Friday, June 5, 2020

Sculpture Technique, Construct from Artistic Pursuits Inc. Review

{Disclaimer:  I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.}


Our family loves creating new things so when we were given the opportunity to try out Sculpture Technique, Construct from Artistic Pursuits Inc. we were on board right away!  You may remember our review last year of ARTistic Pursuits  Volume 1 {spoiler = we enjoyed it}.

 Artistic Pursuits Inc.
Our spiral bound book

This program is all about making things with your hands!  This book is geared toward upper elementary to high school students, ages 11-18.  It helps teach the concepts of construction methods in papermaking, papier-mâché, cardboard and wire.  Students are asked to select and create projects that are relevant and interesting to them, which makes it very enjoyable!

Materials List/Art Supplies for each unit

Our book is divided into 4 main units:  creating form in papermaking, creating planes in cardboard, creating motion with papier-mâché, and creating volume with wire.  There is a supply list near the beginning of the book that lets you know what materials you will need for each unit.  At the end of each unit, there is an evaluation for the student to reflect on all they've accomplished.  This is such a great addition.

Creating a sculpture from homemade paper.

Paper Making!  One of the first things we did with this program was to make our own paper.  This was so fun.  David made paper as a kid but no one else in our family had any experience making paper before this book.  We started off with strips of newspaper and various scraps of construction paper that all basically made various shades of greys.  We made a few other colors as well for fun - rose, yellow, green, etc.  One of the most important items you will need for making your own paper is a papermaking dip handmold kit.  You will definitely want this!  It makes the process a million times easier.

Making Paper

To make our own paper we first had to prepare the paper pulp.  This is done by soaking your paper scraps in water and then blending them using a blender.

How to make paper.
 Above you can see our newspaper scraps and water.

How to make paper.
After first round of blending.  We had to blend it even more than this.

After your pulp is made, you will pour it into your dishpan.  The thickness of your paper will be determined by the ratio of your pulp to water in your dishpan.  The more pulp, the thicker the sheets will be.  

Making Paper
Our handmold dip kit

Using your handmold dip kit, you can now pull a sheet of paper out of your dishpan.

Making Paper
Pulling out a sheet of paper

Pulling a sheet of paper
You can see all the pulp!  Tilt your frame to help get excess water off your paper.

After removing the deck frame and adding the cover screen over the paper pulp, you will use a sponge to absorb water out of the paper.

After removing the deck

 After adding the cover screen we used a sponge to help get excess water out of our paper.

 We ended up using towels and an iron to help our paper dry faster.

 Slowly ironing our paper.  Make sure to follow directions carefully if you choose to do this step.

Making Paper
 A finished sheet of paper!

Making Paper
The various colors of paper we created.

Paper Sculpture Directions

Once we made our paper, we created an elephant.  First, we drew our image on white copy paper.  Then, we cut out the pieces.  We traced our pieces onto various shades of grey paper that we made and cut them out.  We added tabs onto the pieces so that we could glue them down with a slight 3D effect.

Our elephant

Our elephant pieces

Homemade paper
Assembling our elephant

Homemade Paper
Our finished elephant project.  We glued it onto a piece of yellow paper that we made as well.

Creating a wire sculpture

Next, we wanted to create a sculpture with wire!  It is recommended to start with a fish because the simple form allows you to learn how to handle the wire and create connections.

I purchased 16 gauge aluminum wire for this project.  We had everything else on hand.

Directions for creating a wire fish sculpture.

Creating Fish Wire Sculpture
 A made her fish outline out of wire first.

 Then she embellished her fish with beads and extra wire.

Creating Fish Wire Sculpture
 A's finished fish wire sculpture!

I really like that in this program students learn the processes involved in using a variety of materials!  They truly become a creator and sculptor by implementing the methods described in this book.  There are still so many projects for us to complete with our book.  I am really looking forward to the section on creating 3-D forms using corrugated board and cardboard.  We have all the supplies to do this next.  If you are looking for a hands-on art program that focuses on construction and sculpting, we would highly recommend this one.  It doesn't disappoint.  I also want to note that this can be a credit Sculpture course for high school depending on the amount of time spent on this course and your state requirements.  I am planning on using this as a credit for A!

I also want to share with you that Brenda from Artistic Pursuits Inc. has been working hard to create FREE online video lessons for beginning drawing students.  I hope you will check them out.  There are also new online courses for their K-3 Level Books that you can check out here as well.

 I love this owl drawing that E created independently using one of the free online video lessons mentioned above.  Isn't she cute?

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read even more reviews of Artistic Pursuits Inc. including some of their other books.

Art Through The Ages & Art for Children {Artistic Pursuits Inc. Reviews}

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6 comments:

Nyxie said...

This is so awesome! I'd love to give this a go.

Jennifer Gilbert said...

This looks like so much fun! The elephant is so adorable! My daughter would love to try this!!!

Anamika said...

These are the creative works... That sculpture with wire that finished look of fish wire sculpture just beautyful.

Erin said...

These are some cool and creative projects to make! How fun to make your own paper!

Kristy Bullard said...

This is such a great learning experience! I think my kiddos would love to make their own paper. And, the elephant craft is so cool!

Tracy said...

I think I did once before when I was still in school but not such complicated one though. It was fun!