A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Art Series

Eight Tutorials For Making Dolls

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So I’m thinking of teaching other doll making class since the last class was oh so fun.  Here are some ideas that I am collecting.

Doll Making Tutorials

Sock Dolls

Octopus doll

Found this decent page on making a corn husk doll.
Check it out here.
That of course inspired me to look it up on youtube. 🙂

Sock and felt Doll

Clothespin doll

Paper craft Red and White Doll

Papercraft doll with skirt

Pioneer Rag Doll

Another version of a ragdoll. Hard to know which is the better option eh?

But I think that’s given me some good ideas for another class eh? What do you think?
Do you have any dolls that might be easy for children to make? Leave me a comment or link eh?

 

While I’m thinking of it.  Did you know this?  Pretty good deal eh?   $1 for the first month and $14.95/month thereafter?  Worth checking it out at least eh?   Learn more here.

Things to Make and Do

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As you can see from my image, my copy of Things to Make and Do is a bit battered and stained.  Although this small book doesn’t have any many crafts in it as some do, I like it because it has projects in it that I haven’t found in most other craft/art books.  Let me take a moment to tell you about this helpful book.

Things to make and do, main image

What do you get?

Produced by Scholastic Services, this almost 80 page book contains about 40 projects.  These range in difficulty from easy (book marks) to hard (prickly vase).   Well written instructions help the maker complete their projects well. Part of the author’s goal is to help the young makers design and create projects they may be able to sell.  To that end she enclosed a small section at the close of the book to assist them in their endeavors (things to do). 

Table of contents, book things to make and do

The Nitty Gritty

Illustrator Ethel Gold provides simple drawings to guide the maker in their projects.  Some of the projects look remarkably simple, but their complexity is see as you go through the steps to make them. The projects use items often readily found around the house, I didn’t run into anything I didn’t know what it was.

Things to make and do - sample project

I have to admit, I did need to research what crafting wax is. I’d heard of it before but wasn’t sure what it looked like. Now I know more eh?

 

I mentioned a couple of the projects to my lad and he thought they sounded good to make.  “That could be helpful mom” and “do you think something like that I could sell?”   It’s good to raise an entrepreneurial lad you know?  

Things to Make and Do - sample project

This project made me think of  how my mom likes to make cards. Designing them well for each person, the pride she takes in giving something personal to others.   It’s cool to see and this project would be a good first step in helping a new generation learn the skill of card-making. 

Things to Make and Do

 

 

Things to Make and Do
Linda Beech
Ethel Gold (illustrator)
Scholastic Book Services
80 pages, softcover
Crafts, Projects, Make it
 

Hands Around the World

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Do you ever struggle with helping bring about cultural awareness?   Hands around the World is filled with 365 creative ways to help build cultural awareness in your students and to help us respect one another around the globe. There are activities for every day of the year.

hands around the world

So why am I talking about a cultural awareness book on my art day?  Well.. you see, often part of building awareness with each other is engaging in crafting or art projects with each other.  Reading the poems or seeing the crafts that people around the world make.  Whether it’s a japanese wind sock, or colouring a flag, making a puppet so you can put on a puppet show of a native story, or even making a Batwa story mouse.   There are so many ideas floating around the peoples of the world, why not build on them together?

hands around the world, contents

What do you get?

365 ideas, one for every day of the year.

Ideas vary in their ranges: recipes, stories, activities, crafts, games, physical activities, and more.

Learn new skills such a folding napkins, making a homemade toy, acting, or putting on a cultural sale.

hands around the world, ideas

My Thoughts:

I love the sheer variety of tried and tested ideas presented in this great Kids Can! Book.  Susan Milord does a great job of providing some very unique ways to help children from a variety of cultures connect with each other.  It’s good to see how other people do things, to learn their history, and to discover how we express ourselves within our cultural heritage. 

hands around the world, how to

hands around the world, book coverHands Around the World : 365 creative ways to build culture awareness & Global respect
Susan Milord
Series: Kids Can
Williamson Publishing
160 pages, softcover
Elementary, Cultural awareness, Heritage,
Art, crafts, cooking, dance, activities
Where to find.

Bright Ideas: Seasonal Activities

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I grew up with Bright Idea books floating around with things to do with children.  Published in 1984 they have been around a spell.  This particular book, Seasonal Activities, is filled with not just craft ideas, but with different things you can do with children throughout the different Seasons of the year.

Seasonal Activities by bright ideas

What do you get?

Seasonal Activities is divided into Four sections along with a reproducible materials section.  128 pages filled with over 150 activities to do for children 5 to 11. 

Each page lists the age range geared for, most often 5-9 or 7-11, with some variation, the type of activity, the size of group needed, and the supplies required.  Each activity was previously published in the Scholastic Magazine, and as such has been tried and tested.  Simple black and white illustrations dot the pages.

