Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about insects through drawing and printmaking.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to create an insect chine collé.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are chine collé, layer, and print.

I'm gonna say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Chine collé, layer, print.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

Chine collé is a printmaking technique that layers thin paper onto a print.

Layering means materials placed on top of one another, and printing is a way of making a copy of something.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles we'll be working through together in today's lesson, an introduction to chine collé and making your insect chine collé.

In the first learning cycle, we are going to introduce you to chine collé.

How was this print made? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

What do you think? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? How was this print made? Well, chine collé is a traditional printmaking technique that comes from France, and the name means "Chinese collage" in French.

It was named this way because artists originally used very thin paper from China or Japan to layer under their prints.

It is now used around the world by artists who want to add colour, texture, or fine detail to their prints, to combine collage and printing in one step, or to use different types of decorative or handmade paper from places like Japan, which is known as washi paper, India or Africa.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Chine collé adds colour and texture by printing and collaging in one step, often using decorative paper like washi.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that's true, you are absolutely right.

Chine collé is a printing technique that combines collage and print in one step.

It's a creative way to add colour, texture, and fine detail, using special papers like washi or handmade materials.

Chine collé is a technique used by artists around the world.

Japanese artist, Yuji Hiratsuka, uses chine collé by printing onto thin, colourful paper and then pressing it onto thicker paper.

British artist, Claire Curtis, creates prints inspired by nature and the British landscape, often using relief printmaking techniques.

And American artist, Karen Lederer, makes bold, colourful prints of everyday objects, using thin papers to add pattern and energy.

Pam Wright is a British printmaker who uses printmaking techniques to create bold, abstracted images of natural landscapes.

How does she use chine collé? Well, she prints onto thin papers like tissue or handmade paper, and these are glued onto thicker backgrounds while printing, and this makes her artwork textured, layered, and colourful.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How does Pam Wright use chine collé in her artwork? She paints over her prints with thick acrylics.

She cuts out insect shapes and glues them on after printing.

She prints onto thin papers that are glued to thicker backgrounds during printing.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that she prints onto thin papers that are glued to thicker backgrounds during printing, you are absolutely right, well done.

When planning a chine collé, it's helpful to consider both the colours of the tissue paper you use and the placement of each piece.

How might you create a plan of your chine collé? Pause the video here and give yourself some time to discuss this with a partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What do you think? How might you create your plan? Well, when planning an artwork using chine collé, it's useful to sketch your shapes first and plan where to position your tissue paper.

And you could use your insect foam plate to draw from.

So where might you add colour? Pause the video here and have a think about where you'd add colour to this beetle here and press play when you are ready to continue.

What do you think? Would you add some around the head or maybe the lower body, maybe on each of the legs? Well, Sofia is planning where to add colour in her design.

She's thinking maybe the body and the wings, maybe a different colour on the head and maybe the legs.

She says, "I'm the artist, so the choice of colour placement is entirely up to me." And she's absolutely right.

Andeep and Sofia are discussing their ideas.

Andeep says, "Have you noticed how Pam Wright uses colour in her work? She combines lighter tones with bold, bright pops of colour." Sofia says, "Yes, do you think we should use darker and lighter shades of tissue paper like Yuji Hiratsuka does with his prints to make some parts stand out more?" Hmm, those are interesting ideas to consider.

What do you think you might use? Well, this brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to plan your insect chine collé.

Look at your previous design and decide where you'll add coloured or textured paper.

Draw your foam plate again and colour or label the areas for chine collé.

Then, with a partner, discuss the choices you have made in your design.

Talk about why you chose certain areas for coloured or textured paper.

And also think about how your colour choices help you to show your insect's features.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at planning your insect chine collé and discussing your choices with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you get on? Were you able to choose where to put your coloured paper and thought carefully about how that highlights your insects features? Well, let's take a look at this example here.

You should have drawn your insect and labelled and coloured the areas where you plan to add your chine collé, showing maybe thoughtful choices in colour and placement.

So for this example here, maybe having the head in purple and then the body in yellow, which are really great, contrasting colours.

Then you might have discussed why you made those choices.

Andeep says, "I chose yellow tissue paper for the body because I wanted it to stand out.

My insect has patterns there, so the colour helps show that detail." And Sofia says, "I chose to use green textured paper on the body to make it look rough like the insect's real skin.

The colour also makes it look like it's hiding in the grass." So well done for having a go at planning your chine collé and thinking about why you made those choices.

This now brings us to the second part of our lesson where we're going to be making your insect chine collé.

