In our last blog we talked about making patterns using the sun and investigating how much impact the sun was having on us in the classroom. We've continued to explore both the sun's energy and other forms of energy that we use every day. The idea of transferring the suns energy into something that we can use is really exciting but hard to 'see' happening. The solution, sun prints or cyanotypes!
We collected things from nature that we thought would make an interesting pattern and arranged them before we were able to use the paper. We then working quickly to assemble our treasures on the paper and put them outside for the sun to work it's magic. We knew the sun had made changes when the paper turned white. We could see it happening as soon as we put our work outside. |
Sun prints are created by using a paper that has blue molecules added that are sensitive to ultraviolet light. When the paper is exposed to light a chemical change happens developing the deep blue colour.
These beautiful prints were displayed art Art Waikino and we received some fantastic feedback about them.
Sun prints take two.
Learning happens when we are able to explore a concept in more than one way, using our prior knowledge over a period of time.
That being said, we had to try to use the suns power in a similar way using different materials. Some of the questions we had were, would the sun be able to make prints on fabric? What if we used things we already had? Could we use the same leaves that we had used before? How would letters work?
That being said, we had to try to use the suns power in a similar way using different materials. Some of the questions we had were, would the sun be able to make prints on fabric? What if we used things we already had? Could we use the same leaves that we had used before? How would letters work?
For our second take on sun prints we used fabric (love old sheets) and collected an assortment of natural items to create a pattern with. We looked at our previous work, identifying the leaves that made a great print and assembled everything ready to go. There was an air of anticipation as we packed up our leaves, flowers and grasses and headed outside to add textile ink to our wet fabric.
We used watered down textile ink and chose either one or two colours to wash over our wet fabric. Some of us preferred the washed effect while others drew definite lines with their ink to create very different looks. We noticed that the sun wanted to dry our fabric so we worked quickly to keep it wet. |
We then had the job of recreating the designs that we had put together in class using our found objects. This was easier said than done as the wind had other ideas, we had to use small rocks from our garden to hold down the leaves. Patterns made it was time to let the sun do it's work and we left our fabric to dry.
Then came the big reveal! After doing the sun prints we expected big things, what we found wasn't quite what we expected. Some of us were pretty disappointed, we couldn't see much a change, whereas a few of us saw beautiful patterns.
What happened? What was the difference between the sun prints and our textile ink prints? We noticed that softer leaves that sat really flat on the fabric seemed to work best. Harder leaves and leaves that were dead didn't leave an impression. In our sun prints skeleton leaves gave a beautiful effect but we couldn't see the imprint on these prints. Was this due to the suns energy or something else? |
Isn't the sun amazing? We are continuing our learning about how it helps us, what it's made of and how it impacts earth and what lives here. We will continue to investigate how we can use the sun's energy to make and do things.
Have you seen our fantastic Haiku's and collages in class? If not come in and have a look, they are very clever.
Have you seen our fantastic Haiku's and collages in class? If not come in and have a look, they are very clever.