they decided on a layout that gave them enough space at the bottom of their background paper to make a sidewalk or road. 

My students did this project in October, near Halloween, and a few of them chose to add characters to the sidewalk in front of their buildings. Bicycles, trees, pets, or anything else one may see on a sidewalk in the city can be added. Note: If using painted paper, be sure to draw on the opposite side before cutting out the sketch, so the sketch lines will not show when glued into the collage.

 

6. Once the picture has been assemble and glued into place, the printed collage is complete. Artists were allowed to keep their plates to do further printmaking at home.  

However, for some families, printmaking with ink or paint at home might be too messy. If that is the case, I recommend making marker prints with the leftover printing plate. Here’s how: 

  1. Wash and clean your plate in warm soapy water. Then dry the plate completely. 
  2. Color your plate with washable markers.
  3. Wipe heavy watercolor or mixed media paper with a wet sponge. You only want to dampen the paper here, not soak it. There should not be any puddles of water.
  4. Press the marker side of the plate to the damp paper and press gently, but not too gently. 
  5. Peel the printing plate from the paper to reveal your beautiful watercolor print.
  6. Rinse or wipe your plate to clean it off, and repeat the process.
  7. Have fun!

     

Flowers for Mother's Day

2  1-HOUR CLASS TIMES | INTERMEDIATE | Ages 7+

Materials needed:

Crayola Model Magic in white, watercolors, glue, wooden circle or cardboard pizza round, or something similar for a background, felt for leaves, texture tools for clay

A couple of weeks before Mother’s day I decided I needed some inspiration for a fun project to do with my art students. I took to scrolling through Instagram, as I often do, and came across the feed of an art teacher from Minnesota, Leah Schultz @doubleloadedpaint. She had created some beautiful flower plaques with her students as a fundraiser for her school, and they were stunning. I decided this would make the perfect gift for any mother figure in my artists’s lives. 

I always try to fit a clay project of some type into each of my sessions because kids LOVE clay. However, the woman I rent kiln space from was out of town, and I was struggling to come up with a way to work it into the curriculum. The beauty of Leah’s project was that it required Crayola Model Magic. That’s right…not kiln-fired or air-dry clay, but Model Magic. I had not been a huge fan of this stuff until now, because I had no idea how versatile it was. For example, we used only white Model Magic for the entire project, because I learned that you can paint it, or use markers to color and mix it into the clay. That meant I didn’t need to spend extra dollars on all the colors, and I turned that portion of the project into a color-mixing lesson.

On the first day, we choose/mixed colors to paint the wooden plaques. I encouraged one solid color for their backgrounds, since we wanted the emphasis to be on their flowers. Once we began sculpting the flowers, we talked about layering and discovered how the flowers would pop off the wooden plaque to create a 3-D effect, but needed to be flat on the backside to allow them to be attached to the board. Other than the  handout I provided of some flowers that I drew, that was the only instruction I gave for creating flowers. They could sculpt what ever was in their imagination. There wasn’t one child that felt uncomfortable with this material, and several students demonstrated how to construct their designs for others to create. Inspiration filled the studio, and it was beautiful to watch their creativity unfold. One student turned her bouquet into an incredible sea-life menagerie. Another student kept to a single color scheme and worked with a variety of values within that single hue.

How we made them

1) Roll a small lump of Model Magic into a ball. 

2) Press a texture tool or a cookie cutter into clay to make a variety of shapes for your bouquet.

We used one daisy mold, and several types of texture tools for visual interest. A few students did a great job of creating shapes of more abstracted flowers, which were eye-catching as well.

3) Use scratch and attach techniques to attach petals to round centers. Place all flowers you create on wax paper to dry for several days. 

4)  Once dry, paint with watercolors and let dry again. The majority of my students chose to paint the flowers with Jack Richeson Tempura pucks. Once dry, I sprayed them with acrylic gloss which needed to dry before we glued them to our plaques. In the meantime, they created wrapping paper for their gifts.

