Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

I hope you're having a good day.

My name is Esther.

Some people call me Miss Esther.

And we've got a lesson to do together today, printing symbols, banners, and identity.

I'm an artist and art teacher, and I'm very excited about this lesson because it involves printing.

It's part of our unit, Clothes and culture: wearable art.

Great.

Let's get started.

Our outcome for today is that by the end of the lesson, you will be able to design and print a symbol on fabric that shows something about your identity, who you are in the world.

We've got some key words for our lesson.

I'll say them and then we'll have a look at the meaning of each word.

We have symbol, print/printing, and banner.

You might know some of these keywords already.

A symbol is an object, shape, or image that stands for or represents an idea or meaning.

A print and printing is a way of making a copy of something.

A banner is a flag with writing on it that represents an organization or a movement.

We'll find out more about these keywords as we go through the lesson.

Here are lesson outlines, our three learning cycles today, while we're printing symbols and looking at banners and identity is number one, we'll be making a simple monoprinting pad, number two, we'll explore banners and sketch symbols, and number three, we'll print a symbol onto colored fabric.

Let's get started with making a simple monoprinting pad.

We're starting with a question.

How can you print a message without using a printer? I'd like to pause the video and share your knowledge.

Talk to someone nearby and restart the video when you're ready.

Great, I hope you had some really interesting knowledge and ideas to share.

I'm sure you did.

Print is a way of making a copy of something, and artists use printing to repeat shapes, patterns, or messages.

Today, you're going to make a simple monoprinting tool to print with just like artists and banner-makers did.

This will let us print designs onto fabric later on in the lesson.

Artists and craftspeople often make their own tools.

Trade union banners were hand-printed or painted with care, and each one of these banners had meaning.

We have a check for understanding to do together.

True or false, do you agree or disagree? Printing means making a copy of a design.

Is this true or false? Pause the video.

Talk as a group about whether you think this is true or false.

Restart the video when you've had your conversations.

Did you get the answer that it's true? Let's have a look at why it's true together.

Printing is about making a copy of something.

And artists use printing to repeat shapes, patterns, or messages.

We'll have a look at how to make our simple monoprinting pad.

To make your printing pad, you will draw a circle on card and cut it out.

Wrap it in foil and glue the foil flat on the front.

Foil needs to be bigger than the card piece that you're gluing it to.

Stick the foil carefully to the back with masking tape so it stays smooth and firmly attached.

Cut a strip of brown card, bend it in the middle, and tape it to the back as a handle.

Now you have made a simple printing pad.

We've got a check for understanding here.

Sam's got a question.

"Why do we cover it in foil?" I'm just wondering if you know this already.

You might have done monoprinting before.

Can you pause the video and talk to a partner about why you might cover cardboard in foil to make a monoprinting pad? Restart the video when you've had your conversations.

Can we answer Sam's question, why do we cover it in foil? We cover it in foil so the print doesn't soak in.

It helps the print stay sharp.

Paint will sink into cardboard, but not foil.

We're ready to do Task A, make a simple monoprinting pad.

To make your monoprinting pad, we'll just go over some top tips.

First top tip is to cut cardboard to this chosen shape that you want for your pad and cover it with foil.

The second top tip is to tape the back to secure and make a handle.

Our third top tip is to practice pressing your pad onto a piece of paper.

You don't have to have anything on it.

It's just to see if your handle's working.

Then think, can you hold your handle firmly, and is your print pad ready to use? We're going to, as part of Task A, reflect on some of the questions below.

What do you think you'll print later? Could your pad become part of a bigger tool set? This is a good one to think about.

What would happen if lots of people use these printing pads together? Pause the video.

Enjoy making your simple monoprinting pad.

Restart the video when you've done Task A.

Amazing work.

I hope you had fun getting the foil nice and flat and making your printing pad.

We've got an example of a printing pad below.

We've got some answers from Izzy to the questions that were asked.

The first thing that Izzy says is that, "I think I'll print a lightning symbol later to show energy." Love the idea.

"My pad could be part of a bigger set if we added more shapes and tools." Izzy also adds, "If lots of people use these together, we could build a huge banner that shares one powerful message." Great to be thinking of collaboration and working together.

We are ready now for the second part of our lesson today, explore banners and sketch symbol.

We have a statement here.

A banner is a flag with a design or writing that represents a group, belief, or movement.

Where have you seen a banner before? You can see there we've got a group of people holding a banner.

Have you seen anything like this before, and where have you seen it? Pause the video and talk as a group about where you've seen a banner before.