Seasonal Activities by bright ideas, sample page

Even though my lad is 13 years old, I found activities that I will be modifying to use over the coming year as we study Canada and the wars.  Things like travel study guides, radar mapping, cleaning barracks and more.  Do they need to be adapted sure?  It’s all part of the learning right?

Seasonal Activities table of contents

My Thoughts:

I love the sheer variety of things to do.  From kite-flying to building a collage.  There are things to delight and entertain any number of curious, creative 5-11 year olds. With some modifications, they could even be used at hands-on, stem projects for older students as well. 

seasonal activities book cover

 

Seasonal Ideas

Bright Ideas
Scholastic Publications
Softcover, ages 5-11,
crafts, activities, seasons

Found on Amazon.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book

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I can’t recall where I picked this book up or even if it’s a hangover from my childhood, all I know is that every time I go a cull of my art books and ask,”Do I REALLY need to keep this one?”, somehow this book ends up back on my shelf.  🙂   Ergo, I thought it was about time for me to share it with you.  My copy of McCalls Golden Do-It Book is getting a bit battered, the spine is loose, the pages a bit worn, but still the ideas are as real as anything.  So much make and do within the pages of this book.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book, collage

What do you get?

A number of different sections divide up this tome.  Each section containing 2-8 projects, great for children 6-14 years old.  (or later if so inclined).   Littles might like to try their hand as well but will most likely need some older person’s help to make the projects turn out well.

  1. Crayons, Paint, Paper, and Paste
  2. Printing
  3. Sculpture
  4. Toys
  5. Weaving
  6. Needlework
  7. Dolls
  8. Music
  9. Puppets
  10. Gifts
  11. How-to Section

You may be wondering, have we even completed any of the projects?   Well we’ve made cars and houses out of boxes, the lad for a while was big into paper craft, we’ve made boats and done some weaving.  Do I have pictures?  Um… no.  That would have been on my hard drive (external) that crashed last year and we’ve been unable to recover the data.  And well.. that’s that!

McCalls Golden Do-It Book, sample page spread

One thing I do want to try yet with my lad is making a seed painting and a yarn painting.  I just think they’d be rather neat to do and see what we could each come up with… or maybe I should save those ideas for co-op days.  🙂  Even to making sample kites to fly over enemy territory…hmm.. the ideas are endless.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book sample page

What do I think?

Some of the instructions could be a bit clearer and some items are used which aren’t as common today (for instance, I’ve never used rubber cement with my lad).   I’ve not heard of excelsior… which when I google it is a woody twine all mixed together.  Where to find I dunno.   It does sound neat to play around with just to see what one could do with it. Most of the instructions are just enough while leaving the rest to common sense.  Will it make the cut next spring?   I dunno, we’ve done most of what we want to in it, so we may just need to pass it along to another family with a creative keener. 🙂  It’s a good book with oodles of images and ideas to go along with each art project.

McCalls Golden Do-It Book, book cover

 McCalls Golden Do-It Book
Hardcover, 160 pages, 6-14 years
Art, crafts, creativity
Where to find Amazon.

 

Adventures in Art

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Next year my son wants to base his studies around Canada and the various wars she’s taken part in.   I look at it as a great time to examine a lot of different parts of the world along with it’s history, geography, science and more.  Doing art I hope will play a big part of that. I decided to dig into my collection of art books for today’s post I felt some inspiration hit. The book?  Adventures in Art.adventures in art, art post on this bookThere are over 200 different art and craft projects listed in this paperback book.  Projects that will appeal to a wide variety of individuals.  I hope my lad will like some of the projects I pull out for him to do, but since there are so many options available to us, if one doesn’t appeal another might.  🙂

I can’t show you all the projects I’ve been looking at, but wouldn’t it be great to make salt dough maps of the different areas?  Or even try to replicate a bridge or two?

adventures in art, sample page

I’ve been thinking through some ideas about how to paint some of the scenes that my son is sure to run across.  or even the idea of making a wind puppet to but I don’t know if wind puppets were used in the war to show where the wind was at.  I”m guessing some variation of that would be used in the Second War, but possibly in the first as a warning about poison gas.

I was thinking about how sometimes children would make small gifts to send to their fathers on the front and the idea of making a bookmark appealed to me. It might be interesting to see what the lad thought a dad far off would like to see from home don’t you think?

adventures in art, sample page

Anyways, this book is just laden with ideas to choose from. from making a banner, or a portable chess board, or even trying our hand at yard painting (instead of doing a salt dough map, do a yard painting one). It’s just fascinating the ideas I am finding. I’ll need to sound some of the off for the lad and see what he thinks. It will be fun don’t you think?

So what do you get?

160 pages, 200+ art ideas.

