Skip to main content

What a Relief!

I posted last week about the Ancient Egyptian Relief that Dawson was making. This relief was a really great all-week project. It was so cool that I wanted to repost it with step-by-step instructions and pictures.

First you mix Plaster of Paris, according to the instructions. We made two batches. Pour the creamy plaster into a shoe box lid sprayed generously with cooking spray.


Use any type of carving tool you would like. We had actual clay carving tools that came with our Sculpey clay. But, a toothpick or a nail would work just fine. Start carving as soon as the plaster starts to harden up. The harder it gets, the harder it is to carve. {Dawson learned that the hard way.} Just keep testing it to see how hard it is. It dried much faster than the instructions said it would.


Carve in a picture of your choice. Dawson carved Osiris that he copied out of Ancient Egyptian Drawing Book by Ralph Masiello. We checked this book out of the library. Just carve it as though you are "drawing" the outlines of a picture you are going to color with crayons.


When you are done carving, brush off the excess plaster to make it as smooth as possible.

Let it dry overnight.

The next day use any kind of sandpaper, cut into small squares, and sand all around the outer outline. The deeper you sand, the more your Relief will be raised. Brush away residue as you work. When it is raised to your liking, put it aside until the next day.


On day 3, boil some tea bags to make really strong tea. Use a sponge brush and stain your relief with the tea so it looks antiqued.


Let it dry completely overnight. Then on the final day paint it with vibrant colors. Don't forget to go over all of your carving lines with black paint to make it stand out.


Take off the shoebox.

Dawson added hieroglyphics to his Relief. It says, "Osiris".


Very cool.

Comments

  1. Thanks for using my book for this project.
    I love it!
    -Ralph Masiello

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We all know that in this crazy world of homeschooling, we need all the (adult) support we can get. Please leave a comment if you so wish!

Popular posts from this blog

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Last Child in the Woods ~ Chapters 1-4

Welcome to our book study of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. To be honest, I have no idea what this "study" is going to look like. I imagine that when we get together I will post about all of the things that caught my eye. And I would ask that you leave a comment, or a link to your own blog post in the comment, about what caught yours. This isn't anything formal, ladies, just a place to talk about what we have read. I have now read the first four chapters of Last Child in the Woods two times. It is just so good. Several things have specifically hit me deep, but in general I just realized that "times, they are a changin'." Things aren't the way they were when we were kids. Chapter 1. Gifts of Nature ~ "When I see birches bend to left and right ... I like to think some boy's been swinging them." ~ Robert Frost What is your definition of nature? What feelings, visions, senses does it conjure up? For me, it's not a