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Parent Category: Projects from Journal Back Copies

Category: Projects 2002

 Kathleen Kay

Following on from the previous Journal I will describe some of the ways my Dudley College Special Needs students use copper shim to add an extra dimension to group panels and how I use scribed strips to finish off the edges. See the picture “Aquarium 2001”. For the students' projects I usually choose soft temper foil/shim, as it rarely fights back as the hardened, springy shim does...much more student-friendly.

The background of the Aquarium picture is made up of 84 2” squares of 22 gauge copper, worked by 21 students aided by 3 Care Assistants, one in each of three classes. Students start as young as sixteen, some staying until twenty-one or twenty-two because they like college too much to leave.

Abilities are really mixed, some students can do little more than tap a sieve and laugh a lot….hence the Care staff. Other students can help make decisions and enjoy doing more skilful work like painting detail on the stencilled angel fish.

The 84 squares were all done by sifting, shading, using our home made Horlicks-scoop mini-sieves, masking and stencilling. We cut out margarine box-lid plastic masks to achieve background foliage and commercial stencils for the angel fish and the fancy goldfish. All the stencilling was fired carefully to keep the 'touchy-feely' raised surface, as was our rather good attempt at gravel at one end. Six small orange fish and the sea horses were commercially stamped out blanks, fired and glued into place. The mix of techniques allowed every student to enamel a fish.

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