Modeling and Sculpting - [cont.]

Using the same principles as described for plaster relief, it is possible to make larger, but somewhat less refined, cast pieces of great charm. The main difference lies in the material in which the initial form is impressed or carved. First, some type of container made of flat wood, like the kind fresh cherries are packed in, lined with something to keep the sand from sifting through is needed (a plastic drycleaner's bag glued to the inside of the box will serve very well). A quantity of bank sand--a type that is fine and that packs firmly together when damp--is needed. Coarse granular beach sands are generally not too satisfactory. The sand is dampened and packed firmly in the box.

The carving is begun, using old spoons to remove the excess sand, and sticks and other objects to shape the desired form. The tips of the fingers are the most important tools, for they allow gentle tamping and sensitive shaping. Imaginative use of large, coarse textures, often in the form of a repeat, usually results in a more interesting piece.

When the form has been refined to the desired condition, plaster or plaster combined with Zonolite is mixed in a large container and poured into the scooped-out form. Care should be used to pour the plaster gently, so that none of the form is washed away. A far more permanent casting can be made by using a dry, ready-mixed cement instead of the plaster. There are great advantages to this type of cast, as the cement is much easier to clean up and, if the container is to be retained for future use, to remove from the bucket or can in which it is mixed. If the casting is of unusual size, some fencing wire or metal rods can be inserted in the back as a reinforcing element during the pouring process. The concrete or cement casting will be able to withstand outdoor weather, whereas plaster ones will slowly deteriorate if left outdoors.

This activity is an especially good one for playgrounds and camps, where lots of sand is to be found and where size is no problem. Concrete, unlike plaster, needs several days to set up. If work is done outdoors, the cement should be dried slowly, remaining covered with damp cloths, and out of the sunlight. After several days, the form is removed, brushed, or washed. Any kind of device for hanging should be constructed and inserted in the back of the piece while it is in a moist or semifluid state, then allowed to harden in place.

If the classroom has space for working with tools, boys and girls in the middle and upper elementary grades can make attractive relief sculptures. These are worked out most successfully on pieces of soft wood, such as white pine, which is about three-quarters of an inch to one inch thick. The child develops his design or figure in the center of his board, including as few details as possible. He can sketch directly onto the surface of the board with a soft pencil, indicating by shading the areas to be cut away. It is a good practice, then to fasten the board securely with "C" clamps to the surface of the workbench. This permits the child to concentrate entirely upon his project and does away with the frustrations that accompany shifting and sliding boards.

The youngster can then begin to work, using quarter-inch and half-inch wood gouges and a wooden mallet. With very little practice, he can learn to use these tools effectively. There is something very exciting in the process of carving wood, cutting away bit by bit and feeling the wood yield under the blows. If there is one especially sharp gouge for the classroom, it can be kept for hand finishing--that is, using the gouge in both hands without using the mallet. If in the end it seems necessary to sand the carving, the child should be allowed to do so. Finally, if staining is desired, the piece can be finished with ordinary paste wax mixed with a small amount of oil paint. There are oil waxes containing pigments that will provide fine, rich finishes. Several coats of wax and lots of polishing with a soft cloth brings out a very rich luster in children's carvings. Boiled linseed oil mixed equally with turpentine can be applied to the raw wood for a rich, natural wood finish.

Large solid chunks of balsa wood lend themselves to wood carvings by upper elementary and junior and senior high school students. Because balsa wood is so very soft, it can easily be cut, but it requires especially sharp cutting edges to prevent crushing. Successful small carvings can be done with nothing more than an X-acto knife. A fine-tooth coping saw blade can be used for the removal of large segments. The teacher should take time to demonstrate several methods of slicing out the portions of wood. With a small amount of practice, most children can learn to remove pieces of the balsa wood smoothly and are able to produce fine carvings. As in the case of simple relief carvings, children can either allow the cutting marks to remain or sand the finished product and give it a good finish with a coat of paste wax.

One can make an excellent modeling material by shredding newspaper and soaking it until it is very pulpy, then adding to this pulp a sizable quantity of wallpaper paste and quantities of Zonolite. This mixture can be used for building over an armature in the same way modeling clay would be used, but when it dries it has a very unusual textural quality quite unlike any other papier-mâché/Zonolite mixture. It is desirable, when engaging in a project of this sort, to be sure that the armature is constructed well enough to hold up through the whole process. As a rule, a flat piece of board, such as plywood, which can serve as a base should be used to fasten the armature to prevent toppling. Time saved on later steps and the avoidance of disappointments and frustrations will more than make up for the few minutes spent developing a good foundation.

A mobile is a sculpture in space, characterized by movement. Alexander Calder, one of America's leading artists, has brought the mobile to a peak of perfection in recent years, and it is now an accepted art form very likely to endure. The making of mobiles in schools has become very popular. In many instances, however, mobiles are little more than collections of junk suspended by strings or wires, with no movement, or feeling of movement, and made with little sensitivity for the materials.

First, a mobile should move; second, it should balance. Mobiles are not easy to construct and are least successful in the lower elementary grades. Fifth- or sixth-grade children are more likely to succeed.

To begin the mobile, it is necessary to string several pieces of wire tautly across the room at a height at which the children can work and to have available a variety of lightweight materials. Thin, springy wire; fast-drying airplane cement; lightweight cardboard; pieces of balsa wood; lightweight balls, such as Ping-Pong or small Christmass tree balls; and similar materials will work best. Finished mobiles should appear to float or dance gently through space. Therefore, the materials feel and look light. Here the selection and use of materials will help the children to learn that all materials cannot do all jobs and that a sensitive selection of materials is essential to good design. Good design in crafts results when the worker recognizes and respects the possibilities as well as the limitations of the materials with which he works and keeps in mind the effect he wishes to achieve.

