Printmaking + Collage Jungle Cats
"How wild it was to let it be."
- Cheryl Strayed
grab the complete PRINTMAKING + COLLAGE TIGER project PDF + Printable pack here:
A couple of years ago I stopped drinking coffee. It was a sad day. I LOVE COFFEE. It has always been one of my favorite flavors. When I was a little girl my birthday cakes were filled with mocha frosting and my favorite ice cream flavor was coffee. So saying goodbye to my dear friend Joe was hard. I didn't want to. I did it because I started to notice a connection between my mood and my coffee consumption. When the coffee was going in I felt great, upbeat, cheerful, ready to seize the day with gusto. But that upswing was inevitably followed by low-grade anxiety that turned into irritability, and next thing you know I am living in Grump Town, USA, Population: 1. What the heck does this sad story have to do with jungle cats? Well, I started drinking coffee again. I can't tell you how it happened exactly...one day I swapped decaf for a half caff and the next thing you know I am back to full caff and I am drinking multiple cups a day and it tastes so good and I then I find a really delicious organic cold brew that comes in a pretty glass bottle that pairs so nicely with my creamy almond milk.....and I don't want to even type what I am about to type...I'm grumpy...again. So today is day 1 without coffee. I am not happy but I am doing it because being anxious and irritable isn't worth it in my book. Being a self-aware grown up sucks sometimes. For today, this is my truth. I am going to get wild and just let it be. I am woman (without coffee). Hear me roar.
About the cats--I did this project yesterday in my K-6 classes and they loved it!
xx
a.
Materials:
printmaking paper (or a thick white paper)
scissors
glue sticks
ink pads or tempera for stamping
assorted tissue paper for jungle leaves
1. Cut your jungle leaves out of strips of colored tissue paper. 2. Cut tiger stripes and/or leopard dots out of your foam paper and mount it to wood blocks or cardboard squares with double-sided sticky tape or glue. 3. Print your stripes on a sheet of thick white paper. 4. Once you create your striped pattern you can add color to the remaining white spaces with watercolor, tempera sticks, or colored markers. 5. Cut out your jungle cat shape. 6. Add eyes, nose, muzzle, and whisker details. 7. Mount your cut out cat shape to a clean sheet of paper. You can use colored pieces of paper for the background or use white paper that has been colored with chalk pastel. We used chalk pastel, rubbed in with a cotton ball to achieve a soft-hued glow. 8. Glue on your tissue paper jungle leaves.
