Creative idea
Yayoi Kusama-inspired flowers made from papier-mâché.
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Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is known for her installations and sculptures in bright colours, organic shapes and with lots of dots! Here, the students can make their own floral sculptures using a plastic bottle, metal wire and cardboard – inspired by Kusama’s universe. The idea was developed by teacher, blogger and visual artist Tatjana Knudsen.
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How to do it
1 Find a plastic bottle of an appropriate size and fill it with some stones or a little sand.
2 Pierce the bottle cap with a stitching awl.
3 Cut two pieces of thick bonzai thread, each about 60 cm long. Pull the thread through the cap. Twist together the two pieces, which will be placed inside the bottle. Push the twisted thread down into the sand inside the bottle and screw on the cap.
4 Draw flower heads and leaves on sturdy cardboard. Cut out the parts. Attach the flower heads with masking tape to the threads that make up the flower stems. Attach the leaves to the bottle's body.
5 Add volume to the stems by wrapping newspaper and masking tape around them. Then, give the entire flower sculpture a layer of masking tape and add a coat of papier-mâché using newspaper pieces dipped in wallpaper paste. Allow to dry.
6 Then prime the entire flower sculpture with a super primer (white primer).
7 Paint the flower sculpture with a good-quality opaque acrylic paint. Allow to dry.
8 Cover the flower sculpture in dots made with round foam stencils and acrylic paint.
9 Draw patterns on the flower sculpture with an opaque acrylic marker. Take your inspiration from the work of Yayoi Kusama.
10 If you wish, you can varnish the finished flower sculpture and leave it to dry.
11 Students can vary the look of their sculpture by glueing on halves of cotton wool or polystyrene balls onto the floral wreath.
12 Get inspiration by looking up Yayoi Kusama’s art online. For example, watch the videos 'Let's Fight Together' or 'Advice to the Young'.
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