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Lesson Plans by Discipline - Metal And Wire Art

Grades K – 4 (12 Lesson Plans)
Grades 5 – 8 (31 Lesson Plans)
Grades 9 – 12 (24 Lesson Plans)
Special Education (1 Lesson Plan)

	Grades K – 4		Grade Level
		Fantastic Faux Fossils Students create their own “fossil bed” by modeling three-dimensional shapes of animals, plants or insects, then “burying” them beneath layers of tissue paper. Add earth-tone pastels to make them look as if they just came from an excavation site.	K – 12
		Chenille Stem Stitchery Spanish painter Joan Miró is known for his playful art. Although he was a world renowned artist, his work gives the impression it could have been created by a child. Miró was interested in reducing characters to their simplest forms and using very basic, bright colors. He felt some of the best ideas were inspired by the simplest things. In this project, students attach and weave Chenille Stems onto stitchery canvas to make simple shapes and designs.	K – 6 Special Education
		Painted “Silk” Shapes The production and commerce of decorated silk fabrics began thousands of years ago in China. This project introduces fine-mesh polyester as a silk-like fabric for painting. Form a wire shape as a support and paint with transparent liquid acrylic color. Finished pieces are flexible and may be heat-set for outdoor display.	3 – 12
		Metal Magic Journals The magic is in the color! Wax Pastels adhere to the slick surface of tooling foil and stay there. Students explore tools and texture plates to create designs in lightweight metal, then, using simple page-binding techniques, assemble a lovely hardcover book to use for notes, sketches, journaling, scrapbooking or photos.	3 – 8
		Textured Metal Boxes This lesson plan combines the processes of repoussé and chasing to design a piece that looks as if it may have been crafted by an ancient silversmith. Objects are fixed to a cardboard box before the metal is applied so that the design is embossed into the metal in the style of repoussé. With tools, students then chase the metal around the objects to further define the texture.	K – 12
		Metal Tooling with Colored Pencils This classroom-friendly tooling project uses ArtEmboss — a soft and flexible metal that is easily manipulated without applying heavy pressure. It readily accepts drawing media, such as colored pencil, so that students can emboss and draw at the same time.	K – 8
		Zany Wire Sculpture Students create a freestanding 3-dimensional sculpture using wire and modeled "clay" pieces. An exciting introductory lesson in balance, spatial relationships, color, shape and form.	K – 6
		Metal Foil Drawings The experience of drawing on a lightweight foil is a wonderful exercise for young children and children with special needs.	K – 6
		Hand Signals "Create a fully posable hand to help students learn to communicate in sign language."	3 – 5
		Sunshine on a Stick This project teaches free-form weaving in the round. The sticks are extremely bright and pretty when finished and look great in a vase or potted plant.	2 – 6
		Arti'Stick Mobile Students will study works of stained glass as a one dimensional art form and adapt what they learn to a three dimensional sculpture — a brilliantly-colored transparent mobile.	2 – 6
		Tissue Topiary Topiary is the art of turning living plants into sculptures that are constantly growing and changing — a form of landscape art. In this project, an art topiary is made of a wire base, green tissue paper and twine. Although this Tissue Topiary will require some initial sculpting, no care will be needed after construction!	4 – 12
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	Grades 5 – 8		Grade Level
		NEW! Art-O-Motion 2 Sculptor George Rickey used scientific precision and physics, functioning with wind to construct heavy steel sculptures that seemed to defy gravity and float on air. In this lesson, students create a simple sculpture around a rotary hub with stacked wooden beads and soft wire. When a direct air current is applied to metallic paper “sails” (blow on it!), the sculpture blades turn gently.	5 – 12
		NEW! Many Metals “Day of the Dead” Triptych Celebrate a happy and colorful Mexican tradition with many metals! Using the skull as a symbol of rebirth, create a triptych with embossed metal, papier mâché, and lots of color and sparkle!	5 – 12
		Embossed Metal Encaustics Considered a lost art for many centuries, encaustic painting is enjoying a resurgence because of modern techniques, tools and materials. While encaustic painting requires moving molten wax from a heating element to a surface, the technique used in this lesson plan creates textured “reservoirs” in metal foil that channel and cradle sprinkled wax chips as they melt. Interesting dimensions and contrasts between the metal and translucent wax occur when cooled.	5 – 12
