The Joslyn in Omaha has an awesome Dale Chihuly sculpture that definitely made an impact on the kids. Today they were super excited to do their Chihuly inspired projects.
In honor of Mr. Chihuly's Macchia Bowl series we created coffee filter bowls.
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| Original coffee filter |
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| use watercolor to paint, spray with spray starch, put over a bottle to dry... |
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| our Macchia Bowls... |
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| and the leftover from the painting... can you say happy accident! |
In honor of Dale Chihuly's Sea forms we made melted plate sculptures
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| cur plastic plates colored with permanent marker... color solid (not like this one) |
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| melt plastic plates with a heat gun... round and round we went |
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| our sea forms hanging suspended on an old piece of plexiglass. |
And in honor of the big sculpture at the Joslyn we made melted pop bottles... that Mrs. Carlisle still has to put together into the sculpture.
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| pop bottle with the end cut off and the inside painted. |
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| after adding heat! |
It was a fun day... and I learned a few things. Use big coffee filters for bigger bowls. Non-Sharpie permanent markers work best as the kids get a more solid color. Paint when left to dry overnight falls off the pop bottles as they are heated. Plexiglass is not fun to hang from a tiled ceiling.
*photo credits are linked but I have to say thank you to all the bloggers who had Chihuly inspired lessons. I learned a little from each of you to come up with all these ideas.
Beautiful - what wonderful ideas. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteJust found your site from a Pinterest post! Great stuff!!!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to let the students come up with a group design and create a sculpture using colored and melted pop bottles. How can I put them together??? Or do you have any ideas about how I can do this?
ReplyDeletewe ran them together on a coat hanger but it wasn't the most awesome thing every. I don't know if super glue would work. The coat hanger had all of them going one way and we never did anything to fix it. One thing I just thought of was drilling holes in to a 2x2 and using upward facing dowel rods (like a wine bottle tree for your backyard). You would only have to build the post once and could use it multiple years.
DeleteCoffee filter macchia bowls, I use crayola markers and spray the coffee filter with watered down starch while it's on the bottle...the starch makes the colors run together and the filters are still stiff. For the pop bottles, we use sharpie to decorate the outside of the bottle before cutting and melting. Then I attach the bottles with wire to a preformed cone of chicken mesh. They've been hanging in our school for years!
DeleteJust Saw this post and I love it! I'm thinking chicken wire could work. Mold it into whatever shape you want, poke some wire through the middle of the plastic plate or around the neck of the soda bottle then attach to the chicken wire. You could even get a simple lamp kit and drop a light in the middle.
ReplyDeleteUse fishing line to string the soad bottles together in clusters of various sizes and hang from the ceiling. To color the bottles, try a mix of ModPoge or white glue with food color--- don't know if it will take the heat better, but an inexpensive experiment. (ModPoge can be heated on glass in an oven at 200-250F to heat set it.) Or purchase heat-setable glass paints at the craft store. These can be used on glass and baked, or use them on the plastics and distort away with the heat gun. Did you think about putting holes in the centers of the plates while still soft?
ReplyDeleteIs it safe? Aren't harmful chemicals emitted when burning plastic? I'd love to do this but am worried about the safety and wondered if you knew...
ReplyDeleteThere is some smell... I always do mine in the vented kiln room or even outside.
DeleteHI there-you mentioned not using Sharpies since the colors steak a bit--I'd like to do the plastic plate project with middle school students. So would you suggest crayola-type markers or Sharpies? Going out to buy the plastic plates now. Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteSharpies (or any permanent marker) work the best... just don't draw back over them when they are dry. That is awesome. Have a blast!
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ReplyDeletehow hard do these starch bowls get?
ReplyDeletewondering if we could glue a few together...
they get pretty stiff but since they are made out of coffee filters they are still pretty fragile...How's that for a wishy, washy answer.
DeleteWhat type of plastic (number or code) plates were they? Can I melt any plastic plates?
ReplyDeleteWhat type of plastic (number or code) plates were they? Can I melt any plastic plates?
ReplyDeleteI think you can melt any of them... I like the clear plastic plates as they are "stronger" but I know people have used overheads, transparencies and they even sell stuff to do these. I just get the "fine crystal" plastic plates.
DeleteI have found the Sharpie brush tips put down a more even pattern than the regular Sharpies. I also use the Sharpie Oil Based marker to put a fine opaque rim around the edge of plates. I also use the plastic china plates in dinner and desert sizes. I want to try some Dollar Store clear plastic trays to make some large pieces for a stage decoration.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing your information. I would love to see the finished stage pieces!
DeleteI used wire to wrap around the top of the bottle and connect to a large embroidery hoop. Instead of melting them I cut them in a special shape. Looks very cool!! I love this plate idea
ReplyDeleteSpiral shape I meant!
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