Care to Share - Pattern packs
Ok. You are all set up as a teacher and you are teaching confidently, but you have been asked
to show your students how you painted one of your earlier designs - how do you create a
lesson from an old piece? (or even a new piece).
1 - make sure you own the copyright - if not contact the copyright holder for permission. Don’t
be surprised or upset if they say no, or ask for a fee. After all, it was through their hard work
and inspiration that it was created, and the intellectual property is theirs.
Copyright is a sensitive subject! Use of someone else’s design without permission is an
offence.
2 - Paint the whole project again, starting from the bare blank surface. BUT this time make
notes of of everything - everything - that you do. This will include preparation, base coats,
colours and types of paint and media, tools, brush types and sizes, techniques, plus any notes
you think of as you go. Take photos of each stage (this is where your smart phone is worth its
weight in some cheap alloy), and any bits that will be difficult to explain in words, ‘cos a picture
paints a thousand words … apparently. Try to have some idea of how long each stage takes to
complete. It will help when putting a class together for timings.
3 - Your initial notes will probably be accompanied by scribblings and crossings out, but don’t
worry. Get it all down, because the next phase is to convert those scribbles to lesson notes.
Depending on the complexity of your project, you’ll either do notes for yourself as lesson
prompts, or student handouts - sometimes called a pattern pack - which could be posted out.
The easiest way to write your plan is to use bullet points. Each action in sequence, no need to
worry about punctuation or syntax, just one-line instructions, e.g.:
- Lightly sand the surface and wipe off dust
- apply one coat of gesso with 1” flat brush
- allow to dry naturally (no heat)
- lightly sand again to remove brush marks and wipe off dust … etc
There is no need to do fancy page layouts. The pictures and any diagrams or patterns can be
on separate sheets - as long as they are labeled with links to the relevant parts of the text.
Once you’ve written your notes - read them through as if you were a student who knows
nothing. Once you’ve done that ask a friend, an honest one, to read through the notes - also as
a student who knows nothing - to see if the notes make sense, and your friend could complete
the project without asking for help.
It does sound long and laborious, but remember the 5 Ps - perfect planning prevents poor
performance - Hopefully you won’t have any awkward surprises when your students are
completing the project.
And remember to include your name and contact details in the title, or at the end, as you will be
the copyright holder - and after all that work you wouldn’t want someone else taking the credit!
As usual, we hope this helps, or at least shows how much effort designers have to put in for
your enjoyment - any questions or comments to:
Gill Hobbs - [email protected]
Kim - [email protected]