Video transcript
The Arts Unit @home Art Bites – Trash totems – 5. Adding some polish

KATE STEHR: Guys, I can't believe this. It's episode 5 already. Where did the time go? It's been awesome so far. I am really looking forward to seeing your finished products and your works in progress. But this is the lesson where we finally get to do all of that tweaking, all of that fine polish that really makes the work sing.

I'm Kate. If you haven't been introduced to me, I'm a high school art teacher and a sculptor. If you haven't had a chance yet, if it's your first time joining us, go back. Have a look at the other four episodes. You really need to have a look at those to be able to get to this point here, to be able to get to that finer polish that we're going to do.

We haven't touched base with this guy in a while, so I wanted to come and have a look at him again because this may have been a process that you decided to use. And to be honest, I think it's a great process to try. It's really celebrating the materials that we're using.

And we're calling them 'trash totems.' But really, we're taking something that would otherwise go into the bin and turning it into something pretty awesome. So there's no reason why we can't really push that and have people be able to identify the things that we've used in our final construction.

But some of the things that I did do when I'd be mindful of when I was making this guy, I always think about the colours that I'm using. So if I use black against black, I'm probably not going to be able to see the two different bits of shapes that I've cut out. When I'm cutting out a piece, for example, this yellow section down here, I'm using that same process of flipping it over, making sure that the colour's the right side up, and then cutting it out again.

So we've got duplicates throughout so that we get a little bit of symmetry going on in terms of our shapes but also in terms of our colours. Otherwise, I don't know if you ever heard the term 'dog's breakfast,' but it might end up looking a little bit too busy. And I think this is a great way to use the packaging itself while still having an end product that looks really successful.

Again, I want to point out to you that this one is not finished. The sides are not yet finished. The back's not yet finished. I just did the front as an example for you guys, but I'd really love to see some of your finished works where you've tried this process.

Heading back to this guy, you can see on my front I've got the cardboard still, a few of the little glue-gun strings that I'm sure you will find yourself on yours, which we can just pull off. Now, on this side, what I've used is some of the paint pens to add some highlights in some of the areas. We spoke last lesson about ways that you can spray paint the surface to give you a unified colour.

You can paint with your normal acrylic paint, or you can even try the paper-mache technique. Once you've done the paper-mache technique and let it dry, you can paint it any colour you want, again with the spray paint or the acrylic paint. But as an example for this final lesson, what I'm going to do is to stick with the colour of the cardboard because, as I've said a couple of times now, I actually think it looks quite great.

So what I want to try for adding some detail on this guy is some of these paint pens. They come in lots of different colours, lots of different sizes, and lots of different brands. I've got one of the big fat ones. They're particularly great for quick coverage, but they also come in medium sizes and right down to really fine tips where you can get some lovely little detail.

If you've never used one before, move it like a spray can. You need to give it a good shake. And you'll find, and you probably can see on this one, that when you haven't used them before, the top of the nib is actually white because the paint hasn't come down through the pen.

So what you need to do-- and it can take a little bit of time, so I won't sit here and bore you to death with my doing this-- is keep on tapping. And then, eventually, the colour of the paint will come down into that nib, and you will be ready to go. It's a really good idea to have a scrap of cardboard next to you or a piece of paper so that you can just make sure that your paint pen is primed and ready to go.

What we're going to do now is have a look at him. Now, I really want to work with symmetry here. Similarly to the colours being symmetrical on our totem where we celebrated the materials that we've used, I want to make sure that the symmetry that I'm using here is working on both sides. So we're not just going around colouring in willy-nilly, that we're actually having a little bit of a think about what's going to work really well.

So I'm going to start with some of my red. I'm going to come in. And wherever I do it on one side, and you can see how great and immediate the coverage is on the cardboard with using these paint pens, I'm going to make sure that I go to the other side and fill that in.

Now, you can go through and use that throughout. And we'll turn back to the back here. And you can see where I've used the white and the red to what I hope you think and agree is pretty good effect. What I can finally go in with is a finer-tip pen. Or alternatively, we can now move into using some found objects.

Now, I know, being an art teacher, I've got a large box of bits and pieces. But have a look around your house, and have a look at what you might have. I had this. I think it was from having to do a decorating of a hat, and I thought it would work really well.

Now, you can find stuff like this at craft stores as well, but what other things might you be able to use? Well, you might be able to use fabric off cuts that you could use to twist up. You can dip them in glue, put them into shapes, and then harden them-- nuts and bolts that you might be able to go for a bit of a dig around in the garage. The list is endless really-- leaves that have dried.

But as I said, I've got a little bit of this here. So I'm going to snip a little section off. And again, we don't need to lock anything in. We can have a bit of a play and see, is this going to work for me?

Now, I'm kind of happy with that sitting there. It looks a little bit like some really on-fleek eyelashes. So let's see if we can just slip that in there. Now, I'm not glueing anything in yet because I want to make sure I've got balance. I might do one more little bit. Let's just have a look. What do you think? Cute much?

So as you can see, I don't really lock myself in with ideas. And that's part of the play of art, and that's the fun that we have when we allow things to grow, and shift, and change as we make them. Look. I think I'm happy with just the two little bits like that. But as I said, you might not have feathers at home. You might have other materials to work with.

Allow yourself to play. That's really-- that's what we're doing here with these Art Bite Units. We're giving you guys the opportunity to have a look around your house to reevaluate things, things that might be garbage, things that might be trash, and use them for the purpose of making something that's really cool.

Now, if you make one, there's no reason why you can't make another one. And then, obviously, what you can do once you've made more than one is begin to stack them. OK? I would really, really love, and I know The Arts Unit team would as well, to see any of your works in progress or your finished works. There'll be an email address at the bottom of the screen that you'll be able to email your work through. I would really, really, really love to be able to see those. It's been five episodes working with you guys towards this finished product, and it would be really great to see those.

It's been an absolute pleasure to spend time with you guys. I hope that you've managed to come to these videos and to make something that you've never tried before or to extend your skills. I really hope you guys have got a great end product. It's been lovely working with you.

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