5) Cut oval stips of felt for leaves.

6) Glue all pieces onto a wooden plaque that you may have painted. Be sure to layer the pieces by overlapping your flowers slightly.  

Model Magic is very lightweight once its dry, which made glueing with Elmer’s All Glue very simple. that being said, use hot glue if necessary.  To complete the project, they used leaves cut from felt and tulle, in addition to any clay leaves they made. The felt added additional texture and unified the overall composition with movement and rhythmic 
pops of color.

This project took us two class times to complete to allow for drying time. The older students have a longer class time, so they were able to create more flowers and their plaques were a bit more full. But all of them were really beautiful and the kids were truly proud of their work! Most of them flew out the door without being photographed, which always happens when the project is fun and engaging



2 HOURS | Intermediate | Ages 8+

Materials needed:

Small styrofoam egg

Masking tape

Newspaper

4 Nails

Colored tissue paper

Glue mixture/paper maché

Yarn and fabric scraps

Googly eyes



While researching sculpture project ideas for our Junior Apprentices to create in our Fall, Farm, and Fun class last September, I came across a lesson created by Marion Abrams and Hilary Emerson Lay from the Summer Art Barn for paper-maché llamas. It happened to be National Hispanic Heritage Month, so we decided it would be a perfect project to inspire our own llama sculptures.

The difference between a llama and an alpaca, according to ModernFarmer.com, is more than just their appearance. “For more than 5,000 years alpacas have been bred for fiber, while llamas have been bred–for the same amount of time–as pack animals and meat.” Llamas have long banana-shaped ears, course fur, and slightly longer faces than their fine-haired cousin, the alpaca. This was good news since longer faces and longer ears would be easier for little fingers to construct. 

If you are doing something similar at home, remember to insert the four 4″ nails for the legs and create a folded paper tail and secure it to your animal BEFORE you begin the paper-maché process. If you forget, you can add them after the maché and then add several more layers of paper-maché on top. We made a simple maché from watered down white glue and colored tissue paper.


Method

1) To begin our process, we rolled a full piece of newsprint into a tube, folded it into the shape of a head and neck using a small styrofoam egg as an armature, and used masking tape to secure the shape. 

2) We used more tape to secure the base of the neck to a large styrofoam egg to create the shape of the body.

3) Then we folded small rectangles of recycled book pages into ear shapes by folding the top left and right corners, and used masking tape to attach it to the top of the head.

4) Make a simple maché from watered down white glue and colored tissue paper. Layer the tissue paper maché over the amature, covering it completely leaving no gaps. Smooth as you go.

5) Once this dried, it was time to add all the colorful details. We made pompoms, tassels, and saddles. We decorated with sequins, felt, jingle bells and googly eyes.

During COVID, Junior Apprentices (ages 8-12) created this wild jungle collage project by working diligently on one large canvas for 6-weeks. Artists gathered inspiration from the lush vegetation and vibrant colors of a rainforest, and worked diligently on one large canvas for 6-weeks. The challenge of this art project was to focus on one layer or area of the rainforest to depict: The forest floorunderstorycanopy, or emergent layer. The canopy has many interesting plants and animals, and most of my students chose to put their focus. My finished example is below, although it’s important to note that I did not begin the project with an example. We looked at photographs for inspiration and worked together to create our collage materials.

 

12 HOURS | Intermediate/Advanced | Ages 9+

Materials needed:

Hardboard or Foam Core

A variety of papers and collage material: cardstock, hand-painted papers, handmade papers, tissue and printed deli papers

Watercolors

Acrylic paint

Matte medium

Yes! Paste

Scissors

Reference picture of subject matter

Planning

The substrate used for the project was a 24″x24″ piece of hardboard. When collaging a variety of materials onto any substrate (background), it’s important to use a material that resists warping. After applying three coats of gesso to our boards were were ready to paint the background. We used acrylic paints in a variety of blues, greens, and white to cover the boards. Then be began planning and sketching out ideas on paper.