		Fantastic Faux Fossils Students create their own “fossil bed” by modeling three-dimensional shapes of animals, plants or insects, then “burying” them beneath layers of tissue paper. Add earth-tone pastels to make them look as if they just came from an excavation site.	K – 12
		Chenille Stem Stitchery Spanish painter Joan Miró is known for his playful art. Although he was a world renowned artist, his work gives the impression it could have been created by a child. Miró was interested in reducing characters to their simplest forms and using very basic, bright colors. He felt some of the best ideas were inspired by the simplest things. In this project, students attach and weave Chenille Stems onto stitchery canvas to make simple shapes and designs.	K – 6 Special Education
		Painted “Silk” Shapes The production and commerce of decorated silk fabrics began thousands of years ago in China. This project introduces fine-mesh polyester as a silk-like fabric for painting. Form a wire shape as a support and paint with transparent liquid acrylic color. Finished pieces are flexible and may be heat-set for outdoor display.	3 – 12
		Graphite Embossing This project challenges students to look at positive and negative space in both value and dimension as they make an embossed drawing on a piece of matte black tooling foil. Using just drawing pencils and repoussé techniques they can achieve a variety of depths and textures with a silver graphite sheen.	5 – 8 10 – 12
		Metal Magic Journals The magic is in the color! Wax Pastels adhere to the slick surface of tooling foil and stay there. Students explore tools and texture plates to create designs in lightweight metal, then, using simple page-binding techniques, assemble a lovely hardcover book to use for notes, sketches, journaling, scrapbooking or photos.	3 – 8
		Shining Constructivism Around the 1920s, a movement in modern art began in Russia as a group of artists began constructing sculpture for an industrialized world. As new technology produced strong, shining surfaces of glass, steel and plastic, Constructivists pioneered the use of modern, mechanical materials in art. This project weaves a variety of classroom-friendly “metals” — papers, foils and wires — into relief and three-dimensional art.	5 – 12
		Modern Figure Sculpture in the style of Alberto Giacometti To create the gracefully haunting look of a Giacometti figure, this lesson plan introduces Paverpol™, a unique product that can be used with a variety of materials — textiles, paper, self-hardening clay, paper maché and more — to make sculptures so sturdy that they can be placed outdoors. It's non-toxic, safe for anyone to use and dries so quickly, you can make a sculpture in one day.	7 – 12
		Flexible "Glass" Sculpture Using flexible, translucent acrylic paint and soft, aluminum wire, students create abstract sculptures that can be formed and reformed. Addresses the design elements of form and shape. Displayed with a light source, they have the appearance of formed glass.	5 – 12
		Textured Metal Boxes This lesson plan combines the processes of repoussé and chasing to design a piece that looks as if it may have been crafted by an ancient silversmith. Objects are fixed to a cardboard box before the metal is applied so that the design is embossed into the metal in the style of repoussé. With tools, students then chase the metal around the objects to further define the texture.	K – 12
		Quilted Foil Students learn the functionality of tooled metal and texture.	5 – 12
		Colored Pencil Repousse Repoussé (or Repajado in Spanish cultures) is an ancient form of relief sculpture in which a design is pressed into a sheet of metal to create a 3-dimensional surface. This contemporary version uses Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils pressed into a soft, matte black metal sheet, allowing drawing and embossing at the same time.	5 – 12
		Jive Foil Puppets Many cultures create puppets for entertainment and story telling. These jointed "jive" puppets make a light, musical sound as they dance and move on a hand-held rod.	5 – 12
		Metal Tooling with Colored Pencils This classroom-friendly tooling project uses ArtEmboss — a soft and flexible metal that is easily manipulated without applying heavy pressure. It readily accepts drawing media, such as colored pencil, so that students can emboss and draw at the same time.	K – 8
		Zany Wire Sculpture Students create a freestanding 3-dimensional sculpture using wire and modeled "clay" pieces. An exciting introductory lesson in balance, spatial relationships, color, shape and form.	K – 6
		Snake Basket Baskets can be woven out of almost any material, not just reeds and straw. This basket project is whimsical and freeform,using wire and colorful "snakes" that move randomly throughout the piece. Polymer clay bakes right on the wire, so finished pieces are long-lasting and very durable.	5 – 12
