Tag Archives: free printables

Printables, Sculpture, Uncategorized

Sculpting Giant Paper Mache Heads

You haven’t lived until you’ve made a giant paper mâché head. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but it is pretty exciting. I’ve found that teaching 3D art in a school without a kiln forces me to think outside of the box and embrace some slightly goofy and larger-than-life ideas, and these paper mâché heads definitely fit into that category. My students are loving this project because it challenges them but also allows them to be a bit kooky and playful. Plus, they’ll end up with a wearable paper mâché head at the end, and who wouldn’t love that?

sculpting paper mâché heads that you can wear

Planning Paper Mâché Head Sculptures

We started this project by choosing a notable person that the students would like to sculpt. I had the students collect a range of photos of the person so that they could use those as references for the head shape and facial features. We also studied standard facial proportion to help us determine the size and placement of facial features on the head.

Paper Mâché Head Construction

Once planned, we started on the construction. You can see the detailed instructions for the construction of this project in the handout below and you can download a free .pdf file at the end of this post.

paper mâché head tutorial
Download the free .pdf file of this handout at the end of this post.

Basically, each student needed to make a cylinder of cardboard that fit around their head, without going over their shoulders. The cylinder should cover their entire head and extend around 4-5 inches above the top of their heads, when worn. We created the cylinders by using an Xacto knife to score lines in cardboard to make it curve. We then formed it into a cylinder and secured it with tape.

The remaining construction steps involve using cardboard and newspaper to secure the form and sculpt the face. The sculpting consists of crumpling the newspaper into different shapes and securing it on the head with tape. We then cover the entire form in tape to give it a smoother surface on which to add the paper mâché.

Steps for making large paper mâché heads.

The students are just now starting on their painting. We are discussing trompe l’oiel painting techniques to add the appearance of texture and details in areas like facial features and hair. This style of painting tricks the eye into perceiving painted details as three-dimensional objects, so it can be used to enhance the form of our sculptures. I’m excited to see how they turn out and I’ll be creating another post for the finished products so check back soon for that.

Interested in trying this project in your classroom? Download the handout below.

Paper Mâché Head InstructionsDownload

Update: Check out painted and finished heads here!

Downloads, Printables, Resources, Uncategorized

Printable Graduation Cards – Another School Year Down

Well, another school year is in the books and I’m sitting here on the first day of summer in my jogging gear ready to start my summer exercise regime. Being the typical inattentive A.D.D.er though, I have strayed to writing on my blog instead of a jog. Oh well, I’m still dressed for a jog so I’ll get out there eventually. Ha!

(Disclosure: This post uses affiliate links. See terms & conditions for more details.)

This Teacher is Ready for Summer

I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty spent from this school year. We had a lot of challenges as a school this year, and I had some personal struggles as well. I had some trying moments in the discipline area with some students (discipline has always been my weakest skill as a teacher). We also lost a student this year to suicide and we had a community shooting that left our school on lockdown for a day and resulted in the loss of a popular police officer in town.  In short, it was a very emotional year.

Emotions will continue tonight for me as I attend our high school graduation ceremony and watch some of my favorite artsy kids accept their diplomas and venture out on their new life paths. Luckily these emotions are much happier. I’m excited for them but will miss seeing their faces next year.

Graduation Cards for High School Students

From a practical standpoint though, graduation time always poses a problem for me because I want to give my students a card or memento, but I have so many students graduating that the cost can quickly sky-rocket. I’ve purchased little journals from the dollar store as gifts before but I don’t like the dollar store cards. They seem incredibly generic and lack any charm. Luckily, I’m an art teacher so I can make my own.

Printable graduation cards for free.
I painted a colorful wash on all of the cards using watercolor paint.

I like to leave my graduating students with some words of wisdom and, thankfully, there are many wiser people than I who have left quotes behind to help. I found this great one by Abraham Lincoln that fits the graduation theme so well. I also like how it encourages the students to take agency in their lives and be creators rather than mindless doers. I created a design of the quote with fun fonts and hand-drawn elements. I then laid it out so that two cards could be printed per page.

Customizing Graduation Cards

These cards can be printed on good old white cardstock and will work just fine, but there are many ways that you can customize them as well.

A free graduation card download.
Print this card on a variety of different cardstock options to customize it.

To start with, you can use a variety of colored cardstock to add some pop to each card. You could also use Kraft cardstock if you wanted to create a more rustic look. If you want to make them even more unique, try what I did: Create a wash using watercolor paint.

I cut watercolor paper to match the size of a standard piece of printer paper (8.5 x 11) but you can also order printable watercolor paper that will work even better. I then used watercolor paint to create a variety of simple washes on the paper. You can do this just by wetting the paper and then lightly laying in color with your brush.  Be careful of mixing too many colors in this process because you might end up with a muddy mix. Let the pages dry completely and then press them using a heated press or an iron on low heat (put the painted paper between two plain pieces of paper so that the watercolor doesn’t stick to your iron).

Free printable graduation card.
This is how your card will look when it is printed out. Cut it in half and then fold to create two cards.

Once the watercolor paper has been dried and prepped, you can then feed it through your printer.  After it’s printed, cut the paper in half and fold to create your cards. The inside is blank so you have plenty of space to write a meaningful message to the graduate. The finished results are one-of-a-kind cards that can be created relatively quickly (We all know teachers have no extra time).

I hope you enjoy these graduation cards. I also hope all of you teachers out there have had a good school year and will have a wonderful and well-deserved summer. Enjoy!

You can download the .pdf for the card at the link below.

Free Downloadable Graduation Card

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