Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about recycled robots, exploring drawing, and sculpture.

We're going to be doing 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 create a maquette of a robot.

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 key words we'll be using today are maquette, sculpture, armature.

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

Maquette.

Sculpture.

Armature.

Good job.

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

Let's take a look at each of their definitions.

A maquette is a small, rough model of a sculpture used for planning.

A sculpture is a three-dimensional piece of art made by shaping or combining materials.

Armature is a skeleton frame that gives the basic shape and holds a maquette together.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press Play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson, Joining techniques and Creating a maquette.

So in this first learning cycle, we're going to explore joining techniques.

Which joining techniques did the artist use to create this maquette? Take a look at that image there.

Hmm.

Pause the video here and give yourself some time to have a discussion with your partner.

Which joining techniques did the artist use to create this maquette here? And press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, let's think about what a maquette is.

A maquette is a small model to test ideas.

It is meant to be quick and simple, so artists can test shapes, forms, and proportions before creating a larger, final piece.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Is this statement true or false? A maquette is a finished sculpture, not a model for planning a design.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that's false, you're absolutely right.

A maquette is a small model to test ideas.

It's meant to be quick and simple, so that artists can try out those shapes and forms and proportions before they create their larger, final sculpture.

So let's take a look at some joining techniques that sculptors use to secure a structure.

So they might use tying and wrapping.

They might use slotting.

They might use stacking or glueing or even nailing.

So which techniques might be useful for creating a maquette of a robot, do you think? Hmm.

You'll be tying and wrapping using some kind of thread or string, or slotting using cardboard cuts, or stacking up of something.

Or does sticky glue work? Or will nails have the right technique? What do you think? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner around which techniques might be useful for creating a maquette of a robot, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Did you choose glueing , or maybe slotting? Well, different joining methods can be used to create a maquette.

Aisha says, "I think we could try tying or wrapping some of the parts together, like using string or fabric to connect pieces.

It could look cool and hold things in place." Laura, she's thinking, well, "Maybe we could try also slotting some parts together, like using cardboard or wood so they fit perfectly without falling apart." Those are a couple of good ideas, aren't they? With those joining methods.

I think they could both work.

Now, I'm going to have a go at experimenting with different knots and wrapping techniques to see how you can secure pieces while adding texture and detail.

I'd like you to have a go at experimenting with different knots and wrapping techniques to see how you can secure pieces and adding that texture and detail.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at that technique, that joining technique of wrapping, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Well, you may have experimented with different knots and wrapping techniques to secure your robot parts, and maybe adding texture and visual interest.

Maybe you used a particular colour of string or thread.

Now, if we were to use the slotting technique, we'd slot pieces of cardboard together by cutting notches so that they fit securely, so it looks a little bit like this, so they we can push them together and they create a really nice, secure seal.

So I'd like you to have a go at that now.

Slot some pieces of cardboard together by cutting those notches so that they fit securely.

Pause the video to give yourself enough time to do this, and then press Play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that technique? Well, hopefully you've been able to explore that slotting techniques to see how they would join together your robot pieces, ensuring that they fit tightly and stay in place.

Now let's have a go at the glueing technique.

We can use glue to attach different materials together.

So taking a look here, we could use different thicknesses of glue in order to attach those materials together, depending on what they are.

I'd like you to have a go at that now.

Use that glue to attach different materials together.

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

How was that? Well, hopefully you were quite sure to apply just enough glue for a strong bond and you allowed it time to dry completely to make sure that those pieces stay securely in place.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to explore different ways to join recyclable materials.

First of all, I'd like you to gather recyclable materials such as cardboard, plastic bottles, tinfoil, bottle caps, paper tubes, anything that you can find to recycle.

So pause the video here, give yourself enough time to find those materials, and then press Play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Hopefully you gathered all of those materials that you need.

Now, I would like you to test those joining methods.

So you can test tape.

Does it hold the materials together well? Glue, which types work best? PVA, glue sticks, or hot glue? String or wire, can you tie or twist those materials together? And slotting or folding, can you fit pieces together without glue or tape, cutting those bits of card? So pause the video here.

Give yourself enough time to have a go at testing these different joining methods, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Hopefully you had plenty of time to test those joining methods.

Which one did you prefer? Well, you may have explored those different ways to join materials and discovered which one was the strongest or the most stable technique.

You might have tested glue or tape or staples or folded and thought about which one would work best for your robot maquette, and you might have also combined different methods to make sure you've got really strong joints.

Well done for having a go at that first learning task.

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

We're going to create a maquette.

So how to build a maquette? Well, to make a strong and stable maquette, you need an armature, and this is like the skeleton of your model.

If you have a design sketch, you can carefully review it to check that the proportions are accurate.

Now, the techniques for building an armature include using card or foil, so you could shape pieces of card or you could crumple up foil into a base structure.

You could use wire by bending and twisting that wire into the shape that you want, or you can use layering, by adding layers of paper or other materials to make the maquette strong and balanced.

Which of these techniques is going to be best for your armature? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is the purpose of armature when building a robot? To decorate the robot with patterns and colours, to create a strong and stable structure for the robot, to make the robot move on its own, to add extra weight to the design? Pause the video here and give yourself some time to think about this question, and when you're ready to continue, press Play.

What did you think? If you said it's to create a strong and stable structure for the robot, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

To create a maquette of a robot, you could think about using a simple sketch for ideas, creating an armature for the structure, thinking carefully about the size and proportion of your robot, and labelling important parts.

Here's a plan of a maquette.

What do you think could be improved here? Pause a video here and have a discussion with your partner and think about what could be improved, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Could you spot anything that could be improved on this plan of a maquette? Well, the base, the feet.

They need to be a bit bigger to keep the maquette stable.

That's one thing that I noticed.

Did you see that as well? Was there anything else that could be improved? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What helps keep maquette stable and balanced? Is it using a strong base and evenly distributing weight, adding lots of decorations before building the structure, making it as tall as possible without support, or using only one small piece to hold everything together? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

Which of these helps keep a maquette stable and balanced? And press Play when you're ready to continue.

Well, if you said that using a strong base and evenly distributing weight would help to keep the maquette stable and balanced, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Jun notices his maquette is unstable and keeps falling.

What advice would you give Jun to make his maquette stable? 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? How could we help him? Well, we could advise him to have a strong base for his maquette, couldn't we? And make sure that his weight is evenly distributed.

He doesn't have too many heavy pieces.

Maybe the head, we don't want too much of a heavy head and really light feet, do we? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

A robot maquette will stay balanced no matter where you place its heaviest parts.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that that's false, you're absolutely right.

The placement of heavy parts affects the balance, so they should be evenly distributed for stability.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to create your maquette.

Build your armature first, then add layers to build volume, making sure to check for stability.

Consider which joining techniques you're going to use, and think about the features of your robot and its purpose.

Think about which materials you use for each part and how you'll make the legs strong enough to support the body.

And as a top tip, make sure you take your time and keep checking the balance and the structure as you're building your maquette.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to create your maquette, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, maybe you've created something like this.

You maybe created a maquette with a strong base to keep it stable and balanced, and you might have explored different ways to join materials securely and tested how to arrange parts for the best structure.

You might also have started thinking about how your design could be improved before building your final sculpture.

Taking a look at this maquette that's being created, you can see there's newspaper and cardboard, there's some plastic tubs as well, and the joining techniques, we can see some slotting and some glue.

So well done for creating your own maquette.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about creating a maquette of a robot.

A maquette is a small three-dimensional model used by artists to plan and develop their sculptures.

And by identifying and using different joining techniques such as tying, wrapping, slotting, or glueing , we can build a strong and stable maquette.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.