Using folded paper to inspire a unique color exploration.
If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you'll know I hate color wheels. I understand their importance as a tool, my students make one in 20 minutes on an assessment to check for understanding, but I refuse to spend more than 1 day on them. Give a child primary color paints, and they will discover quickly how to make green, orange, violet, and brown.
I do believe it is important for students to get experience mixing colors by hand, and have done "anti-color wheel" projects before (HERE) and (HERE). This third version might have become a new favorite and makes some really strong connections to geometry and Japanese culture through Origami.
Before I even discuss this unit or Origami, I hand out index cards for students to write down their interests. Travel, sports, favorite foods, hobbies, etc. This will help them later to seek out video tutorials that are tied to their personal interests. If they have a cat at home, they can do an origami cat. They like to cook? Perhaps and origami spoon, Etc.
I do believe it is important for students to get experience mixing colors by hand, and have done "anti-color wheel" projects before (HERE) and (HERE). This third version might have become a new favorite and makes some really strong connections to geometry and Japanese culture through Origami.
Before I even discuss this unit or Origami, I hand out index cards for students to write down their interests. Travel, sports, favorite foods, hobbies, etc. This will help them later to seek out video tutorials that are tied to their personal interests. If they have a cat at home, they can do an origami cat. They like to cook? Perhaps and origami spoon, Etc.
I begin the actual lesson with an introductory video. THIS ONE from Ted Ed gives a good overview of Origami and connections to science. We even take notes on the 4 mathematical "rules" of Origami. (Later I ask them to pick rules 1-3 and "prove" them on their unfolded paper)
I ask students to raise their hands if they have ever made Origami before. I have students note these people and make groups of students with these "helpers" at the center. We then get our tablets, computers, iPads, or phones and fold along with YouTube origami videos. I cut copy paper to 8.5 inch squares, and mark the paper cutter so students can cut additional paper if they need to (and I trust them to do so.) I encourage them to preview their videos before they try folding to see if the video is complete, without jumps, or without too many difficult folds. Try easy figures and perhaps a few challenging ones. I allow students to fold for 3 days, saving all their figures, whether they are successful or not. (I assess a grade for attempts to keep students occupied, so 10 attempts equals 100% as a small grade.)
I then share the work of contemporary artist Sarah Morris with students. If they are old enough, we may even talk about her copyright lawsuit. The image below is of an origami dog unfolded. Though she does not create color wheels, one can see how it can be applied. I also like how she covers the edges of shapes with bright thin lines. I explain that we too would be unfolding our Origami to make a painting inspired by Sarah's work.
- The number of mountain or valley folds at any corner will always be +/- two.
- Every other angle around a converging point will add up to 180° .
- Fold patterns can be colored in with just 2 colors and not meet.
- A fold cannot pierce a piece of paper.
I ask students to raise their hands if they have ever made Origami before. I have students note these people and make groups of students with these "helpers" at the center. We then get our tablets, computers, iPads, or phones and fold along with YouTube origami videos. I cut copy paper to 8.5 inch squares, and mark the paper cutter so students can cut additional paper if they need to (and I trust them to do so.) I encourage them to preview their videos before they try folding to see if the video is complete, without jumps, or without too many difficult folds. Try easy figures and perhaps a few challenging ones. I allow students to fold for 3 days, saving all their figures, whether they are successful or not. (I assess a grade for attempts to keep students occupied, so 10 attempts equals 100% as a small grade.)
I then share the work of contemporary artist Sarah Morris with students. If they are old enough, we may even talk about her copyright lawsuit. The image below is of an origami dog unfolded. Though she does not create color wheels, one can see how it can be applied. I also like how she covers the edges of shapes with bright thin lines. I explain that we too would be unfolding our Origami to make a painting inspired by Sarah's work.
Origami Dog by Sarah Morris (Click to visit artist's website)
| Essay on artist Sarah Morris for notes |
We label all their figures with their name and the name of the model. When everything is labeled, we open the figures, trace and count shapes. (These unfolded figures can be photographed and used to explore tints and shades. This is addressed in my video.) I find that between 30 and 50 shapes makes for a good project. More than 50 spaces may be too challenging, too few and there will not be enough spaces to make a color wheel. I did have one student who had a very difficult time with origami, so we took his simple figure and repeated it 4x to make enough spaces for the project.