Great sharing of your memories and ideas around banners.

Banners often include symbols or words.

This is a great question.

If you made a banner for your friends or for your school, what would it show? What would you choose to put on it? A symbol is a shape, object, or image that stands for an idea or for a meaning.

We've got some below.

We've got a symbol for strength.

We have a symbol for unity.

It's got four hands.

I've only got two.

And we have a symbol for power.

Can you think of any more examples? Banners often communicate a message or represent a group, belief, or movement.

Trade union banners use symbols to show unity, pride, and fairness.

Trade union groups like the Friendly Society of Mechanics, I love that idea, having a friendly society, or printmakers and weavers often created banners.

They use symbols to communicate, such as scales for justice, suns and moons for time and truth, shaking hands for friendship and for unity.

Some of their banners had hidden meanings too.

The People's History Museum keeps many of these banners safe.

The banners were a powerful way to communicate with people.

The word union in trade union means people joining together to speak up or to protect each other's rights.

Some banners were so large, they had to be wheeled on carts.

Most of them were made in London in workshops like George Tutill's, who produced nearly all the banners in the UK.

We can see unions in everyday life.

We've got a table, and in the first column are some examples, and in the second column is how these examples show union.

First example is a school sports team, and this is players working together to reach a goal.

That's how it shows union.

The second one is a friendship group.

When you're in a friendship group, it's friends supporting each other.

The third example is a class council, pupils speaking up together to make a change.

Last one is a trade union, which is workers standing together for fairness.

A union is about strength through unity.

You might have heard this expression before, we are stronger together.

Fantastic.

We have a check for understanding now.

Well done for all your listening.

We've got a question.

What is a banner? Is it A, a flag that represents a person, is it B, a flag that represents a group, or is it C, a flag that represents a couple? I'd like you to pause the video, chat to a partner, and choose A, B, or C.

Great conversations.

Did you get answer B, a flag that represents a group? We've got a picture here of some children doing some research.

The children look carefully at different trade union banners and think about what they might mean.

"I can see symbols like hands and shields on these banners.

I think they stand for protection and togetherness." "These banners are made by people who wanted to show strength and unity.

They made them big and bold so everyone could see what they stood for." To make your banner, you will first of all tape down your fabric to keep it flat and still.

This is really important with fabric.

Otherwise it moves about.

Use one color of pastel to gently add a background.

And then you could also draw some of your symbols that you've already thought of or patterns with that same pastel.

It can be simple as the print will be made on top of it.

We have a check for understanding of our process, what we're going to do practically as artists together.

Look at the steps below to creating your banner.

Which step decide which step comes last? And think about how you know this.

So we have image A, some fabric with some color being added, image B, a plain piece of fabric, and image C, a piece of fabric with color and some other lines added.

Reorder these and decide which one would come first.

Pause the video.

You can talk to someone nearby or just think about it.

When you're ready, restart the video.

Great thinking.

Did you get the answer C? C is the correct answer.

The symbols are drawn after the fabric is taped and colored.

We're ready now for Task B, exploring banners and sketching symbols.

First thing we're going to do is identify symbols used in a chosen banner, so a bit of research.

Let's hear our top tips for this.

In small groups, look at some examples of banners.

Identify the words, shapes, and colors that you can see.

Identify symbols and discuss what you think they represent.

Also during Task B we'll reflect on the questions below by doing our thinking and making again.

What did you learn from looking at these banners? Who could you design a banner for? Would it be a class group, a team, friendship group, trade union, or school council? What message would you put on your own banner? What message do you want to share? Also got for Task B, to sketch at least five symbols to communicate your ideas.

Once you've had your discussion, done some research, here are our top tips for what's next.

Consider who your banner's for and what you want to communicate, what do you want to say.

You could explore ideas like strength, fairness, unity, or hope.

Combine symbols to create meaning for your own banner.

Keep your shapes simple and clear and focus on line.

Now we're going to look at our fourth instruction, which is to prepare our fabric background for printing.

Tape your fabric to the table so it lies flat and still.

Use one pastel color to add a light background color, so it shouldn't be too dark.

You can add simple symbols or patterns to the background if you want to.

They will sit under your printed symbol.

That's all of our top tips now for our making.

Enjoy looking at symbols, exploring the meaning, and preparing your fabric.

Pause the video and restart when you've done Task B.

Fantastic ideas.

Well done for capturing some of those ideas in your sketches.

When you did Task B, you may have discussed some of these things.

This is Sam telling us about their experience.

"We looked at a banner for the National Union of Railwaymen, which was made during the First World War.

