textiles issue - The National Society for Education in Art and Design

Hands-on in the classroomAfter-school clubIndian puppet-makingand Bollywoodfilm-making!Learning intentions• to consider pattern, colour and designin Indian block-printed fabrics•to create repeat patternsWhat to doIf you are going to print with a woodenprinting block, put a layer of absorbentcloth into a flat-bottomed container andpour paint or ink over it so that it soaks intothe cloth (if using cold wax, paint this on tothe block with a brush). Dip the printingblock into the paint-saturated cloth beforepushing the block down on to the fabric orpaper that you want to print on. Repeatuntil all of the printing to be done with thatblock is finished. Leave the work to dry,then print with other blocks or colours.If you are going to print with lino, rollprinting ink thinly on to an inking tray, thenroll the ink on to the cut lino. Normally,when printing from a lino cut, you put thesurface to be printed on top of the lino, butthis won’t work with a repeat pattern.Instead, you need to push the lino downfirmly on to the surface to be printed. Asyou will not need to use large pieces oflino, this method will produce clear prints.ResourcesCotton fabric, paper or card, printing ink,acrylic or fabric paint – you can use indigo,turmeric or henna if you want to makeauthentic Indian colours, cold wax (if youwant to make resist patterns), thickabsorbent cloth, printing blocks or linocuts, inking trays or flat-bottomedcontainers (rectangular ice-cream tubswork well), rollers and inking-up surface(if using lino).Reviewing the workWhichever project you have been workingon, it is always useful to spend some timereviewing what the children have done.Encourage them to discuss their work.How did they feel about doing the work?What do they like best about it? Whichpatterns/colours have worked well?What did they enjoy? What did they finddifficult? What would they change?Other ideasBatik picturesBatik is used to decorate fabrics in Indiaand is a good way to illustrate Indianstories. Wax-resist block-printing is a goodway to create a border. The batiks can bemounted and displayed as pictures.HangingsSmall batik pictures can be joined insequence to create a large hanging thattells a story, or a larger batik picture can beused as the centrepiece of a hanging, withother techniques used to create a border.Other productsIt is quite simple to make small batikpictures or block-printed fabric intoproducts such as bags or cushion covers.Embossed designsAn embossed design can be created byplacing a thin layer of Angelina fibre over awooden Indian printing block. If you placebaking parchment over this and iron it witha dry iron, the fibres fuse together and thedesign on the printing block is embossedinto the surface. The excess fibre can betrimmed with scissors. These designscould be used in a variety of ways. Forexample, they could be put on textilehangings, collages, cards and topic bookcovers, glued or stitched in place andembellished with 3D fabric paint, beadsand sequins.Alexandra Hucks, visiting art specialistteacher at The Paragon Junior School,Bath, describes a fun craft project thatexplores puppet-making and Indian folkstories. The project has an ICT- basedoutcome, with the children creatingBollywood movies based on the scriptsthey were inspired to write by the folkstories.While travelling in Rajasthan in India lastyear, I was excited by the wealth of colourand traditional arts and crafts of theregion. In particular, I visited a traditionalRajasthan puppet-maker’s workshop,where each day a performance of oldIndian folklore tales would take placeusing the puppets.Puppetry is one of the most ancient formsof entertainment in the world. Besidesproviding entertainment, this visual artform is also used for conveyingmeaningful messages. Over the years,puppetry has developed into a powerfulmedium of communication. It offers a realchallenge to the imagination and creativeability of the individual, and of all the artmedia, it is the least restricted in its form,design, colour and movement. It is alsothe least expensive of all animated artforms.From my travels, I brought back severalpuppets and many pieces of the colourfulsari fabrics typical of Rajasthan. Myintention was to create traditional Indiantextile puppets with my after-school craftclub. As an introduction to the project, welooked at several Indian folk stories thatare often traditionally used in Rajasthan forpuppet performances. Coming out ofIndia’s rich heritage of puppetry datingback to the 5th century, traditionalpuppet shows deal mostly with historicalkings, princes, heroes, love stories andpolitical satire. Puppets also performstories dealing with religious themesand mythological topics.I was really keen for the children todevelop an interest in the culturaltraditions of different countries andwe focused on how puppets areused to pass on the traditionalstories from generation togeneration, thereby keeping theculture alive. We discussedstories and character roles andthe children considered whichcharacter they would like tocreate and how they could playa particular role in the finalperformance using thepuppets.I decided to make the puppetsover a term, which meantworking with the children foran hour each week afterschool for 12 weeks. Iwanted to enhance thechildren’s skills in using acombination of clay andtextiles, so I planned touse a variety ofSTART THE MAGAZINE FOR PRIMARY AND PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ART, CRAFT AND DESIGNSTART THE MAGAZINE FOR PRIMARY AND PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ART, CRAFT AND DESIGN