Contour Hands In Wire

  

I love to combine teaching contour drawing with working with wire - having to transform their drawings into wire sculptures really seems to reinforce the idea of using one continuous line that only follows the outlines of an object. 

 

Last year my grade 5 students rose to the difficult challenge of not only drawing their own hands using a marker (no erasing) but then transforming one of their drawings into wire. It was interesting to see the different approaches individual students used for this project. Some laid the wire directly over their drawings, some used their hand almost as an armature to get the shape, and some really did "freehand" it (so to speak).

I picked up some wooden coasters from a craft shop which served perfectly as a little stand for each sculpture - we just hot glued them right on.

As a group they represent a teacher's nightmare - every kid in the class wanting your attention all at the same time!