		Twisteez Masks Students create a colorful, expressive mask by weaving Twisteez Wires on a screen.	5 – 12
		Wireform Figure Sculpture In this lesson by Amaco, students will select a character in motion, such as a dancer, athlete or fairy, then capture and describe its movements through pose, form and balance. Flexible, easy-to-cut new WireForm™ Rods and WireForm™ mesh sheets make it easy to translate line from a flat design into a three-dimensional space.	5 – 12
		Metal Foil Drawings The experience of drawing on a lightweight foil is a wonderful exercise for young children and children with special needs.	K – 6
		Heavy Metal Journals Students learn an easy and economical form of metal working.	8 – 12
		Embossed Rose Window Designs Students will understand how geometry principles including diameter, radius, and symmetry work together to make an artistic design.	5 – 12
		Bead Writing “Write” names and messages by stringing beads on a bendable wire. Hang finished pieces in a window, string on a necklace or around a hat, pin to a bulletin board or display on a piece of matboard as a piece of art.	5 – 8
		Burlap Weaving The coarse, open weave of burlap substitutes for a weaving loom in this fiber art project.	5 – 12
		Hand Signals "Create a fully posable hand to help students learn to communicate in sign language."	3 – 5
		Lazertran Metal Sculpture This process takes any computer image and turns it into a 3-dimensional sculpture.	5 – 12
		Sunshine on a Stick This project teaches free-form weaving in the round. The sticks are extremely bright and pretty when finished and look great in a vase or potted plant.	2 – 6
		3D Contour Collage Students create a dimensional line drawing out of flexible wire then cover it with assorted papers and tissues for a whimsical, lightweight sculpture.	5 – 12
		Arti'Stick Mobile Students will study works of stained glass as a one dimensional art form and adapt what they learn to a three dimensional sculpture — a brilliantly-colored transparent mobile.	2 – 6
		Tissue Topiary Topiary is the art of turning living plants into sculptures that are constantly growing and changing — a form of landscape art. In this project, an art topiary is made of a wire base, green tissue paper and twine. Although this Tissue Topiary will require some initial sculpting, no care will be needed after construction!	4 – 12
^ back to top
	Grades 9 – 12		Grade Level
		NEW! Art-O-Motion 2 Sculptor George Rickey used scientific precision and physics, functioning with wind to construct heavy steel sculptures that seemed to defy gravity and float on air. In this lesson, students create a simple sculpture around a rotary hub with stacked wooden beads and soft wire. When a direct air current is applied to metallic paper “sails” (blow on it!), the sculpture blades turn gently.	5 – 12
		NEW! Many Metals “Day of the Dead” Triptych Celebrate a happy and colorful Mexican tradition with many metals! Using the skull as a symbol of rebirth, create a triptych with embossed metal, papier mâché, and lots of color and sparkle!	5 – 12
		Embossed Metal Encaustics Considered a lost art for many centuries, encaustic painting is enjoying a resurgence because of modern techniques, tools and materials. While encaustic painting requires moving molten wax from a heating element to a surface, the technique used in this lesson plan creates textured “reservoirs” in metal foil that channel and cradle sprinkled wax chips as they melt. Interesting dimensions and contrasts between the metal and translucent wax occur when cooled.	5 – 12
		Fantastic Faux Fossils Students create their own “fossil bed” by modeling three-dimensional shapes of animals, plants or insects, then “burying” them beneath layers of tissue paper. Add earth-tone pastels to make them look as if they just came from an excavation site.	K – 12
		Painted “Silk” Shapes The production and commerce of decorated silk fabrics began thousands of years ago in China. This project introduces fine-mesh polyester as a silk-like fabric for painting. Form a wire shape as a support and paint with transparent liquid acrylic color. Finished pieces are flexible and may be heat-set for outdoor display.	3 – 12
		Graphite Embossing This project challenges students to look at positive and negative space in both value and dimension as they make an embossed drawing on a piece of matte black tooling foil. Using just drawing pencils and repoussé techniques they can achieve a variety of depths and textures with a silver graphite sheen.	5 – 8 10 – 12
