OBJECTIVES

 Make vegetal fibre sheets which are gathered as a book.
 Make a list of visual and tactile sensations, and the words to qualify them.
 Develop the touch and manual precision.

SKILLS

Identify, gather vegetal fibres.

Make craft paper sheets.

MATERIALS

 Vegetal fibres, hemp, flax, tow used by plumbers (skeins of cotton or woollen yarn, leaves, raffia…).

 Gouache and water.
 Glue, big plastic garbage bags.
 A bucket, aprons and gloves.
 A big needle and some thread.
 A stick to mix and stir

REFERENCES

 Claudie Hunzinger : "L’effet papillon"
 "Les Promeneuses" Sylvie Breton et Annick Le Caro.

PROCEDURES

1) Gather the vegetal : for example, hemp yarn.

2) Make the sheets for the book :

 In a bucket, draw the hemps skeins, add paint to colour and liquid glue added to water (a 1 kg skein + 4 glasses of paint + 4 glasses of glue + 4 glasses of water). Stir for a long time with a stick.

Comment the actions and reuse the vocabulary in situation.

 On the ground, lay a plastic protective sheet the size of which is superior to the size of the sheet you are planning to make. With gloves on, tale the mixture out of the bucket and spread it, distributing the fibres evenly and respecting the homogeneity of the mix. The surface of interwoven fibres corresponds to a double page of the book.

- Cover the mix with a second protective plastic sheet and flatten it by stepping evenly on the surface. Leave to dry for a whole day.

 Take the second protective sheet laying on the production leave to dry for a couple more days, then remove the « vegetal sheet » from the plastic sheet o which it was laying.

3) Make the book :

 The sheets of the book are made and coloured according to the theme. They are rectangles of interwoven fibres which make up vegetal fibre arabesques, which convey aesthetic qualities and make a light prop on which to note things down.

 Fold the sheets in two, superimpose them and tie them thanks to some stitches or nods with a bit of rope or thread.

 Leaf through the pages, appreciate the colours the tactile qualities the smell…

FOLLOW-UP WORK

Make sheets and other books with other fibre collection : bits of paper, of straw, of wool…

Find types of writings in relation with the sorts of books you make.

TRANSPOSITION

With smaller children, use textile fibre sheets to create simple, playful vegetal sculptures which can be used as a basis for a dance : tubes, cones columns…

With older children, create a real book in pulp on which they will print a text.

ASSESSMENT

Becoming aware that :

the vegetal fibre book conveys aesthetic, visual and tactile emotions.

Sylvie Breton Jules Verne Primary School , Mantes- la -Jolie (Yvelines) France