Lesson of the week Part 1

I have been hanging on to do this with year 6 ALL term...I was so excited and kept promising them we'd end the term with something so cool. I made sure I kept it secret. Then I'd let little things out, possibly because I couldn't contain my excitement! I only said we were doing sculpture. This conjures up wonderful images of clay and bronze and chisels and hammers...but this was a little different...certainly a lot more accessible!
This was the wire hanger and 'pantyhose' (because I'm British I'm going to call it popsock from hereon in if you don't mind!) sculpture I'd seen on Pinterest (I <3 you) and a Google check for more instructions.

It took a LOT of prep but prep I could cope with compared to papier mache prep...ugh...

Resources:

• Enough wire coat hangers. Ask your friendly ICT teacher for his spare dry cleaning hangers
• Wooden blocks cut from some old 3x5 timber we had (it was actually from our camp fire stockpile but mum's the word...). Another option next year would be to stick the wire hanger ends into a lump of clay and mould that as a base and maybe incorporate that into the sculpture
• Cheapy popsocks. Don't go and get a pair for each child, get to the cash desk before you realise you only need one sock per child's sculpture and therefore half the number of boxes you picked up and have to put 13 pairs of pop socks back on the shelf (Advice: do this early in the morning to avoid too many funny looks)
• Base covering. Some sites suggest just white paint (likely to crack when dry especially when painted over), other's suggested spray paint (wouldn't want the smell even outside and lingering inside especially in a bulk amount of sculptures), I went for the gesso option but it is a fortune in the local art shop, for a class-worth anyway. So I made my own. I'll be posting on that next. Really glad I made it!

This is what I did. Any amendment or suggestion to better the method please throw it my way please!

Step 1 - The Frame (needs to be done days in advance for the glue to dry)

• Drill the holes in the block
• Untwist the hangers. Grab your long-suffering partner to help. Taking off the hook is an option or you could straighten it out. As long as the ends are straight to go into the drilled holes
• Fill the holes with wood glue or contact cement (that suits all materials)
• Stick in the hanger ends as far as possible and leave to dry

Step 2 - The Gesso. I made this the night before.

Step 3 - Unpack the Popsocks to save time!

Step 4 - Surprise the kids - Day of the Project. ExciiiiiiitIIIING! Even more so because this was an extra art session I had arranged with Mrs. C and we agreed to make it a surprise. I know, who said art should be fun...

Step 5 - Mould the wire frame. Encourage small, gentle movements, maybe in opposing forces and directions. Think about forward and backward movement rather than a flat plane.

Step 6 - Pop sock time. Stretch the sock over pulling down  from what would be the toe so there are no baggy, saggy bits. I got them to put the band around the block of wood so there was still a flat stable surface underneath.

Step 7 - A few tweaks to bend the frame a bit more where they needed it. They realised here that the sock will not always follow the line of the wire and may stretch from one point to another.

Step 8 - Time to coat. The room was filled with the gorgeous smell of baby powder! What a beautiful, emulsive , gloopy mixture. They worked on covering their sculpture, layering it up rather than one thick layer, keeping the layers even, covering the texture of the sock.

Step 9 - Leave to dry.