		Shining Constructivism Around the 1920s, a movement in modern art began in Russia as a group of artists began constructing sculpture for an industrialized world. As new technology produced strong, shining surfaces of glass, steel and plastic, Constructivists pioneered the use of modern, mechanical materials in art. This project weaves a variety of classroom-friendly “metals” — papers, foils and wires — into relief and three-dimensional art.	5 – 12
		Modern Figure Sculpture in the style of Alberto Giacometti To create the gracefully haunting look of a Giacometti figure, this lesson plan introduces Paverpol™, a unique product that can be used with a variety of materials — textiles, paper, self-hardening clay, paper maché and more — to make sculptures so sturdy that they can be placed outdoors. It's non-toxic, safe for anyone to use and dries so quickly, you can make a sculpture in one day.	7 – 12
		Flexible "Glass" Sculpture Using flexible, translucent acrylic paint and soft, aluminum wire, students create abstract sculptures that can be formed and reformed. Addresses the design elements of form and shape. Displayed with a light source, they have the appearance of formed glass.	5 – 12
		Textured Metal Boxes This lesson plan combines the processes of repoussé and chasing to design a piece that looks as if it may have been crafted by an ancient silversmith. Objects are fixed to a cardboard box before the metal is applied so that the design is embossed into the metal in the style of repoussé. With tools, students then chase the metal around the objects to further define the texture.	K – 12
		Quilted Foil Students learn the functionality of tooled metal and texture.	5 – 12
		Colored Pencil Repousse Repoussé (or Repajado in Spanish cultures) is an ancient form of relief sculpture in which a design is pressed into a sheet of metal to create a 3-dimensional surface. This contemporary version uses Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils pressed into a soft, matte black metal sheet, allowing drawing and embossing at the same time.	5 – 12
		Jive Foil Puppets Many cultures create puppets for entertainment and story telling. These jointed "jive" puppets make a light, musical sound as they dance and move on a hand-held rod.	5 – 12
		Snake Basket Baskets can be woven out of almost any material, not just reeds and straw. This basket project is whimsical and freeform,using wire and colorful "snakes" that move randomly throughout the piece. Polymer clay bakes right on the wire, so finished pieces are long-lasting and very durable.	5 – 12
		Twisteez Masks Students create a colorful, expressive mask by weaving Twisteez Wires on a screen.	5 – 12
		Wireform Figure Sculpture In this lesson by Amaco, students will select a character in motion, such as a dancer, athlete or fairy, then capture and describe its movements through pose, form and balance. Flexible, easy-to-cut new WireForm™ Rods and WireForm™ mesh sheets make it easy to translate line from a flat design into a three-dimensional space.	5 – 12
		Heavy Metal Journals Students learn an easy and economical form of metal working.	8 – 12
		Copper Metal Box Students are eager to develop artwork unique in terms of creating personnal interpretation of aesthetics. This metal box project stresses the effective use of organizational principals.	9 – 12
		Embossed Rose Window Designs Students will understand how geometry principles including diameter, radius, and symmetry work together to make an artistic design.	5 – 12
		Burlap Weaving The coarse, open weave of burlap substitutes for a weaving loom in this fiber art project.	5 – 12
		Cable Sculpture Using the example of a suspension bridge, students plan and create a sculpture focused on balance, stability and strength. Foamboard with colorful wire provides a blending of aesthetics and function.	9 – 12
		Lazertran Metal Sculpture This process takes any computer image and turns it into a 3-dimensional sculpture.	5 – 12
		3D Contour Collage Students create a dimensional line drawing out of flexible wire then cover it with assorted papers and tissues for a whimsical, lightweight sculpture.	5 – 12
		Tissue Topiary Topiary is the art of turning living plants into sculptures that are constantly growing and changing — a form of landscape art. In this project, an art topiary is made of a wire base, green tissue paper and twine. Although this Tissue Topiary will require some initial sculpting, no care will be needed after construction!	4 – 12
^ back to top
	Special Education		Grade Level
		Chenille Stem Stitchery Spanish painter Joan Miró is known for his playful art. Although he was a world renowned artist, his work gives the impression it could have been created by a child. Miró was interested in reducing characters to their simplest forms and using very basic, bright colors. He felt some of the best ideas were inspired by the simplest things. In this project, students attach and weave Chenille Stems onto stitchery canvas to make simple shapes and designs.	K – 6 Special Education
^ back to top