Sandpaper Prints!

Sandpaper prints were a huge success in my class.  I first heard about these kind of prints when my colleague took his grade four class to the Leighton Centre near Calgary. Following this, I looked on the internet for instructions and found a lesson written up by Shelley Port. You can find the instructions through this link: 

Sandpaper Prints

Of course, I ran the lesson a little bit differently to fit my students and my curriculum. I chose to print their pictures on clothe rather than paper. (I was also thinking that this would be a great way to make t-shirts! Maybe next year....) 

 Below is the basic outline of the lesson I did with my students.

Materials: 

- a poem about Spring (choose one with a lot of imagery)

- 80 grit sandpaper (cut each sheet into quarters)

- wax crayons

- broad clothe or paper

- an iron

1. Read a poem about Spring. Have the students follow along with their own copy. Then, have students draw the pictures of Spring that they got from listening to the poem.

2. Ask students to choose one simple picture and draw it on a piece of sandpaper using wax crayon.

They must colour the entire piece of sandpaper and apply a lot of wax onto the sandpaper. 

3. Iron the wax picture onto broad clothe or a piece of paper. Do this by placing the sandpaper face down on the clothe. When the sandpaper starts to lift off the edges it should be finished. 

4. Students can reapply wax crayon to their sandpaper when it has cooled down. Following this, they can have it reprinted. (I usually let them know that their second and third prints are not going to turn out as well as the first.) 

Like I said, this project was a huge hit with my students. I am not sure what turned out better, the first sandpaper print on the clothe, or the melted wax picture on the sandpaper in the end. We saved the sandpaper and pasted it in our art portfolios. 

Here are a few more pictures of their masterpieces: