I am adapting this unit from a project on dickblick.com: Painted Accordion Books (2006). We will begin by creating personal symbols on Tuesday. I expect this total project to take two to three weeks, as it involves the design of a symbol, painting of two canvases, and assembling the canvases, paper, and other pieces into a book.

While this is a wonderful lesson page, I can provide a lot more guidance than dickblick.com’s page offers, such as information for ordering the correct amount of materials, and pitfalls that can occur with inattentive students. I have reprinted dickblick.com’s instructions and material list on the left, with my commentary on the right.

I’ve added a preliminary component: that of students creating their own symbols. I have included an image of my demonstration symbols/logos below. I will add updates as we continue this project.

PERSONAL SYMBOL
Steps	Requirements for Final Design
RESEARCH. Look through the books or on the Internet for inspiration. Make a few skteches; you may copy right out of the book/webpage. [I have 35 books full of symbols, ornaments, logos and motifs from around the world and throughout history. Many of these were purchased at a good price from Dover Publishing.] THUMBNAILS. Make at least four preliminary unique designs for your personal symbol. [My eight thumbnail designs are shown in an image below.] FINAL DESIGN. Choose one thumbnail and redraw it. Refine and perfect it. See the requirements on the right.	COLOR. Symbol must be in black and white only. UNIQUE. Symbol must be uniquely created by you.It may include elements from other symbols. MEANING. You should be prepared to explain how your symbol represents you. DEDICATION. Demonstrate significant time and effort in your work

ACCORDION BOOKS
Procedure	Notes
1. Paint canvas panels, making sure edges are covered. Allow to dry.	These canvas panels are 4″ by 4″. Instruct students to paint all the way around the edges and about a half inch into the other side. That way there won’t be any unattractive gaps between the painted edge and the paper that will eventually be glued onto the backs of the panels.I will be encouraging students to paint bands of blended color or create texture for the background to the symbols, rather than simply painting the panels flat colors. The students will paint their logo/symbol when the background has dried completely. This will work best if the background has light or vivid colors and the symbol/logo is black. When deciding on the location of the symbol, consider where the glass glob will be placed.
2. Fold paper. Start by measuring 4″ from one end and making the first fold. Use that fold as a guideline to fold the rest of the sheet, accordion style, until page is completely folded.	I’m pre-cutting the paper into 4″ x 24″ strips ahead of time. Caution students to be very careful and precise when measuring and folding. Otherwise the book will look poorly crafted no matter how pretty the covers are.
3. Glue bead or Glass Glob in the center of the front canvas panel (painted side). To place a word or small picture under the Glass Glob, place it on top the word and trace the shape lightly with a sharp pencil. Cut the word out by cutting well on the inside of the line you traced. Glue the word in the center of the panel, then glue the Glass Glob on top of it.
4. There are 2 ways to attach the tie to the back canvas panel: Use colored masking tape. Lay one strip of masking tape down in the center of the back panel (painted side), tuck edges around. Center the tie over the masking tape, use another piece to secure. Make sure the tape edges are cut cleanly. Center the tie over the back panel (unpainted side) and complete step 4, using the page to secure the tie. The texture of the tie will interfere with the back page, but the back cover of the book will be clear.	I’m pre-cutting the hemp ties into 16″ pieces ahead on time.Make sure to secure the tie onto the canvas panel before gluing the folded paper strip on. The difference between the two methods on the left is that in one the tie is taped on the outside, and in the other it’s taped on the inside of the back panel.
5. Flatten the folded paper and apply glue to the front page. Try to get as close to the edges as possible. Center on the back canvas panel and press down. Next, apply glue to the top page again. Place front canvas panel over the top, taking care to align it with the back canvas panel. Allow glue to dry completely, then use tie to close.	Again, the paper is the last thing to get added after the panels and closures are assembled.

Materials
4″ square Blick Canvas Panels, 2 per book
Blick Craft Paint, assorted colors or Blick Artist’s Acrylic Colors	Blickrylic Student Acrylics are a much better deal than either of those two choices, at only about 22 cents per ounce versus 80 cents for the craft paint and $1.99 for the artist’s acrylic.
Blick White Drawing Paper, 18″ × 24″ sheets	Each sheet will make 4 strips of 4″ x 24″ paper, with a 2″ x 24″ bit left over. One package of 100 sheets would be enough for 400 students.
Blickrylic Economy Polymer Paint	I’m using watercolor at the middle school, and acrylic or watercolor at the high school. Tempera will also be fine.
Aleene’s Craft Glue	Any bottled white glue will work. Glue sticks will not be sufficiently strong.
Blick Wonder White brushes	Any brushes suitable for acrylic paint will work.
Color masking tape rolls or Class Pack	I got the class pack of ten colors with the hopes that I can use the ample leftovers in other projects. Each roll is ¾” wide and 60 feet long. Each student will only need a couple of inches. In retrospect, any old masking tape will do (see my March 5th update below.)
Armada Lollypop Scissors	Any standard scissors will work.
Blick Aluminum 18″ ruler	Any standard ruler will work if you pre-cut the 4″ x 24″ paper strips for the students.
Ribbon assortment or Hemp Twine, cut to 16″ length	I got the hemp twine pack. There are nine colors at eight yards per color, for a total of 2,592 inches. At 16″ per student, this pack will accomodate 162 students. That’s about 5 cents per student, versus 14 for the assorted ribbons (and who knows how many pieces would be 16″ or more.)
Antique Beads, Wooden Beads or Glass Globs for closure	I got the 3/8″ glass globs in the 1-pound bag. I got these because they are flat on one side. Students can put a round piece of paper with writing under the glass for a nice effect.
#2 Pencil	Any pencil will do.

