35th First Day of School

Ok, I'm not going to get creative here... yet (kind of ironic to say for an art teacher), but want to start documenting my school year from the beginning and I'll get to the aesthetics of this site later. (Trust me, it's killing me for it not to be perfect RIGHT NOW). For now it's a generic blog template.

It's Monday night, Labor Day, and tomorrow is the first day of my 16th year teaching but, with 19 years as a student before that, this makes my 35th first day of school in my life. WOW!

Of course I let this day slip away from me (laying in bed with my People Magazine, drinking coffee, checking up on important things like Instagram, Facebook and my "Hanging with Friends" (only one of them is actually my friend), completely gutting both of my daughters' closets and dressers to reorganize and make room for the new school clothes that, of course, I've been collecting all summer.  They must start the school year with organized closets, rid of the things they never wear, right? I couldn't possibly do that NEXT weekend.  It would be too late and the world would end.

 So the majority of my day was spent organizing (hence, the name of my blog including the words "Left Brained"), plus making a week's worth of PB&J's to freeze for their lunches this week.  Whew! Now I sit down to put the finishing touches on my first week of school (and first time ever teaching calligraphy), I'm exhausted and it's 7:00pm.  I really want to get back to the book I'm reading right now ("Divergent," a Hunger Games-ish book recommended by a colleague/friend of mine) pop a couple Melatonin's and catch some Z's.

I've been tossing around ideas how to start the year. Teaching an elective course there is a lot of turn-around with all the schedule changes so I don't like to get in too deep until the 3rd week or so.  I really want to try teaching about Zentangles and spent quite a bit of time on that this weekend, but I got this really great idea from, where else, Pinterest- a woman's blog called "Make it a Wonderful Life"  It's a crayon batik and I'm going to have all of my classes (3 periods of Design Craft, 1 period of Calligraphy and a handful of International Baccalaureate Visual Arts students) participate.  She made bookmarks, but I'm going to have my students make name tags for their storage cubbies.  I am a thief when it comes to finding ideas, so I cannot take credit for this. 

 Cut the paper into 5.5 inch x 2 inch strips.

Color your design with crayons. Using lighter colors works best. Press hard so the paper is completely covered.

 

 Now crumple your paper. Crumple and smooth, crumple and smooth out two or three times, taking care not to rip the paper. Too crumpled may mean more "batik" effect than you want. Oh, and see in the photo how the paper on the left has a fold all the way across? Try to avoid that unless you want a black line there, as you will see in my later photos..

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 Rub over your artwork with the liquid shoe polish.

 Cover completely and wipe off quickly with a paper towel or soft cloth.

You can use paint, but this works better and easier. And a bottle of shoe polish goes a long way. (Most of my students have no idea what shoe polish is actually used for!)

 Once it's dry, I like to buff it a bit with the cloth or paper towel. It's hard to see in the photo, but it gives a bit of sheen to the paper.

If you're making bookmarks, mount on 2 1/2-inch by 6 1/2-inch card stock. Laminate if you'd like.




Ok, I could go on and on, but I gots to go for tonight.  Wish me luck!!