Chihuly came to me in a dream...

Okay, it didn't come in a dream but it did come at 4 am so that counts.  It started like this-- I was inspired by the Chihuly pieces that I found here:

http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/2010/09/chihuly-bottle-process.html

Then the Grade 2/3 teachers approached me about collaborating for the next How We Express Ourselves unit (we're a PYP school, more about that here. ) I jumped at the chance to focus on installation art and Chihuly. 

But, thinking 10 steps ahead as usual,  I struggled to think of an easy way to do the armature if the kids wanted to make a large piece.

So, what came to me?  My neighbor's rooster cage, of course!   I contacted the other art teachers' assistant who hopped on his motobike and drove halfway out of town and back with a giant wicker basket tied on.  More on locals carting insane things on motobikes here.


Here is what it looks like today-- only 6 kids have gotten a chance to tie their bottles on...it takes forever and it's hard for little fingers to pull the wire tight enough.  The tails are made of aluminum foil with tissue paper and glue covering it.  Will keep photos adding as the beast progresses!  Where on earth are we going to put this thing?!



 

 

 Up Up and Away!

Comments

  1. Oh, this was an interesting way to do this!!! Can't wait to see it finished.

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  2. Pretty cool - I'm planning on Chihuly in the gloom of winter, so I'm looking at everyone's solutions. What are the tails that extend the bottles made from?

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  3. Hi phyl-- tails of the bottles are aluminum foil covered in sheets of tissue paper and watered down white glue. very fun!

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  4. Very cool solution! Any suggestions on hanging the pieces??

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    1. ha! an excellent maintenance crew? :) it took 3 guys to hang this beast (it was both heavy and unwieldy.)

      they drilled hooks into the cement ceiling and i used heavy gauge wire in the top part of the basket to loop it to the screws. they just wrapped the wire around the hooks and tightened as necessary.

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  5. How did you attach the bottles to the basket?

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    1. great question-- i cut some wire and tied it tightly around the tops of each bottle and tied it onto the basket. i had a helper in the room pulling the kids one by one to attach bottles to the basket while the rest of the class was doing something else.

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  6. how long did this project take and how many students did you have?

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