Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about watery weavings and looking at textiles.

We are going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to plan a weaving inspired by underwater creatures.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are swatch, textures, and design.

I'm gonna say those words again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Swatch.

Textures.

Design.

Good job.

Now, let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

A swatch is a small piece of material that is used to show what different fabrics look and feel like.

Textures is how something feels when you touch it or how it looks like it would feel.

Design is to plan how something may work or look best.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

We're going to explore underwater colours and textures.

We're gonna design a weaving.

In the first part of our lesson, we're going to explore those underwater colours and textures.

What is similar about these two underwater creatures? Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What was similar about these two underwater creatures? Let's take a look.

We might say that they've both got circular shapes, like this.

Can you see them on the top of this creature on the left and on the tentacles of the creature on the right? We might say they've also got quite orange colours in both.

Can you see that? And they're both sea creatures.

So we've got a few similarities between these two creatures.

There are many colours underwater.

Artists might carefully observe the colours underwater so they can depict them in their artwork.

What colours can you see in this picture here? How many different ones? Alex wants to explore the colours that he can see in the underwater creature here.

He says he can see warm colours, such as oranges, purples, and pinks.

Can you see that there? So we've got the oranges, purples, and the pinky colours.

Alex finds a swatch of fabric to help him plan his artwork depicting the sea creature.

So here's a swatch of fabric he found there for those orangy colours.

Remember, swatches of fabric are small pieces of material that are used to show what different fabrics look and feel like.

Artists can use those swatches of fabric to help them to plan a design.

So, looking at this sea creature, we've got this part of the body here.

Hmm.

How might we want to represent that? Maybe we could use this swatch of checked, patterned fabric.

Now, what about a closeup here on the tentacles? Maybe we could use a swatch of purple and white fabric for this bit.

Can you see the white and the purple there on the tentacles? And then this part of the sea creature here.

Maybe we could use a swatch of brown, woolly fabric.

So can you see how each of these swatches is helping us to plan that design? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which fabric swatches might Alex find useful for his design? A, B, or C? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that A and B would be useful, you're absolutely right.

The browns and the checked fabric are going to be most useful for Alex when creating his octopus because they match the colours he can observe.

What textures do you see in this sea creature here? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you see? Well, Andeep is looking at this different underwater creature, and he thinks about the different textures he can see.

He says he can see shiny scales with feathery fins.

Could you see those textures too? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding here.

Texture means the way something feels or looks like it would feel.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that statement was true, you're absolutely right.

But can you explain why that statement is true? Pause the video here and have a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, if you said that textures can be rough, smooth, soft, hard, or bumpy, you're absolutely right.

Texture is the way something feels or looks like it would feel, so those are examples.

So, taking a look at this fish, this sea creature, having a look at the fin there on the back, we could use this fabric here for the golden, delicate fins.

And then taking a look at the scales, we've got shiny, reflective scales, so here's a swatch of fabric that we could use for that.

Andeep finds swatches of fabric that are shiny and golden, like the fish he is observing.

He needs delicate, gold fabrics that he can layer together.

So there's a couple of swatches that he's collected.

What could you collect? Hmm, maybe this one as well for the front.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to explain to your partner which underwater creature you like most.

Was it the minnow, a sea slug, or the octopus? So from these three underwater creatures, which one do you like most? Explain that to your partner.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to do that and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Well, hopefully, you've selected your favourite.

Now in your sketchbook, I'd like you to select swatches of fabric to represent different colours and textures that you would like to include in your underwater weaving.

So pause the video here.

Now you selected your favourite creature.

Now, choose the swatches of fabric to represent the colours and textures of that creature and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, when you were explaining to your partner, you might have said, like Sam, "I like the minnow fish best, as it has a really reflective light appearance." Or maybe you were like Izzy, and you said, "I really like the sea slug for the bold pattern on its body." Now, when you chose your sea creature, you might have then selected swatches of fabric like this in your sketchbook.

You might have had brown, woolly textures for the bumpy textures, maybe some golds and yellows for the lighter areas.

Maybe some soft pinks and purples if you were choosing the octopus for the tentacles.

You could also have brown checks for the darker areas.

Maybe you selected an image of your sea creature and put that in your sketchbook to help you select those swatches of fabrics.

Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to design a weaving.

Now, what is different about these two underwater creatures? We've seen these before.

What's different? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Let's take a look.

So, what's different? Well, the sea slug is pale, yellow, and black, but the octopus has pinks and browns.

There's a smooth texture here on the sea slug, but on the octopus, we've got quite a bumpy texture.

Did you spot those differences? Now, when artists are designing something, they are thinking about and planning how something can work best or look good.

Sometimes, designs will change or be adapted as an artist begins making an artwork.

Being willing to adapt or change a design is an important part of being an artist.

So they never start by designing something and it being absolutely right and perfect.

They need to be willing to change it and adapt as they start making it.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which statements about design are true? When artists design, they are thinking about how something might look better.

Once an artist has planned a design, it never changes.

Designs can be made to make something work better.

So pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, which of these statements about design are true, and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that artists can adapt designs as they continue planning and creating their artwork, and also that designs can be made to make something work better, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Alex and Andeep start by sketching out their idea for a loom.

Their idea is to use a round loom for the head.

I think that's a good idea.

And Alex suggests that it should be quite large, a bit like this.

So here they've started sketching their idea out for their loom.

Now they look at the design and have another idea.

"We could add smaller round looms for the spiral tentacles." Ah, I think that's a good idea.

You can see how the design is coming together.

Now, I'm gonna have a go at exploring how to arrange the looms with my design.

So here I go.

I'd like you to do the same.

Explore how to arrange your looms with your design.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? You might have arranged your looms like this.

Now remember, artists can adapt designs as they continue planning and creating their artwork, so you could change yours as well.

Andeep and Alex noticed that they might need to change some ideas in their design.

Alex says, "I think we might need to make the loom a bit more oval shaped." Andeep agrees.

He thinks they should change their design to show that.

So here's a look at their new design, a more oval shape of their loom.

Now they add colours for the tentacles and the body.

So Alex says, "I think we should use purples and brown fabric for the tentacles." And "Let's use oranges on the body," says Andeep.

So they've drawn out those colours there to show where they'd like them on their design.

They make notes on their design too to make their ideas really clear.

So can you see how they've written "orange," "long strips of fabric," "brown and purple" to remind themselves? "My notes explain how we all make the tentacles," says Alex.

"And my notes will describe the colours we will need," says Andeep.

Is there anything else they need to include in their design? Hmm.

Ah! They've noticed that they're missing an eye.

What could they use for that? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, what could they use for the eye, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Ah, well, Alex says, "We could use a button to embellish the eye." Did you think that too, or was it something different? This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to work together or separately to design a weaving based upon your chosen underwater creature.

You might think about the fabrics you might choose to best represent your creatures colours and textures, the loom shape that will be best suited to your creature, and also making notes on your design so you remember what you want to include.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this learning task, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at an example? So your design might include something like this.

You might have to use more than one loom.

You might've made notes to explain your ideas.

You may have shown what colours your weaving might include as well.

And maybe you made changes to your design, because an artist can always make changes to their design.

It doesn't need to be fixed from the beginning.

And you might also have included swatches of fabric that you might use.

Well done for having a go at that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about designing an underwater weaving.

Swatches of fabric are small pieces of material that are used to show what different fabrics look and feel like.

Artists can match colours and textures of fabric to the colours and textures they see in the world around them.

Artists can adapt designs as they continue planning and creating their artwork.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.