Because balance is the essential design element, each portion must be balanced. Therefore, a mobile is most easily made by working from the bottom up, so that everything is in balance as it progresses. Two small elements are balanced with each other, perhaps on the ends of a thin wire, and this construction is hung by a silk or nylon thread. When it balances, it may be attached to a wire that has a counterweight, so that a perfect balance is attained at this level. This combination may be attached by means of a thread to an even larger wire, which is balanced by a similar combination, perhaps similar only in weight, not in appearance; and if the placement is good, all the elements will be able to turn freely without crashing into one another. On and on it goes, until the last, and generally largest elements are reached a the top.

Fast-drying airplane cement is most useful, because it can easily attach pieces of cardboard or balsa wood to a piece of wire and will be firm in a matter of a few minutes. It is also good to put a dab of the cement anyplace at which a thread is attached to a wire to hold the thread firmly in place.

Mobiles are challenging and fun, but just like other crafts projects, really good mobiles require planning. When the so-called scrap materials are treated chaotically and insensitively, they remain scrap; but through sensitive handling, they can be transformed and "dematerialized" so that, for example, a bottle cap is no longer just a bottle cap but an element of design. It is important that we introduce projects of this nature as early as possible, so that the children can become aware of contemporary art forms. The teacher should make use of every opportunity to develop the children's awareness of the art in their world. Each craft lesson should also be a lesson in art appreciation, so that the children learn to see art in everything, and not only in museums.

Whittling is a form of sculpture that is sometimes overlooked in our arts and crafts programs, but children can spend many satisfying hours whittling interesting figures and objects with a sharp pocket knife and a piece of soft, close-grained wood. The scrap box in the local lumberyard will provide enough interesting pieces of soft wood for a whole class of youngsters to do their sculpting with pocket knives. A simple project like whittling can provide many opportunities for creating problem solving in which the child must adapt his ideas or his desire to express ideas to the limitations of the wood and the pocket knife. The teacher should exercise care not to perpetuate the numerous stereotypes that exist in whittling. There are really only two basic rules: keep the ideas simple and original and the knives sharp.

RepoussÚ is relief modeling in thin metal. It has been an art form for thousands of years, and examples can be found in almost any culture where metal has been generally available. The earliest examples were often of gold, but any metals soft enough to shape have been used. Frequently repoussÚ was used to decorate utilitarian objects, such as armor for warriors, drinking cups, and so forth. For children to do repoussÚ successfully, they should be motivated to express something rather than merely to learn another process.

Work in metal foils involves a whole new set of problems and solutions. First, the manipulation of metal is unlike any other craft experience; second, the project is worked on from the reverse side of the metal. Metal foils, such as copper, aluminum, and brass, can be purchased from most school or art supply stores. They may be sold either by size or by weight; aluminum is the lightest, least expensive, and easiest to work with, though usually the least attractive when finished.

This project can begin with crayon drawings of whatever experience has been chosen to be illustrated, perhaps "playing with a pet" or "playing games at recess." The crayon drawing must be less detailed than a pencil drawing, and may thus be more adaptable to the foil. When the drawings are ready and their aptness discussed by teacher and child, the piece of foil is placed directly beneath the drawing, which is traced over with a pencil point in order to leave an impression on the foil. Now the child turns the foil over and presses parts of the drawing out slowly and carefully by placing the foil on a stack of newspapers and rubbing over the part with a blunt stick. A tongue depressor split lengthwise makes an excellent tool for this purpose. Some areas may be pushed out quite far, while others remain fairly shallow. The depth of the depression depends upon the amount of pressure applied to the stick and the number of times the area is gone over. When the child has pushed the entire design out, he may turn the foil over and do some work on the top side. He may improve some areas by creating textured surfaces where they have not been pushed out or raised; he may do this by finding something to tamp with, such as a nailhead, pencil point, bobby pin, or other small item.

The back can be filled with soft modeling clay to prevent any raised surface from being pressed in if it is accidentally pushed or bumped. The finished foil can be fastened to a piece of plywood or wallboard; carpet tacks or gimp nails can be used to fasten it on wood. The child can polish the foil with steel wool and stain and wax the wood or paint the wall board.

With proper motivation, students should be able to avoid stereotyped subject matter.

With increased frequency, hand tools such as the coping saw and power jig saw are becoming part of the elementary classroom equipment. Used thoughtfully, these tools are as capable as the brush or the crayon of creating original and imaginative forms.

Begin with simple contour drawings that have as little intricate detail as possible. The teacher must work with the children to help them understand the limitations of tools and equipment.

A saw will not do what a pencil does (as the pencil cannot duplicate the brush); each tool is used to do what it does most effectively. That the saw cuts is obvious; the detail it can cut is to be discovered.

Ideas and solutions come forth when they are called for, expected, and valued. So we begin with simple forms, representing the natural concepts that children have of people, animals, nature, and so on. Use of the saw soon shows what is possible and what is not.

Simple forms cut from plywood have thickness, and they can be arranged in space. As soon as space enters the discussion, we have entered the world of sculpture; and the student builds when he fastens three or four pieces on a flat wood base, standing apart from one another at different depths. In crafts, as in all teaching, we begin with simple activities and move on to the more and more complex ones.