The Handwork teacher

I am a mother to two beautiful girls and I teach Handwork and Fine Arts in our local waldorf charter school in Arizona.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

plant dyeing with 3rd and 5th



Yesterday I got out the dye pots and we had a party at school.....not literally.

I had 5th grade dye their skeins for their horses
and 3rd grade dyed their skeins for their recorder cases

And once the Kindergarten teachers saw the dye pots they ran over with 10 yards of flannel and dyed skin color (madder root and black walnut) for their knot babies.

and here is the view as you walk into my handwork room


HOW TO PLANT DYE WITH 3rd GRADERS


I did this with them after 3 or 4 classes, so they had projects that they were working on in their handwork bag.
I had dye pots ready. I had a sample of the recorder case and we talked about darkest to lightest. I told them to think about what colors they wanted and I had pre cut papers with crayons for the recorder pattern...they colored in the space where they would be filling in the dark color, then they would color in a line for the light color, then they would go back to darker for a bit (less color now) then they would do more light, then less dark, then more light, then one line of dark. then all light.
we colored for about 10 mins and one by one when they were done, they came outside and dyed their skein by putting it in the dye pot.....that's it, then they went back inside and continued their projects. at the end of class they rung out their skein and hung it.
So it took one class only. the next class they paired up and rolled balls of yarn . I got the unbleached yarn bulky weight from Brown sheet.

9 comments:

Maymomvt said...

Beautiful. I"ll be curious to hear how the 3rd grade weaving goes. Lou loved weaving with yarn, but didn't seem to have the same interest or ability as Helen to compose a weaving based off the landscape around her. Both girls wove between a forked branch in 3rd grade, but there was nothing really composed about it!

Iris said...

This is an amazing room! I really hope you have a year full of inspiration and creativity!

I also loved the videos of your girls! My two daughters aged 3 and 6 were absolutely enthralled when I showed them. My six year old is begging me to teach her to knit, so we've planned it for September when we return from our holidays. I ordered the books you posted about earlier in the year and am looking forward to getting started. Thank you again for sharing so much information and resources with us.

Cadi said...

So beautiful!

Did you dye your car, too? Just kidding! :-)

Sue said...

I love the color of your handwork room and the look of the walls.
:0)
Just beautiful!

waldorfmama said...

wow, what a beautiful room! i, too, love the lazure on the walls - so very lovely and inviting!

denise said...

What a beautiful space. Very creative and inspiring.

I love the skeins hanging up to dry. Nice!

woolladyfelter said...

How is your school year taking off? Your room is an inspiration indeed. I'm sure it took a while - beautiful blending. Is that the room you will be teaching your upper grade painting class?
I'm just back from vacation and I will be posting soon with my progress. Our school starts Sept 3.

Teaching Handwork said...

Julia-
THis is only my handwork space. I teach middle school art in their own classes. in 2 years we will have an art building and that will house the middle school art room....wahooo!

World Wide Alternative said...

I love you & your room!
It's been way, way too long...Xxx