tape sculpture

The real joy of this project was seeing how the kids related to their simple tape objects in creative, playful and unexpected ways. The most basic sculpture was Henry and Sylvia's half orb. It became something to hide in, a giant bowl for pasta, an umbrella, etc. I was enchanted by their whimsy.

Linnea and Carina filled their tape basket (formed over a wooden barrel) with dandelions and violets. They were doing a great deal of skipping.

Carina and Gillian's unicycle turned out to be the least playful object, along with the little taped chair. Neither the chair nor the unicycle could be played with and they just became neutral copies of the real (more potent) objects. The tape bat, ball, and tennis racket were also pretty excellent until somebody tried to hit the tape ball with the real bat and it collapsed on itself. Alas.

tape sculpture

Today we explored the world of tape sculpture. I paired kids up and gave each group a roll of super heavy duty scotch packing tape to work with. I told them to walk around the outside of my house and find an object (or objects if they were small) to make a tape copy from. Tape sculpture is a great way to work large and to explore simple forms. I encouraged looking for simple things and gave them the example of a garden shovel -- mostly because I thought it would be funny to see a shovel made out of tape. Anyway, the various groups chose to copy from a bouncy ball, a unicycle, a bat and ball, a child's chair, and a wooden barrel.

Tape sculpture can also be used in a more decorative way. The tape layers can encapsulate small decorative items like glitter, sequins, ribbons, pebbles or grass. You can make tape shoes, hats, and dresses using your own body as a form. I decided to focus on the large form sculptural aspects of the tape medium, so I didn't give the kids any decorative options.

Tape sculpture is based on a very simple method: use a form; tape around the form with sticky side out; place decorative items on the sticky tape if you are using them; create a second skin of tape with sticky side down; cut the tape form off the original and apply more tape to the cut seams.

Some tips. The more expensive the tape, the stiffer the finished form. Try and pop for the expensive tape if you can when creating larger forms. When you are finished with the second layer of tape do a hand check for stickiness along the outside of the form. If any parts are left sticky in the finished piece they will attract dirt. If you have trouble cutting the form off the original, you might need a straight edge. This medium is very forgiving. Even if the cuts are messy and crude, the final project looks just fine.

Warning. Don't let kids put tape on their lips. We had one student take off a layer of lip skin by being goofy. Kids should tie back their hair. You wouldn't guess this was a dangerous project, but somehow we had a few mishaps.

fake fur

Isaiah was intrigued by these pull-string stuffed cars. He altered the cars (note the lime green wheels and orange bodies) and now the mobiles are driven by a "God Bless America" enthusiast and a pink duck with bunny ears.

Carina made these two little critters and salvaged the plastic eyes from other animals. She also made a duck with bunny legs protruding from its stomach (not pictured).

Henry made this dragon from that delightful leopard fur I was coveting in the Anna Chamber's box. The dragon wings are made from some type of stretchy, metallic swimsuit fabric. Henry's dragon has fluffy, yellow bunny ears.

Isak's alterations were very subtle and disturbing. He found two identical blue stuffed bunnies and combined them. He came up with siamese twins. One twin has only one bunny ear and one bunny eye. The other twin is missing an arm. Ouch.

fake fur

When I asked the kids at the beginning of the year what materials they wanted to work with in art club, many answered "fake fur". Fake fur can be expensive, and I didn't have a stash in my basement, so it took me awhile to come up with a plan. Over spring break my family was in New Orleans for Easter and we came back with a garbage bag full of stuffed animals that the kids caught during the three different Easter parades we attended. After picking out a few special stuffed animals, Jimmy and Henry agreed to donate the rest of the animals to the art club as fake fur fodder.

Also, the art club received a generous donation of inspired fake fur and other special tactile delights from our favorite stuffed animal artist, Anna Chambers. Thank you, Anna. A few months ago I emailed Anna about the club and shared photos with her of the art club's felted creatures (directly inspired by her work). She packed up this box of materials for future fun. Check out the pink and red leopard spot fur. What a dream!

I told the kids they could cut apart the stuffed animals for materials and create new objects inspired by the fake fur. Many of them were delighted at the idea of cutting into a stuffed animal (I guess they hadn't been allowed the pleasure previously) and also a little disturbed. One student let out a strange yelp the first time she cut off a bunny ear.

Linnea is a real animal lover. She always wants to draw her pet gerbil or puppy, and dreams about horses. She is extremely gentle in all her dealings with other people and creatures -- by the end of the day she was engaged in pink bunny decapitation.