Beechcroft Workshop 3 - Tshirt reveal, Decoration of Tentacles/masks and Paper mache collar...

Today was demanding! I thought this would be a pretty simple session but little did I know how difficult it would be to teach and oversee 31 children doing paper mache! As I have said before, the ability in this class is completely different where some children find it difficult to come to grips with learning new skills and others   just get on with it really well with very little help...

The first part of the session was the reveal of the Tie dyed Tshirts which were done two weeks before. Buckets of water were put in the playground and they were to wash the Tshirts clean until no green dye came out. Everyone was very well behaved during this process and were all really pleased with their creations, apart from one student whose Tshirt was mainly white with green circles, she was unhappy with this Tshirt however I thought it looked great and made her stand out from all the other children whose were mainly green. I love how varied all the students look and really pleased that they had their own creative input into their costumes...  

After break I handed out bits and bobs from the scrap store that they could choose to decorate their tentacles with. Because of the problems that occurred when I realised I didn't have enough white Plasterzote and the tentacles that I had made broke in half, I made some extra tentacles but in coloured plasterzote which they also had to decorate. As well as the revealing to the Tshirts it was also a chance to show the outcome of the latex experiments. I think the reaction of the children was shock, as they couldn't grasp the concept of how it was all going to work out as the latex was obviously white and watery the last time they saw it. I explained what latex is usually used for (in terms of prosthetic and special effects) which taught them a completely new approach and skill to work and create the gloopy texture for the mask and use this technique that I wanted to recreate throughout the whole of the class of masks. The latex pieces and the scrap store decorations needed to be glued on the masks and tentacles....Which meant that glue guns would need to be used which meant health and safety measures had to be in place such as goggles and only a certain number of children completing it, as well as keeping a careful watch on all the students as many things could possibly go wrong when hot appliances are involved... 

The students got on with this fantastically  and you could see how pleased they were once this has was all done and really keen to get on with the collars. With the demonstration of the paper mache on the collars I made sure I was really clear on the instructions, however because it was tissue paper I was using rather than newspaper it was harder to wrap around the wire frames because if it became to wet the tissue paper would rip so there was a certain technique to it, and one that clearly the children found hard to grasp. We started the paper mache after lunch and it took up until the end of the day to finish, when actually some didnt even finish. The class in my opinion was actual mayhem with many students needing assistance and some taking so long to even start it. I have learnt during just this half of the session how challenging teaching can be, when a task is difficult and more than just a small group need help it can cause havoc. Luckily enough I had the main year 5 teacher and art tutor to help me assist the children and without them I wouldn't of been able to complete the lesson. I am glad I went forward with this lesson as it has taught me again never to assume what children can do and make sure its not too challenging that they don't enjoy themselves... 

Mass production to the mass!!!

Masks and Tentacles


As well as having to make the plasterzote masks I also have had to make approx 150 tentacles out of both white and green plasterzote. I obviously didn't think this through when designing because this is a lot of pre production that I have had to take on myself. If I were to do this project again I would design something which could mostly be done in the lessons because in the working world I would be getting around £200 a day to be a visiting artist and I wouldnt want this to include the pre production as well as the lessons. However, I am not getting paid this much money and IT IS for my project so I don't mind as much because I want them to look the best they can, and what I am doing before the sessions are things to do with structure of the costume which children would not be able to do...

^ Thats not even the half of all of the tentacles!!!!!

Wire collars 

I have spent the past week making the wire collars ready for session 3, and I am so relieved they are done. Having to complete 31 wire collars using the spot welder in an empty workshop when the sun is shining outside is not the best way to spend nearly 4 days sweltering in the heat. But it had to be done! At first I found it quite hard to come to grips with so took a lot of patience.


The spot welder was the best option to make these collars because it welds the rods together making it all very strong and sturdy rather than flimsy and flexible. It became easier the more I produced and after a day I realised that drawing a diagram with measurements and then cutting the rods to the exact lengths worked better and made the welding go a lot quicker. Almost like a production line with myself !! :)

The above photo Is the shape I decided on using because of the comfort when placed around the neck and shoulders because of the curve. I am glad I tried out different ways and shapes of doing the collar though because it was all trial and error to see what did and didn't work. This is an example of having to come up with creative solutions to fit a problem and especially when constructing them not knowing what method I was going to use in the end. I got the main collar idea from the kinetika workshop but didn't follow their insructions of how to make it or use the the same materials, as I wanted them not made from just brown paper and flimsy wire, but really loved the shape, so experimented with this idea and came up with my own version :)

Beechcroft Workshop 2 - Painting masks, Tentacles and Latex Experimentation

Because of the speed that the students completed the last session in, I learnt from this and made sure there was plenty to do this session as I have a full day with them... Again I had so many materials to carry into the school, however, there was no way around this so just something I have to get used to! I had 120 Thin plasterzote tentacles, 31 Green plasterzote masks, a Huge bottle of latex and the bits and bobs to experiment with. 