Here are my personal symbol thumbnails for demonstration:

UPDATE 2/20/07, Day One:

Most students took to the idea of creating a personal symbol with enthusiasm. Almost all of them took advantage of the books for research, and many began rough ideas for their thumbnails. At the end of tomorrow, they should have four thumbnails, and by Thursday they should have final symbol designs completed.

UPDATE 2/22/07, Day Three:

Most students had all four thumbnails completed by the end of the period yesterday. I turned them back today, some with questions. I spoke with some of the students, asking them to make more careful drawings or explain if or how the designs were unique. A few students copied right out of books and expected me not to be able to tell the difference. I graded thumbnails based on time, effort and originality.

At the beginning of class today, I reminded students of the final design requirements (above.) I also told them the final design should be at least 2 inches by 2 inches so I could see it well, and no more than 4 inches by 4 inches so it would fit on the cover of the book. During the last ten minutes of class today, I went around to each student and asked him/her to explain how the final design represents them. A simple initial letter was not enough – I asked them to tell me how their design of the letter represented them in some way. A few students had no answer for me even though they had been reminded of that requirement at the beginning of class. Most students were able to talk at length, however. These ones had clearly put a good deal of thought into their work. I am grading final designs based on time, effort, originality and ability to convey how it represents the student.

UPDATE 2/17/07, Days Four and Five:

Yesterday, I had everyone paint the backgrounds for the book covers in acrylic paint. I asked them to paint all the way around the edges too. I told them they could use whatever colors they wanted, but when they paint their symbols they will need to have contrast. So, dark background, light paint for the symbol. Light background, dark paint for the symbol. The symbol no longer needs to be in black on white. However, if the background is too busy, the symbol probably won’t show up well. Also, the two covers don’t need to be painted the same, but the students need to think about unity.

Today, students are painting the symbols onto the front covers. A long while ago, I found some carbon paper for typewriters at an estate sale. It dates back to about the 50s. I took the opportunity to explain what it was used for in the past. Then I described how they could lightly tape it to the top edge of their front cover, then tape down their drawing over it. Using a number two pencil, they press firmly over the lines of their drawing to press the carbon onto the canvas surface. This will not work if the background color is too dark. Mechanical pencil leads are not strong enough, so use a traditional wooden pencil.

For the acrylic paint, I purchased 8oz plastic squeeze bottles from dickblick.com. These are awesome. They help the students put only small amounts of paint on their palette. Students tend to think they need much more paint than they really do. You may want to keep on eye out and guide them when they are pouring themselves paint. The hardest part is for me, when I try to get old, thick gloppy paint from the half-gallon containers into the necks of the smaller bottles. A funnel may help but not much, since the paint is very thick and doesn’t like to let air bubbles come up through it.

UPDATE 3/05/07, Days Six and Seven:

On last Wednesday, students finished up the painting of background and symbol on the book covers. Last Thursday, they did all of the assembly of the book. I left it up to them how they would tie the book closed. I showed them a few techniques I had devised. The goal was to assemble it so that the book would stay closed on two opposite sides when secured. I gave students up to two 16″ pieces of colored twine each, up to two glass globs each, and as many beads as they liked. I still had many plastic beads left over from the Nicho project. A few students still needed time to finish up on Friday, which is fine since it’s our free draw day anyway.

By the way, I would not have used the colored masking tape again. It does not stick well enough to last. It peeled up in damp weather. I thought it might be more sturdy and sticky like duct tape, I guess. It is best used to tack the twine down inside the book cover, where the paper will be glued down on top of it anyway. So it did not need to be fancy colors; any old masking tape would have worked.

A few students did not check to see if their books would close correctly before doing the last step of gluing the paper down. Most of them figured it out, however. It was a very good design problem to give them.

Any students who were done before others were encouraged to write, draw or paint on the paper inside their books. Many did this. I let them put whatever they wanted so long as it did not break school rules.

Overall the project was a great success, and more popular with my students than the nichos. There could be several reasons for this. Perhaps most significantly, is took less time to achieve the final result. It also took far less step-by-step instruction from me (partly because they had already learned some necessary skills on that previous project.)

UPDATE 3/14/07
Here are some photos of student work.

Four thumbnails for the personal symbol:

Two very different final symbols from two very different high school students:

Several final books from the high school:

UPDATE 3/31/07

I almost forgot to include this. It’s my final book cover with my personal design:

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I was taking an oil painting class at a local community college until this past Tuesday. I had not worked in oil before, only acrylic. It turns out that what the class offered and what I wanted were pretty far apart.

The teacher was excellent, don’t get me wrong.  He gave excellent lectures and useful feedback on my work. The problem was that I already knew most of everything in the lectures. I already have my Bachelor’s in art, and know a good deal about art history, theory, and creation.

I had taken the class with hopes to learn technique and enjoy myself. What was happening was that very little technique was being taught. The teacher catered more to the students learning how to be artists, how to be disciplined, how to understand composition and theory. I wanted to learn how to create texture, how to blend, how to manipulate the paint – the literal mechanics of paint on canvas.

What was really killing me was the sketchbook. The teacher required seven fully-formed drawings every two weeks, from observation. In order to meet his requirements for “fully formed,” I was spending hours on each one. By last week I was falling behind on both the sketchbook and the first painting assignment. I was stressing out, wondering how I’d get those done on top of my Master’s course assignments and lesson planning. The oil painting class was becoming more of a burden than a joy. I didn’t even need the units for anything. And it was taking about twice as much time as the Master’s class!

I lost $66 tuition on the deal, but what a weight off my shoulders.

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