How We Made This Wild Collage

Turning our attention to the plants and animals that live in the canopy of a rainforest, we drew animals on white cardstock. Artists were given handouts and several photo references to assist them with drawing from observation. One particularly helpful reference was the book, “Draw Really Cool Stuff” by Douglas C. DuBosque; published by Hinkler Books. Drawings were first practiced in sketchbooks. The animals were drawn, then traced with Sharpie Markers, then painted and colored before being cut out. (Helpful for those children who are fearful of painting outside the lines. )

Next, we talked about perspective. Creating perspective using the concept of here, near, and far in the foreground, middle ground and background, will be more difficult for younger artists. The easiest way to understand how perspective works is to remember what is closest to the viewer will be bigger. Similarly, far-away things should be smaller. In other words, in our jungle compositions, the plants or animals that were farther away in the background needed to appear smaller than those in the foreground, or front of the canvas, which is the part closest to the viewer.

I do not teach this age group with directed drawings because I believe that their own personal mark-making and intuitive ways of illustrating things will eventually help them develop their own style. For this age group (8-12yrs), I think it’s important to encourage what they do, and put more emphasis on the practice of really seeing their reference image or object. Good artists are great at noticing details, contours, and values in what they are trying to render. The more young artists practice working like that, the more skilled they will become.

Key Steps:

1) The first part of this project is all about printmaking and painting papers to be used for collage. Knowing the subject matter will make your color and material choices easy.

2) Once animals and plants are drawn on cardstock or prepared papers, they can be cut out and set aside. Make sure to vary the sizes of animals and plants to create perspective in your composition.

3) Once the hardboard with the painted background is completely dry, begin playing with your cutouts, it’s time to decide where everything will go. I encouraged my students to take their time exploring their layout options, move pieces around, and play with the composition. By swapping different cutouts before permanently committing with glue adhesives, artists can see different options and decide which layout is best.

4) Last stage: Applying the glue. Begin with the landscape, and add animals later by layering them in behind plants or other animals. Layering adds visual interest to your piece, and is an important technique that collage artists use all the time. Don’t glue anything down until you are satisfied with your layout. Use a strong adhesive. Make sure to pay special attention when applying glue to the edges and corners. Paper curling occurs when glue is applied only to the center of a paper piece, and results in poor craftsmanship. Taking the extra time needed to be sure to glue your pieces down properly will make all the difference in the finished piece.

Collage Artist Inspiration

Collage artist and painter, Elizabeth St. Hilaire, is a contemporary artist whose work I have admired for years. She has in-depth videos on her blog at www.paperpaintings.com about her collage process, and which adhesives are best to use, and when.  For my students, I chose Liquitex Matte Gel Medium and YES! Paste. Gel Medium is made from 100% acrylic polymer emulsion, and forms a durable film when dry.  Gel mediums are used by professional painters to extend the life of heavy-body paint, to create impasto, relief, sculptural or a variety of other unique painting effects. YES! Paste is an all purpose stick-flat glue that has a stronger bond that school glue. Both can be purchased at dickblick.com (best price) or amazon.com .

There you have it! Large format jungle collages were the result of this process. Please let me know if you have any questions. If you decide to make something similar, please tag me on Instagram @arthouselab or Facebook. I’d love to see what you create!

This clay sculpture project combines art and social studies when tweens create their own personal totem pole inspired by traditional Native American symbols.

 

PLANNING

There are six art forms that I strive to introduce my art students within each session of classes: drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, fiber arts, and clay. Clay is from the earth and very different from play dough. Clay work for children has been said to improve hand-eye coordination, and strengthen hand writing skills. To learn more benefit of working with clay you can go here.

Activities using clay can be enjoyed by children of all ages and varying abilities, and typically, it’s a fan favorite in the art room. Some love it more than others, but there is always universal enthusiasm in the art room when this material is brought out. I am not a ceramicist or clay expert of any kind, so maybe the euphoria is because my students know that pretty much anything goes when using clay, except throwing. We have a very strict NO THROWING clay policy in the studio. Otherwise, I say ‘do what you want and have fun’ because it’s a thrilling process art experience. 