It has a busy central painting with trains in a station and all their cargo.

We identified the symbols of a lion, a horse, or a unicorn, and also a spade and a spanner.

I could create a banner for my netball team showing togetherness, energy, and fun." Great ideas.

Thanks, Sam.

We've got an example here of some sketches of symbols.

The meaning of the symbols and who made them are jotted beside them.

I wonder if you gathered any symbols that are similar to this.

When you did this part of Task B, the fabric background and adding the symbols, you might have discovered something like Izzy.

Izzy says, "I learned that banners use symbols to share powerful messages.

My sketches show that teamwork and fairness matter to me.

My own banner could say Stronger Together." We'll do our last part of the lesson, printing our symbol onto the colored fabric.

Have a look at the video and think about what the artist is using the cotton bud for in their printing.

They're using it to draw their design, and it keeps the edges smooth so the print is neat, and it also is taking away the paint.

You are now going to use a print technique where you paint, you scratch, and you press.

This is called monoprinting, and each one is one of a kind, so it's slightly different from doing a repetitive print over and over again.

We're going to do some one-off printing.

These are our instructions to create a monoprint.

Firstly, paint a thick, even layer onto your foil disc.

Use a tool to scratch your design into the paint.

This is called monoprinting.

We can use different tools to scratch the design into the paint.

We can see here just a simple piece of card has been used to make a swirly shape.

Once you've done your design, apply pressure and lift your print pad to reveal the print.

We'll have a check for understanding before we get going.

What do you notice about these prints? Have a look at the prints.

Talk as a group about what you notice.

Great observations of these prints.

The artist has scraped away paint before printing to let the pastel show through.

Each print is special.

No two prints will look the same.

When it's dry, you can add more colors or marks to your design if you want.

These pupils are thinking carefully about their print.

We've got Sofia here and Andeep.

Sofia says, "My symbol means teamwork because the two hands show people helping each other.

I think my cloth could fit into a bigger banner about working together." Andeep says, "Our group could be called United Creators because our print show different ideas, but we stand for the same message, unity." Love that.

We have a check for understanding here.

Which of these images shows monoprinting? Justify how you know that.

Is it A, we have two colors on fabric, B, we have some sketches, or C, we have some fabric with one color of design on.

Look at the screen and point to either A, B, or C.

Fantastic.

I wonder if you got this answer.

It's A.

A is a monoprint because we can see the pattern has been printed onto a design.

Great, we're ready for Task C, our final task.

Select and prepare your symbols for printing on your banner.

First of all, look at the symbols you drew in Task B.

Consider who your banner's for and which symbols best communicate the beliefs, message, or identity of your group.

Remember, this is about a group of people.

Sketch out the main symbols that you plan to print on your banner just to give yourself a start in making those shapes.

Which symbols or patterns have you used in your fabric background? Print your symbols onto the fabric.

Use the pre-prepared fabric from Task B.

Transfer your design to your monoprint pad to print your symbol.

Consider where to overlay your symbols.

Consider your choice of color.

Have you got a nice strong color for that print? Let your fabric speak with meaning.

And also, another thing 'cause we are thinking and making today, don't forget we're doing lots of work, reflect on the questions below as you get going on your printing.

What story are you printing onto your fabric? How does your color, your choice of color, and your choice of symbols show who you are, a little bit about your identity in the world? Ooh, and what would happen if we brought all these different designs, all these different cloths together as one? We've got an example here of a symbol, and Izzy's going to tell us more about it.

Izzy says, "I wanted my banner to communicate hope for young people.

The eye symbol represents guiding and looking over people, and the sunrise behind it show the idea of hope." Here we've got an example of a banner.

Izzy says, "I'm printing a story about hope onto my fabric.

I use green because it feels calm, and my eye symbol shows guidance.

If we join everyone's cloth together, it will become one big banner that shares our messages as a group." Well done for all your incredible hard work today, printing symbols and banners to do with that and expressing your identity.

We're just gonna do a summary here of what we did, and just looking at our keywords.

Symbols that can show identity, ideas, and values.

We look particularly at the symbols on trade union banners.

And we thought about how artists can use monoprinting to design and print a symbol onto fabric, and the fact that monoprinting can give you a one-off print, a unique print.

You worked incredibly hard at making your monoprint symbols powerful and explored and experimented with this way of working just like the artists that you are.

We discussed how banners use symbols, color, and words to share a message, often a powerful message about community, person, or place.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson and that I see you in another art lesson very soon.

Bye for now.