Thursday, July 31, 2008

Decorate Your Own Greek Vase

Decorate your own vase like the Ancient Greek vases you saw yesterday and Tuesday!

Supplies Needed:

Paper
Colored Pencils
Black Crayon
Scissors
Toothpick
This project can get a little messy so protect your work space with newspaper.

Begin by choosing colored pencils. I picked reds, yellows, oranges, and browns because they reminded me of the color of the clay the Greeks used for their vases. Cover your sheet of paper with color. Mix it up. Color large patches of yellow and small patches of brown, circles of orange and triangles of red. Go nuts.
When your page is completely covered, color over the whole thing with a black crayon. You’ll need to press hard and color in several directions to cover the colored pencil.
Now draw a vase on the back of your page. I folded my paper in half so the vase would be symmetrical. When you’re happy with the vase, cut it out.

And now comes the fun part. With a toothpick, scratch patterns and pictures onto your vase. The toothpick will scratch off the crayon and let the colors show through. My vase is shown below. Though not something you would see on an Ancient Greek vase, I drew two people dancing. You can draw anything you want on your vase, including made-up creatures. Be creative.

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1 comment:

Charlie Bishop said...

Thank you so much for your site! I am a volunteer art appreciation mom for a local public school and because of funding cuts, the kids don't have access to this kind of art education without the help of local volunteers. I stumbled on your site and it is a God send. just the right amount of information for 1st thru 3rd graders and great art projects. Keep it coming as I intend to direct my other volunteer mom's to your site. Thanks Charlie Bishop Atlantic Beach Florida.