Five Dollar Challenge
Here’s the story of a Valentine’s Day project that didn’t quite come together in the end. The creative process isn’t a straight path that always leads to beautiful results. Keep that in mind as I walk you through my attempt.
I challenged myself to come up with a project for a class of 25 students with only $5. Dollar store--here I come! I wanted to make something that's not too crafty, so that I could touch on the standards that art teachers need to cover. Nothing says crafty like heart doilies, but I bought them anyway along with black paint and red paint and some florist foam.
I’ve been wanting to experiment with florist foam for awhile. I thought it could work well for printmaking. The store had big blocks of foam so I cut them into 25 pieces with a bread knife. First, I drew designs in the foam with a pencil but it didn't print well.Then I tried pressing into the foam with the eraser end of the pencil. I painted the foam and used it as a printing block.The result is a polka dot pattern. I liked the results and I figured out how to do printmaking with florist foam! It also touches on a few art teaching standards: printmaking, patterns, positive & negative. Success… but wait, what to do with the heart doily?
First, I drew on it with crayons and painted over it with watered down red paint, But I didn’t like the results. However, it made a nice negative image of the doily on the paper I put behind it to protect the table. Maybe I can do something with that? ...Nope! I tried but it just didn't come together. That gave me the idea to paint and cut out a red heart to put behind the doily for a pop of color. I wrote I ❤ U using two fingerprints to make the heart.
Overall … eh. I'm happy with the printmaking results, but the doily part needs more work.
Stay tuned, the next blog post will show how I resolved the project.
Leave a comment below or join us in our Facebook group Freelance Art Teachers in Libraries. The group is for sharing ideas about teaching art and other subjects in public libraries and after school enrichment classes. Whether you are a librarian looking for new ideas or a teacher seeking a profitable AND enjoyable side hustle, we are here to answer questions and support you!
Join our email newsletter community:
Click here to find out where we’re popping up next, get helpful art-making tips and free mini video tutorials!
Pop up Art School – your one stop for art lessons
Ditch the car keys, choose a lesson, fire up your device, and create with Pop up Art School – from the comfort of home!
Even if you can't draw a straight line, our step-by-step art tutorials help you relax and feel confident.
Our Art-to-go library has prerecorded art projects for kids, teens and adults in a safe ad-free environment. We now offer kits with free shipping in the USA.