For last year, students made Celluclay earrings in my ceramic classes. I got parent permission to post photos of these students, of all of the students shown here. It wasn't fun getting those permission slips back so last year's photos of students will be the only student photos you will see. At my new work place, administrators are making a huge deal of posting photos regardless of permission on their paper. They said just don't risk it so I've removed photos of my students proudly showing off their earrings. Perhaps later I'll replace them.
My students had a tough time making the first photos of student earrings of Celluclay because it's very, very sticky/gluey when wet and it needed to be sanded afterward so that the paint would go on neatly.
This year students made little ceramic cats and dogs. I'll be attaching refrigerator magnets to them. That was a fun, and much easier process.
I ask them to make, and I grade two sets of earrings, or 2 magnets (this year). They are asked to donate one to the animal shelter where I adopted our 2 dogs, and keep the other pair of earrings as a memory/reminder of this project, or give them to a family member or friend. I think that it's important for them to have this reminder for the future and their choices whether to purchase a young animal or an adult animal.
Below, you'll find the process of how my Intro. to Art class makes "Shrink" style earrings. This is a fun process for students. If they "mess up" in their drawings of them, they can erase them with a pencil if they used pencil to transfer or colored pencils and try it again. The only time this doesn't work well is if the student colors in large black areas with the black colored pencil. It is difficult then to remove it completely.
My Intro. to Art Class makes "Shrinky Dink" type earrings.
I buy shrink plastic. I think that this might have been the one that I bought on Amazon:
Grafix KSF50-W 8-1/2-Inch by 11-Inch Shrink Film, Clear, 50-Pack.
1.I have students fold an 8 and a 1/2" X 11" SHEET of paper longways 1 time and then 3 times in the other direction so that there are 16 spaces to draw 8 cats and 8 dogs.
2. Then, I use the paper cutter into 1"x3" or 1"x4" pieces (basically I'm cutting the shrink plastic the same sizes as the students drew the cats and dogs). I like to cut the shrink film 2 pages at a time so that the 2 pieces stick to each other. It's easier to pass out that way and I tell students to keep them together if they can because then they just sand one side. Then flip over the stuck together ones to sand the other side (they're only sanding one side of each shrink this way). When they get to the coloring part, they lay the stuck together shrinks on their paper, trace the cat or dog they're making on one side. Then, they flip over their stuck together shrinks and trace the shrink by just looking at the shrink under it - THIS IS EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT WHEN THE STUDENT HAS A DOG OR CAT DRAWING WHERE THE ANIMAL IS TURNED TO THE SIDE - PEOPLE DON'T like to have the dog faced the same direction (like both tails are facing to the left) on both earrings. It just looks weird. If some students do this incorrectly, you can have them sandpaper the other side too and draw and color the image on both sides but it doesn't look as good this way - it's not as transparent and the colored pencil sometimes sticks to the tin foil while cooking (better to use parchment paper so they don't stick so much) if you put the colored pencil faced down on the tin foil.
3. They use 100 grit sandpaper (creates more surface for colored pencil to stay on plastic) or 300-400 grit if you want it to be more transparent - to ready the plastic to be colored with colored pencils (Or instead the students can use sharpies to color the plastic and then they can skip the sand papering).
4. They must put a piece of scrap paper under the "Shrink." Otherwise, the sand paper will ruin the vinyl on their desks.
5. They have to sand the shrinks vertically all the way past the edges, horizontally al the way to the ends, and diagonally. Tell students that the "Shrinks" are ready for coloring if the whole surface is completely matt (not shiny at all). Have students show you that the whole surface is matt. Most often students don't realize that they need to focus on getting the edges and if you don't catch it early, you will have unsaleable "Shrinks" because the colored pencils will not color the shiny plastic.
