Thursday, May 12, 2011

Greek Art Lesson

Mason's final art project for the curriculum year is based on the Black Figure vase paintings of Ancient Greece. His mission: to recreate a Black Figure vase using paper maché and utilize the patterns in examples we found in books and the Internet.

We started by building the basic form out of a balloon and some heavy cardstock. Crude, but it'll get the job done.

I mixed up a glue from flour, water and sugar. The mixture was a little thinner than a regular glue and a easier to work with.

He then dipped his newspaper strips into the glue, skimmed off the excess and smoothed onto the vase form. It was messy fun.

After pasting on a few layers, the form needed to dry overnight before putting on another coat. Another coat of newspaper went on.

Next was the task of forming the handles. We started with cardstock paper that was wrapped in masking tape. The masking tape added a little more stiffness to the handles so they maintained their shape after pasting on the newspaper. Another full coat of newspaper was applied and the form was allowed to dry overnight. Next up: painting. Stay tuned.