The first 16 pages are devoted to telling how to use this book.

The remainder of the book is divided into 11 sections

  • the artists’ ways – artists and art styles
  • first impressions – printmaking
  • anything goes – abstract
  • Artful animal
  • portait gallery
  • the third dimension – sculptures
  • garden of delights – botanical art
  • lay of the land – landscapes
  • home, sweet home – architecture
  • fine furnishings – art for the home
  • eye of the beholder – art you can wear

What do you think?   Can we use this technique to do a night time war scene?

adventures in art - sample page

adventures in art, book cover

 

Adventures in art: arts and crafts experiences for 8-13 year olds
Susan Milord
Williamson Publishing
160 pages, softcover, arts and crafts, 8-13 years

Find it on Amazon.

Illustration Workshop

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Raincoast Books sent me a great book to review called Illustration Workshop.  This is a practical book filled with inspiration and exercises to delight those looking for some creative fun as well as educate those looking to broaden their skills as they look towards a career as an illustrator.   If you want to create attention-grabbing work, this workshop will help you. 

Illustration WorkshopMy Thoughts:

I’m going to tell you right up front… I really like this book.  There is a firm appreciation for good teaching up front.  I love the loads of exercises that the reader is walked through. The graphics and the step by step teaching, and the checklist at the end of lesson is simply marvellous.   Great for the student who really wants to learn, and yet loose enough to attract those who just want to get better at something they love without the pressure to do it as a professional … learning but keeping it fun. 

Now on to the nitty gritty.

What do you get?

Illustrators workshop

The section illustrating like an illustrator walks you through the ideas of illustrating… from what illustrating is to how to combine concept with style, targeting your audience and more.  Well written text that explains each thought simply yet thoroughly.   Could lots more the said about each topic?  Sure, but there is enough to get you started on your own journey of discovery. 

Materials, bright and colourful section with some basic information given to help you determine what your needs are. Each type of implement with it’s pros and cons. 

Illustration Workshop

The next section walks us through the steps taken through each of the 36 assignments given. Given examples of how to complete each section so you end up with illustrations that you are happy with. 

It is rather nice I think, that the author includes a section on how to do some of your drawings using computer software.  She urges the illustrator to complete work by hand as it takes longer but gives you more control, helps you improve your ability to draw and helps you to be more thoughtful about your work. Digitizing your work means it is easier to play around with your colour palette and to make incremental changes more easily. 

The Warm up section was just plain fun.  Different ideas to get you thinking creatively from using scribbles to make a drawing, using hatch marks to create an image, using shapes to make a picture and more. 

36 Assignments

The 36 assignments were created to take away the “what on earth do I draw” dilemma.  This gives people an actual project to work on.  Call them, if you will, 36 mini projects to give the budding professional illustrator confidence in approaching a paid project of their own.   These assignments cover such topics as greeting cards, book covers, bottle packaging, and hankerchiefs.   Interesting assignments to delight you the illustrator.

Each assignment follows a similar format: 

The assignment page.  This page includes with the requirements of the assignment clearly given. 

Illustration Workshop

The next steps include thoughts the illustrator might have on the assignment.   All these steps help the illustrator come up with ideas to help them create the product needed.

Illustration Workshop

Each of the following steps walks the illustrator through the necessary steps to complete their final product. Brainstorming through text and drawings, developing your concept, creating thumbnails, making rough sketches, and then revising your sketch til it’s about where you want it.

Illustrations workshopA lovely checklist is provided for each of the assignments, giving you a way to double check that you have completed each of the steps before you finalize your project.

Illustrations WorkshopThe final step gives you a chance to have fun with your project, choosing your best writing/drawing medium, surface to use, colours needed and so forth.  It’s where all your research and activity comes to a conclusion.

In conclusion

At the close of the book are a number of practice sheets where an illustrator can improve their skills drawing some specific targets like hands, bikes, people wearing a gorilla suit, and animals.  A chance to practice lettering to demonstrate emotions like fear, energy, and playfulness. These pages allow people to play around with drawing trees, people, buildings and more.   Improve skills and just keep drawing.  

Illustration Workshop

This well-laid out book gives the illustrator a chance to build for themselves a small portfolio that they can use to showcase their work. It allows the novice art student to experience what an illustrator needs to do in order to be successful and to improve their skills.

This well-laid out book gives the illustrator a chance to build for themselves a small portfolio that they can use to showcase their work. It allows the just for fun learner to experience what an illustrator needs to do in order to be… Share on X

An excellent book for novice and seasoned illustrator alike.

Illustration Workshop

Illustration Workshop

Find your style, practice drawing skills, and build a stellar portfolio.
Mary Kate McDevitt
Chronicle Books
Art, Illustration, Workshop, Drawing
Softcover, 192 pages
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.
Where to find: Amazon Link.