6. I tell them that the only way that they will be able to see the details on their cats and dogs is to use contrast. Use a black tracing line and contrast it with light colors for the animals like pink, light blue, yellow, etc... and a dark background to make them show up. Brightly colored animals look really cute and are joyous. If they make brown or black animals on a small "Shrink" surface, you will not be able to even see that it is an animal on the "Shrink" once it's shrunk unless they use white tracing lines and a brightly colored background because they end up so tiny! However, if they really want a darkly colored animal, they can choose to do the silhouette of an animal in black or brown. Just know that if they don't use white or a very light color for the tracing and background, it will turn out looking like a blob, not an animal because they just shrink so tiny.
7. They also must use a hole puncher to punch a hole (not at the very top! - the shrink will break!) about a quarter inch from the top of their "Shrinks" - it really helps if you ask them to color the spot where they want to put the hole first and punch the pair of earrings at the same time. Then they're not uneven.
8. Ask them to sand all of the edges of the "Shrinks" so that they're smooth - otherwise they get really sharp after shrinking (or students can cut off the edges with scissors but some students end up with uneven edges when they do this).
9. They must write their names on the bottom area (or top area) of the "Shrink."
10. You take them home and shrink them.
11. I quickly brush varnish or acrylic (can use spray acrylic too) on them to make sure the color stays really well and doesn't get scratched during storage.
11. I quickly brush varnish or acrylic (can use spray acrylic too) on them to make sure the color stays really well and doesn't get scratched during storage.
11. I get 26 gage silver wire but any kind is fine. Also, this 26 gage wire you can bend with your fingers to make the earrings - no tools needed. I had troubles with disappearing tools the first year (you can imagine with over 40 students in each class, it was tough to make sure that the tools all ended up back in their places) so I decided to take tools out of the equation. Students can cut the wire with scissors and you can recut it later with a $4 jewelry wire cutter you can get for cutting wire close so that it doesn't scratch people. Actually, I precut the wire to about the right sizes so that students only had to cut one end off when they're done putting them together (that way, spools of wire also don't go missing - live and learn:)).
13. I get these cheap earring hooks from Amazon for less than $2 for 100 and they're still available for that price as of 2/14/16: That way I don't have issues with allergies with my students and the earrings are wearable to everyone. 100-PieceSilverPlatedSurgicalSteelEarringHooks,Hypo-Allergenic.
14. I also did supply students with little beads that I bought at the jewelry district but they're an optional addition.
15. Look online for bending the wire correctly if you'd like. I tended to begin teaching students I thought might be good at it, and appointed those that learned the technique quickly to help other students.
These students are showing off their Celluclay Earrings. I'll show some "Shrink" earrings too.
I brought the basket to the shelter at which they have a store to sell the earrings.
Here are the Shrinks in the oven at 300 degrees for about 1 and a half minutes to 2 and a half minutes. The Shrinks have a tendency to roll up as they shrink and then only half straighten out as they finish shrinking. Right when half of them stop moving, it's best to open the oven and use wooden chop sticks to press the remaining ones flat while they're hot. You might even have to continue pressing even up to the first couple of minutes after you remove them from the oven. The directions for the Graphic film that I buy in clear for this project say 350 degrees. However, if they're cooked that high, they're sometimes hard to flatten completely at the end of the cooking process. This is a full sized cookie sheet below. You can do about twice as many at a time but make sure to give them room because as they curl up, they sometimes will try to hook to each other if they're too close. Sometimes they stand up sideways. That's okay - just press them flat when they stop shrinking.
Here are before and after photos. The ones on the left (all pink and red backgrounds except for the grey dogs on blue background on the very left side of the second photo) aren't cooked yet. The ones on the right side of each photo are shrunk already. What an amazing difference in size, right!:D
And here they are all ready to be donated. I bought (I believe) 3"x2" plastic bags to put them in from Amazon. There were 100 to 200 per pack for I think about $4.
I feel so much joy when I see my students from last year wearing the earrings that they made. Students feel such a sense of pride when they accomplish making such art and when people comment about the earrings, it's a great opportunity for students to talk about the Animal Rescue Project!:D