 

 

Materials needed:

2 lbs Air Dry Clay
canvas or plastic mat
plastic cutting tools
small wooden kebab skewer
craft paint
acrylic paint markers (Posca)
acrylic varnish (optional)

4 HOURS + 1 week to dry | Intermediate/Advanced 
Ages 9+

Clay totem pole

To begin the project, we discussed Native American totems and what they symbolize for our Native American/First Nations people. These tall wood carvings are made by approximately 30 different tribes of Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. They help provide records of Native American lives. Traditionally, there were several kinds of totem poles, such as house/porch columns, grave markers, or welcoming poles. Read more about the different types here and here.

The word totem* refers to an ancestor or guardian that was revered or well respected within the family. A totem is made to read like a vertical story, carved with animals and symbols that represent the family like a crest, and were familiar to all Native Americans within that region. Typical symbols include the form of animals, birds, reptiles and occasionally people. In the end, most of my students ultimately decided to create animals that were their favorites and not necessarily tied to any specific symbolism. We had seals, and whales, and snakes, and birds. I’m pretty sure there were some bunnies in there too. 

We used Crayola Air-dry Clay for this project and each student was given a little more than 2 lbs. I provided some silhouetted pictures of animals from the internet as visuals. We reviewed the scratch-and-attach method of adhering clay shapes together, but I gave them no special instructions on how to form specific animals. Quite frankly, the kids didn’t need them. 

After they were constructed, we let them dry for almost two full weeks before painting them. We used simple, inexpensive craft paints to paint them. Once the paint was dry, I sprayed them with acrylic varnish to give each totem a shiny finish. These were fun and the finished pieces were impressive. 

HOW WE DID IT

For young children, clay exploration is all about experiencing the material because it is cold, sticky and squishable. For the older tween artist, clay is fan favorite, but they are more interested in construction, That’s why I recommend this project for artists in 4th grade or higher. These were the steps we took to make our totems:

  1. Roll a large ball of clay and flatten the bottom to form the base of your sculpture.
  2. Insert a small wooden skewer into the center of the ball, pointy end down, to construct the post of  your sculpture. Be sure to pinch clay tightly around the post to secure it.  
  3. Begin stacking clay animals onto the wood skewer. Make sure not to press or squish them together. Each piece needs to spin individually. 
  4. Allow totem pole to air-dry for at least 3 days to one week. The entire sculpture needs to be bone dry before you paint it. 
  5. Finally, for a finishing touch before the varnish is applied, you can add small details with Posca paint pens, for a bit of added texture and interest. Allow everything to dry completely before adding any varnish. 

    This project is excellent for 4th grade+.

    *Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “totem pole”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Mar. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/totem-pole. Accessed 21 December 2022.

Fall Leaf Batiks

Two 1-HOUR CLASSES | INTERMEDIATE | Ages 7+

Materials needed:

Cotton fabric, clear glue, liquid watercolor or fabric dye. 

In the Fall of 2020, during COVID, I held classes outdoors. Beautiful leaves were falling all around us while we worked. Inspired by this beauty, we decided to create an image using the gift Mother Nature was handing us. Any child that can squeeze a bottle of glue-without complaining that their hands are tired-can do this project. It does require one full day of dry time in between the drawing/gluing and the painting. 

How we made them:

For our project, we used a set of Jacquard Basic Dyes that you can find at Dick Blick or by clicking here: SAVE up to 24% off List!

These dyes are are bright, and easy to use. They are perfect for hard-to-dye materials, and work great on wood and reeds, as well as acrylic fibers, most plastics, hemp, paper, leather, and silk. Most likely you won’t have those type of dyes lying around your home, however. That is why I recommend using liquid watercolor. Dick Blick’s brand of watercolor is highly concentrated and acts as a dye, but will fade a bit when washed. You can purchase those here: VIEW PRODUCT DETAILS

5) Mount top of design to a dowel for hanging, or frame. 

