Susan, thank you so much for sharing your favorite products with me!
I am especially glad to know about the Sax Tempera Varnish.
As for the liquid tempera, I used liquid in my first teaching life (before I
stopped working to me a stay-at-home-mom), but there was always so much
waste--wasted paint left on the palettes, and lots of gooey paper plates in
the trash. Plus there was always the distribution issue--I was the one to
squeeze the paint out of the bottles, and it was very inefficient. How do
you handle paint distribution? Does each child get their own paltte of paint
blobs, or do they share?
The thing I like about the Alphacolor Biggies is that the tempera cakes are
all in one tray; the students mix their personal colors on clear plastic
party plates (each child has their own, of course) that we rinse at the end
of class and use over and over and over again. They can make them opaque ot
transparant, and have a lot of control.
Here's a questions I have been wondering--what is the difference between the
square and oval watercolor pans? Is it just a matter of preference? Does
paint get stuck in the corners of the square pans? I think they are both
listed as "half pans" in the Dick Blick catalog, but I couldn't figure out
why both a square and an ovel were offered of the same product, and now I am
curious. Does anyone know? And do you have your students mix colors on the
lid, or do you provide separate palettes for mixing colors? Or do you teach
them how to blend colors right on their paper?
Also, you wrote, "There's something unfinished and unsatisfying to me about
that scribbled, crayon-colored look to art. " I agree--that's why I like to
have crayons in my art program--so I can work the kids and teach them how to
use crayons effectively and attractively! I show them how to get even
coverage, how to blend the colors, how to vary the value. I hope they will
apply these skills in their crayon work throughout the curriculum. Plus, I
love making scratchboard with them, and the crayon resist technique is a
favorite, too--for them and for me.
This may sound dumb, but how do you use art paste? I remember being an "art
helper" before and after school and filling film canisters with nasty,
smelly, thick, white paste--which was very frustrating to use on our art
projects. How do you use--and manage--the paste in your classroom?
I am so glad to have a specific brand of glue stick to order--they are
DEFINITELY NOT all created equal!
Again, thank you! I appreciate your feedback greatly!
Amy