What is the effect of the coloured tissue paper in this chine collé? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? What's the effect there? Well, when creating a chine collé, coloured or patterned papers can be used to create focus and make certain parts of the print stand out.

So you can see here the yellow really makes the body stand out and that purple adds a bit of focus to the head.

To create your chine collé, you'll need a printing tray or a flat waterproof surface, a roller, some printing ink, and also some tissue paper.

To create your chine collé, you'll also eed some PVA glue, a glue spreader, or an old brush, some scissors and some coloured card.

You'll need your insect foam plate, and these are the steps to creating your chine collé.

So first of all, you ink your plate, then you gently apply glue to your tissue paper.

Then you place the tissue paper onto your plate with the glue side facing up.

Then place your paper onto your plate and apply even pressure.

Then gently lift the paper from the plate to reveal your print, just like we can see in this video here.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Can you select the first step of creating a chine collé? Is it A, B, or C? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said it's B, you are absolutely right.

Inking your insect plate is the first step.

Then paper is applied to the plate.

And lastly, the plate is printed.

Well done.

How else could this print be developed? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? How could you develop this print? While brighter colours could be used and the tissue paper could be layered and placed directly beneath the body, the style of each print is decided by the artist.

There are many possible outcomes.

I quite like the greens and the blues here on these colours of the body.

I think that really stands out.

Jun has noticed that his tissue paper has wrinkled.

What advice might you give to Jun? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? What kind of advice could we give Jun if his tissue paper is wrinkled? Well, sometimes tissue paper can wrinkle.

You can gently smooth it out with a clean, dry brush or your fingers before it dries.

If the wrinkles are already set, you can use them as a texture effect or carefully place a fresh piece of paper over the top.

So there are lots of options.

Even if you think something has maybe not gone quite right, there are lots of ways in which you can change it or fix it.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

If your tissue paper wrinkles during chine collé, you can gently smooth it out or use the wrinkles as a texture in your artwork.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, is this statement true or false? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that's true, you are absolutely right.

Sometimes tissue paper wrinkles, and that's okay.

You can gently smooth it out with your fingers or a dry brush.

Andeep and Sofia think about how they can use colour.

Andeep says, "This time I want to try using light purple and dark purple tissue paper to create contrast, just like how Pam Wright combines white with bold colours in her work." And Sofia says, "Pam Wright also uses lighter tones to balance the bold colours.

What if you add a bit of white or silver to the mix? It could make the purple stand out even more." Using light and dark colours will help create contrast in your print.

Can you see here, we've got the light pinky purple colour on the top of the wings and that darker purple on the bottom? Then can you see how when we've printed it, it's created that contrast? You could also experiment with different coloured papers to print on, which could make your print more striking.

So here, we've used the yellow tissue paper, but then have printed it onto some blue card.

Or you could do some green card.

And can you see how there are different types of that tissue paper there, we've got yellow, white, and purple.

So three different colours.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to prepare your insect chine collé.

So using your plan from task A, choose your tissue paper and you could think about the contrast and how you can use light and dark colours.

And then carefully cut out the shapes from your design from the tissue paper.

So that's your first step to preparing your insect chine collé.

Then to make your insect chine collé, apply a thin layer of printing ink to your foam plate.

Apply a thin layer of glue to the cut tissue paper pieces and position the tissue paper on the plate, making sure that the glue is facing up.

And you can experiment with layering or crumpling the paper to add texture.

And then print your design.

And once you're happy with the placement, press your plate onto paper to transfer your design.

Be sure to press firmly to capture the details on your tissue paper.

And finally, reflect and discuss, how successful was your chine collé and what would you maybe do differently next time? So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to first of all, prepare your chine collé, then have a go at printing it before reflecting and discussing, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Were you able to choose your contrasting colours of tissue paper and have a go at creating maybe some textures? Well, you should have prepared and printed your chine collé print.

And here's an example.

Can you see how the ink is that nice dark black colour? And that's contrasted with the yellow and the white and the purple, and it looks really striking on that green card background.

And maybe you reflected like Jun on your chine collé print.

He says, "I learned that where you place the tissue paper really matters because it changes how the print looks." And he said, "Next time, I might use a different texture to show the insect's body more clearly." So well done for having a go at creating your own insect chine collé.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about insect printmaking through chine collé.

Chine collé is a printmaking technique that layers thin paper onto a print.

Artists can use chine collé to add layers of colour and texture to their prints.

And experimenting with layering and contrasting colours can enhance a print.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you enjoyed learning about insects through drawing and printmaking.

I certainly did.

I hope to see you for another unit of learning soon.

See you then.