Workshop 3 Storytelling, at Coldean Primary School

This was the last workshop at the school, and alongside the planned activities it provided the opportunity for those children who hadn’t done so earlier to finish their mites and complete their badges.

Twelve students from Seahaven Academy who are studying GCSE photography joined us for the workshop to meet the younger children, learn about scabies and the project, and take photos and videos in preparation for their own workshop later on, in June.


Julie Middleton was the storytelling facilitator, and did a marvelous job, despite the incredible noise levels – note to self, if I do this again, spread the groups across two or three rooms!

Julie had organised three story lines that the groups to develop, and these are shown below.

 

storyline

storyline

 

storyline


Meanwhile the late-finishers were beavering away at their mites next door. Lots of glue was used, so it was necessary to take some home and add a few helpful stitches to the larger beads.


mites on a table

Piles of scabies mites, they look so amazing


Towards the end, the children played Scabies Scramble with their lovely beanbags.

games mat

Scabies Scramble mid-game

 

Cutting and sewing beanbags over the Bank Holiday weekend

The weather was so lovely, it seemed a shame to sit inside sewing. So this was an evening job.

Fabric

Fabric

Digital printed fabric unfurled before cutting

Cutting the fabric is much easier using a rotary cutter on a self healing mat. Make sure the blade is nice and sharp; I started with a rather blunt one, and realised I hadn’t changed the blade for quite a while. It cuts SO much better now.

Rotary cutter and fabric

Cutting with a rotary cutter is the easiest way to get neat edges

Fabric cut

Neatly cut beanbag blanks

I worked out a quick method to sew them without cutting the thread each time, but of course they have to be separated at some point.

Video to follow…

 

Turning them inside out was a bit of a chore, but when done whilst watching The Woman in White, it was bearable.  Using a collar turner to pocke the corners helped to make these crisp.

Turned bags

Turned beanbags ready for filling – thanks to Wilkie Collins for the entertainment

 

Preparing for Workshop III

The next workshop will concentrate on storytelling – with our lovely storytelling facilitator Julie. Half the group will do this,  whilst the other group will fill and sew closed the beanbags decorated with prints of their own drawings.

I filled my trial beanbags with out of date mung beans and wheat grain that I had in the cupboard. I am a little reluctant to use mung beans, as they are a food crop, but then wheat is as well! I know some people use rice, so I may choose that instead… perhaps I will let the price decide.

Whilst there will be a chance to finish off their mites, I really want the story telling to take precedence. Students from Seahaven Academy are coming to the workshop to work with the younger children to draw storyboards and take photos of them telling the stories with their mites. If the mites aren’t completed at this point I don’t think this is a real problem, as the stories will still work.

The final workshop will be at Seahaven Academy when one or two digital media professionals will work with the GCSE students to create ‘multi-media collages’ of their photos and videos based on the storyboards from Workshop III.

All very exciting.

The bean bags are being printed as I write

The order has gone off to PrintmePretty; they were so helpful with this. Because the project is through the University, purchases have to be done through the finance system, which is a bit involved. The company found solutions so that I could use the online upload method, but the invoice would be paid separately, as opposed to paying on order. All a bit complicated, but I am so looking forward to seeing the results!

When we were speaking on the phone I commented that the children were very excited by the thought of seeeing their drawings printed on fabric, and the reply was, ‘..adults are too’. To be honest, I am already thinking what designs I can have printed myself.

 

 

 

Hours and hours spent editing drawings in Photoshop

the 50+ children’s drawings were scanned in and I have just completed editing them. Because they were pencil it’s been necessary to thicken and darken the lines and enhance the colours. They were on white backgrounds, so I have added pattern fills behind them so that the beam bags will be COLOURFUL. Yey! The children drew on A4 paper, but the drawings are to be digitally printed on cotton to be made into bean bags of a specific size, so re-sizing and some editing was needed. Despite being asked to put their name and on the front, not all have them. It may be tricky finding the owners.

I’m using PrintmePretty for the printing as our digi printer at University is busy at this time of year. A metre and a half will be enough for the 50+ beanbag outers, and I will have another length printed for display  when the animation is shown.

Exciting!