The reception I have received from the children so far is great! They were even more enthused about this session knowing that there would be a lot of creative work to get messy with and that many of the parts of the costume would be finished by the end of this session. There have been numerous questions before they had even sat down on the carpet.. "Kirsty what part are we doing today?" "Are we making the tentacles?" "When will it all be finished??" showing their keeness to the project that they are itching to get started. 


I had been warned prior to this lesson that whatever coloured paints you give to children, they will always want different ones, (one child said "why do we have to be green? cant I be red?") or mix all the colours they have and make one lovely grey/brown sludge of a colour!! However, some masks did turn out really really well and some of the children were neat, careful and really took care of the presentation, this just shows the difference in artistic ability in the class, but however able they       are, everyone seemed to enjoy painting the masks, so I guess that is what matters. I am no way near a perfectionist, but working with children who have a short attention and concentration span has made me quite a fusspot about my work, and find myself trying to help them more than necessary. The teacher of the class also told me that you just need to let them get on with it as they have their own idea of what is perfect to them. To the left are some examples of the variety of masks that they have created....


The next stage in the costume making process was to paint the tentacles. This was not a difficult task (or so i thought) however, got extremely messy and didn't help when a number of children decided to rip off their aprons. I'm sure their mums weren't best pleased with green children arrived home! But having 120 painted tentacles lying on the table was very satisfying indeed!!

The experimentation was the last part of the session and I thought I made a good choice in taking this session in two parts with half the class at a time




Now that I have completed two workshops sessions I think my confidence in teaching has really improved. I feel like I really get on with children now and think that they are learning to respect me and my teaching. I have learnt that when I am demonstrating the next step, I need to be extremely clear about EXACTLY what I want to be done, as this will grab those who lack concentration's attention and benefit me from explaining myself numerous times.

Beechcroft Worshop 1 - Fringing and Tie Dying Tshirts

Today marked the first day of the workshops working with a year 5 class at Beechcroft primary school in Weymouth. First of all, the carrying of the materials was a nightmare! Already I can see that this will be a regular occurance everytime I do one of these lessons as for each lesson preparations need to be made which are a lot to carry into the school. This is something I will learn for future projects - do as much work inside of the school premises as possible. However, because of my design and to make it the most successful  structure it wouldn't of been possible for the children to do it ALL themselves so prior preparation) of the wire collars and masks for example) was necessary but means that every lesson I will have loads to bring with me! oops! 


Started the lesson off with an introduction of myself and the project, showing the children my design which went down extremely well! They were all very enthusiastic about the design which was great ! and then I got out my prototype out and asked for a volunteer to try it on and that went down even better! This was a good move - to show them the final outcome - as it gave them something to look forward to and strive towards. 


This session was focused on fringing the T-shirts on the sleeves and the bottoms first of all. I was very shocked at the ability of each child and how much it varied between them all, as some of them found the cutting of the fringing really easy and finished in no time whereas some of them found it hard to grasp cutting a straight line! The teacher had warned me of the spectrum of ability in the class but didn't realise how severe it actually was. Tying knots in the fringing was exactly the same! To overcome this I got those that had finished theirs to help their classmates which worked well. One thing I have learnt already is to never assume what kids can do! Once all those that were struggling recived help from their peers it was fine and had 29 finished fringed and knotted Tshirts ready for dying....

The Tie-dying technique I decided to use with the children was the one where you insert ping pong balls inside of the T-Shirt and using elastic bands or string secure them in and then using the spray bottles with different colored greens and yellows , spray the Tshirts at different points so it makes the overall look more interesting. Once dyed they create circles of different sizes. I thought this would be a more fun technique to do with the students as it takes more time and more thought goes into it rather than the standard dunking into dye.

 The children found this a lot easier than the task before. It was a chance for them to get very very messy (too messy in fact! as some decided to rip their aprons!) but the spray bottles were definitely a good idea as they could customize them in their own way. I have noticed that this is what children seem to like - creative freedom. So giving them tasks where all their creations can be varied was a good choice that I made.... 

I would say a very successful workshop today! The project seems to have been very well received by both the students and teachers and the excitement from everyone is more than I could of hoped for! It was definitely a confidence boost for my personal project and hope that the forthcoming lessons will be as well received :) For the next session I will consider the timings and how long I think this ability group of children will take to complete all tasks necessary (especially considering I have 4 whole lessons, I dont want the children to become bored or pushed for time).