Papel Amate

Finally on a couple of weeks holiday and ready to start putting up my first blogs and the fantastic art work my students created

Our theme in the first term middle grades has been Celebration and in particular Latin America. I discovered the paper cutouts of the villages in the Otomi Community San Pablito in the Sierra Norte in Puebla.- the following links provides the essential information

http://www.festivalofmexico.com/sanpablito.html

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~kering/amate.html

See below the artworks my students made.

How to make them

Brown paper A4

Wax candle

Clothes iron

Black A3 cart for display

Glue

Brown edicol dye or food colouring

Basic template of figure

Step 1

Fake Amate Paper

Rub brown paper with wax candle using it ion its side. Ensure a good waxy coverage.

Crumple paper well to crack the wax coating. Open out and smooth ready to dye. Dye with brown dye and iron flat between two layers of newspaper.

Step 2

Paper Cutting

Create the figure using a strong piece of card see template .

Fold the brown paper in half lengthwise. Fold dyed side to the inside and trace the figure onto half the paper. Add the extra shapes which could be fruit shapes , leaves animals etc- check website for ideas. I printed out lots of examples for students to use.

Carefully cut out keeping paper folded to create symmetrical figure.

Glue onto black paper for display.

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