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Hello,

We would love to do the shield art activity however, for some reason my brain is making it difficult when I know it is not intended to be!

Just a few questions about the project, it's Unit 1, Day 5 in the Artistic Expression box in the Beyond guide.
First, what is tagboard?

Also, for some reason my brain is not fully understanding the steps. I know to cut out the shield shape, cover with foil and attach handle, then there is the option to paint or etch the shield. I am not sure I am understanding the etching option with a pencil or paperclip. Is something applied to the shield before actually etching with a pencil or clip? Or, should we just etch directly onto the plain foil? I don't have much experience with etching as you can tell!

And, if anyone has pictures that would be great, my little brain needs pictures, I think!

Thank you!

Candice

Candice,
I don't know if my photos will help because we didn't do etching. I was afraid my dc would tear the tin foil. We painted ours and you can see in the photo that my dd also added stickers to hers. You can see our shields in this blog post. The photo is down toward the bottom of the post. You can click on the photo to see it a little bigger. Oh, and don't put the handle on until the etching or painting is finished. I put mine on first, and then realized we would smash it the way I made the handle. Tagboard is just a strong cardboard suitable for posters. Mine wasn't thick like cardboard, but not thin like construction paper, kind of in between. HTH!

Wow, Edwena, those are great pictures of the shields.
I'll definitely use the paint, as your kiddo's shields turned out beautifully.
I like the shiny tin foil effect against the painted creations, and the stickers are such a neat addition, my daughter will like that for sure!
Thanks so much, I feel perfectly confident now!

Candice

I just traced a toy shield my kids had onto poster board, cut them out, and then added a handle. I didn't have any tinfoil so they just colored them.

twoxcell,

Thank you, that sounds great!
It seems that I was just over-thinking things again and making them more difficult than necessary!

Candice

We did the etching and it turned out cool, but you have to be closer to the shield to see it. We did 3 layers of foil so if one got torn, there would still be silver underneath. To do it, I streched out a paperclip and used it like a pencil on the foil. For the base we used cardboard.

I couldn't find tag board so we used elmers foam board and it worked great even if it was hard to cut. We also covered it with foil and painted them and they turned out beautifully. I agree about adding the handle last. What fun this project was!

Thanks so much, ladies!

We just finished the shields, both my girls made one.
They turned out beautifully. My 6 year old chose beautiful tropical tones-oranges, yellows, reds, with a lovely cross on it, and my 3 year old made a really gorgeous jewel-tone one.
Oh, and of course, when they finished they wanted to do another one!
I wish I could share pics but, I have just never figured out how to do that.

Candice

Candice,
They sound beautiful. You can see how to post photos in this thread. I don't know if you've tried it before or not. Would love to see them if possible. I'm so glad they had a good time and even wanted to do another.

Thank you Edwena!

I'l give the photos a try. It's been a long time since I messed with it, my husband actually posted a pic for me here a long time ago so, I know it can be done!
If it works, I'll likely post it in the check-in forum somehow as I am afraid I'll accidentally post some totally oversized pic or something!
We will see

Thank you,
Candice

Okay, I hope this works...

I worked but, it's way too huge, I'll try again.

PS~I'll "practice" posting it on the Project Photos forum as I hate to take up valuable space here!