Sunday 9 February 2014

Ancient Treasures - Chest Part 1


This term our out project is on ancient treasures. The children are very excited about this! Following our visit to see the Incas exhibition they had lots of design ideas ready. First we will be making a chest and then the treasures to go inside.

Today we began 4 panels for the treasure chest.  The first panels were made by drawing a design with glue from a glue gun onto card. This gave a raised line. Next the children glued scraps of gold tissue paper over the whole surface using wallpaper paste. We needed to ensure all the pieces were pushed around the raised design and the ends tucked in. We added a layer of glue on top. Once this was all dry we used metallic paints to dry-brush over the raised areas to highlight them more. Lastly fake gems were glued in place with a glue gun.

Relief panel by R

Relief panel by L

Our second panels were made with real metal. We used the thin metal sheets from tomato purée tubes. These mostly seem to be made of plastic these days but luckily I had a stash hidden away! You can also buy thin metal sheets from craft suppliers. To emboss a design draw over the surface with a thin rounded tool. An empty Biro pen is the ideal thing but as we had none of those we just used the handle of a small paintbrush. Draw from the front for an indented design or from the back for a raised design.

Embossing a design on thin metal
We mounted the metal sheets onto card using the glue gun again. The boarder was painted with metallic acrylics. Don't waste money on the children's paints, their coverage is really poor. Go for the artists acrylics instead. We found the Jo Sonjas brand the best. More gems and mosaic tiles were added.

Embossed metal design by R

Embossed metal design by L
We used some shiny fabric to line a box; we just simply stapled it inside. Then we attached the panels to the box with glue gun (see top). We have the 2 smaller sides and the lid of the box to decorate next. Check back soon for the finished piece.

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