If you teach in an elementary setting, then it might make sense to have students just do their color wheels directly on their unfolded papers. Media that can be overlapped with primary colors will work. Students can add black or white to help create more diverse colors, but this DOES NOT have to be a full-on acrylic project on canvas.
Below is an example of this with oil pastels on the unfolded paper, step by step. Though I folded a traditional crane for this example, my hope is that every child explores origami on their own so that work is individual and unique. For all students to fold the same thing would be pedagogically inappropriate. More about that here. My feeling about this lesson, is that if students are unable to explore on their own, this lesson may be too advanced for them anyway.
If you teach in an elementary setting, then it might make sense to have students just do their color wheels directly on their unfolded papers. Media that can be overlapped with primary colors will work. Students can add black or white to help create more diverse colors, but this DOES NOT have to be a full-on acrylic project on canvas.
Below is an example of this with oil pastels on the unfolded paper, step by step. Though I folded a traditional crane for this example, my hope is that every child explores origami on their own so that work is individual and unique. For all students to fold the same thing would be pedagogically inappropriate. More about that here. My feeling about this lesson, is that if students are unable to explore on their own, this lesson may be too advanced for them anyway.
For my high school students, I want them to mix on canvas. My introductory students do this focusing on the color wheel aspect. Higher grades, or those with more experience can add in tints and shades. How you differentiate this lesson will be based on your knowledge of your students.
I had my high school students re-fold their origami from new papers, this time the size of their square canvases. Ours were 12 x 12 inches, so I cut thin drawing paper to this same size and had students carefully fold and unfold their chosen figure. We used carbon paper to transfer the lines to the canvas with rulers. (Hand drawing lines will result in poor images.) We re-traced them in thick permanent marker (Sharpie) so that it was easy to see the spaces to be painted.
I provided primary colors in cups for students to use, plus black and white. On their square canvas they had one space for each primary color, plus one more for black or white. My videos will explain our process, but essentially we mixed primaries to create the colors between the shapes to fill in our canvas. We used copy paper as pallets to make clean up more easy. Student-grade acrylics will generally require 2 coats for good coverage. We use paint pens and rulers to trace all the shape edges. This helps cover any unsteady edges. We use paint pens for this on our projects.
I had my high school students re-fold their origami from new papers, this time the size of their square canvases. Ours were 12 x 12 inches, so I cut thin drawing paper to this same size and had students carefully fold and unfold their chosen figure. We used carbon paper to transfer the lines to the canvas with rulers. (Hand drawing lines will result in poor images.) We re-traced them in thick permanent marker (Sharpie) so that it was easy to see the spaces to be painted.
I provided primary colors in cups for students to use, plus black and white. On their square canvas they had one space for each primary color, plus one more for black or white. My videos will explain our process, but essentially we mixed primaries to create the colors between the shapes to fill in our canvas. We used copy paper as pallets to make clean up more easy. Student-grade acrylics will generally require 2 coats for good coverage. We use paint pens and rulers to trace all the shape edges. This helps cover any unsteady edges. We use paint pens for this on our projects.
Samples above shows 3 approaches to color. The first (left) is just a color wheel without tints & shades. The middle had tints & shades done as a glaze over colors. The right sample shows tints and shades mixed into the paint during the second coat of painting.
The introductory video explains the 4 mathematical rules of Origami.
To close out this lesson, I had students take out their larger folded paper, and prove 1 of the four rules (except the last). The math department provided protractors for students who wanted to measure angles.
- There will always be +/- 2 valley or mountain folds at every point of intersecting lines.
- Origami fold patterns can be colored with just 2 colors that are never adjacent to each other.
- Every other angle around a point of intersection will add up to 180˚
- Paper cannot pass through itself.
To close out this lesson, I had students take out their larger folded paper, and prove 1 of the four rules (except the last). The math department provided protractors for students who wanted to measure angles.
Here is my pattern worksheet that can help students practice before they use paint pens on their final project.
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