 

Wild Jungle Collage Project

During COVID, Junior Apprentices (ages 8-12) created this wild jungle collage project by working diligently on one large canvas for 6-weeks. Artists gathered inspiration from the

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Rainstick Instructions

1.5 Hours | Beginner | Ages 6+

Materials Needed:

poster mailing tube
tempura paint sticks 
hammer and nails (I used 1-1/2″ nails)

decorative papers, handpainted papers, or these: ( https://roylco.com/shop/r15256-amazing-animal-paper/)

dried beans, rice, corn

beads, feathers and other embellishments of your choice

low heat glue gun or white glue

In many cultures, summoning rain often included the use of musical instruments. One well-known example is a rainstick, an instrument that mimics the sound of rain. They are traditionally made from dead cactus tubes with cactus spines hammered to the inside and filled with tiny pebbles.

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have relied on rain so they could grow crops and have drinking water. But as important as rain is, we humans haven’t had much knowledge of how weather worked for most of our history. Without scientific knowledge or instruments, people came up with other solutions. Rituals and superstitions were all we had for thousands and thousands of years.

The origin of the rainstick is not fully known, but many people think that it probably came from a group of indigenous people known as the Diaguita from the deserts of northern Chile. The ancient Mayans had ‘rain-makers.’ According to information found at  www.climatekids.nasa.gov , these important members of society were thought to have special knowledge of the ways of the rain god, Chaac. In times of great drought and famine, they created elaborate banquets for Chaac in an effort to persuade him to bring more rain. Native American tribes of the Southwestern United States, are known for performing elaborate rain dances in an effort to bring water to their dry lands. The Guajiro people of South America are known for shooting arrows at the clouds to pierce them and cause them to spill rain over their land. Many cultures still practice these traditional rituals today, either to stay connected to their heritage or as a way to hope for rain.

A rainstick seemed to be a likely craft when thinking of projects for my Rainforest theme last fall. After all, we hope our rainforests continue to have heavy rains to keep their myriad of life forms alive and thriving. Follow along to learn the steps my young artists, ages 5-9 took to complete these fun, musical toys.

How We Made Them

Despite the fact that we were working in the garage (thanks to Covid-19) the artists seemed enthralled with this quick project and definitely enjoyed the noise that they were able to make!

1) To begin this project, I recommend having an adult hammer nails into the poster tubes. Space out the nails along the seam of the tube creating a spiral of nails the whole length of the tube. 

2) Open one end cap of the tube. Fill the tube halfway with a mixture of dried beans, birdseed, and pumpkin seeds. Replace the end cap to the tube and secure both ends with clear packing tape before kids start decorating.

3) To decorate, use a variety of papers for collaging material. We were working with a jungle theme and used several animal print papers to cover our tubes. Glue the papers securely with Elmers or Tacky Glue. Use and assortment of embellishments such as feathers, ric-rac, yarn, tassels, ribbons, and beads to layer and add interest to the rainstick. Allow children the freedom to design their own tube. I encouraged my students to let their ideas lead their designs, and no two sticks were alike. 

1 HOUR | INTERMEDIATE | AGES 8+

Materials Needed:

cardstock

markers

watercolors

collage papers

stickers

Art House Book: Here is a fun project that only requires one piece of cardstock paper, and any basic art materials you have laying around the house like markers, stickers, scrap-papers, foam shapes, etc. While everyone is cooped up in our homes, this project could occupy the kids for a bit with very little, if any, assistance. The decoration of the Art House Book is fun because there are no rules! By unfolding the paper, each artist is given a secret area to record thoughts, sayings, quotes and ideas of influence during this strange, unprecedented time. Writing/journaling can be very therapeutic for children (and adults), and offer a means of self-comfort. Follow along with the steps below to make your very own Art House Book and tag #arthouselab to share your books with us. We love to see what you create!

How We Did It

Through a series of folds, you will create a small house that will be able to stand on its’ own. You will be able to design and decorate the house to your liking. Remember to use the private journal space on the inside, since that space will be empty.

Don’t forget to tag us @arthouselab on Instagram if you decide to make one of your own. We’d love to see your creation!

Follow These Steps:

1. Begin with a rectangle piece of card stock paper or something a little thicker than copy paper. An 8.5 x 11″ sheet was used in this example. Fold the paper in half the short, or horizontal way, and be careful to line the corners and edges up before making the crease. Open the paper and then fold it the long tall way, and make a crease using a bone-folder or a pair of scissors to form as crisp fold.


2. Unfold the paper and lay flat. Next, take the bottom of the sheet and fold up to the crease in the middle, and press to fold. Repeat this step on the other end. Now you have to folds inward that are facing each other with an opening in the middle. Be sure to flatten all creases with a bone folder or scissors.


3. Open the paper flat again, and refold it in half the short / horizontal way. Make sure the opening is turned down toward the bottom. And make one shirt-fold on the upper left corner by folding down the corner to align with the first crease-fold.


4. Flatten and smooth fold with your bone-folder. Repeat this step on the use right corner as well.

5. Stand the folded paper up with the opening at the bottom and reverse the shirt-folded corners to be folded inside the house, by tucking them in toward the center fold.

6. Next, open slightly, and reposition the folds keeping in mind that you want each end to resemble the front of a house.

7. Then begin decorating…

Art House Arpilleras

2 HOURs | INTERMEDIATE | Ages 6+

Materials Needed:

Canvas/muslin/burlap backing, acrylic paint, fabric, felt, pom poms, cotton balls, Tacky Glue for fabric, scissors

According to Wikipediaan Arpillera, (which means burlap in Spanish,) is a brightly colored patchwork picture made predominantly by groups of women. Arpilleras originated in Chile during a dictatorship that started in 1973. The handmade pictures were an expression of protest against political and economic injustices there at the time.  The sale of the quilts helped the women who created them earn money from their artistry, at a time when there were very few opportunities for employment.

Many of the colorful arpilleras that are made today come from Peru, or other South American countries that have experienced similar oppression. They are very colorful, and reflect tranquil pastoral scenes of rural life in the Andes mountains. Artists use layering and texture in their designs, with paint and fabrics, to tell their stories by quilting and appliqué work into large, beautiful quilts.

How we made them:

My friend had purchased one from Columbia (pictured above, left), where she has family. When I saw it in person, I knew I had to incorporate a similar type of project into my Folk Art session that year. My friend graciously volunteered to the bring the arpillera to my Lunch Bunch of K-2nd grade artists, where they were able to get a close-up look at its beauty and detail.
 
1. OBSERVATION  What’s going on in this image? One of the first things my little artists noticed was the number of little pictures on this large material that looked like a blanket. They talked about the colors and shapes they could see. They listed the animals, people, buildings, vehicles and natural elements like weather, trees, grass, a pond and mountains. They were able to infer what was happening with the people, whether they were driving, planting, farming, or playing. They also began to identify with the tiny people in the arpillera and compare similar experiences. It was a wonderful lesson, where everyone was energized by what they were seeing and got inspired to make their own arpillera based off their individual neighborhoods.

2. PLANNING  It was important for each artist to sketch out their ideas on paper before moving to the canvas, which in this case was a piece of canvas drop-cloth that I measured and precut for them.  Once they transferred their sketch idea to the larger canvas they got to work painting, then cutting and collaging pieces onto their background. Traditionally, the pieces of an arpillera are quilted and sewn together, or embroidered.  But to save time, we chose to glue the pieces of our neighborhoods onto the painted fabric backgrounds.

 

Overall, I think this was one of the most engaging projects we have ever done in the studio. The cultural tie-in to an actual arpillera was a wonderful way to begin the project. Encouraging each artist to design their own neighborhood made the artwork much more meaningful to each child. They were bold, and absolutely beautiful. Here are a few of the finished pieces: