Mexican Metal Tooling

Inspired by Pepper Paints and KinderArt examples of Mexican metal tooling, we decided to try making our own. We gathered heavy-duty disposable baking pans, permanent markers, objects to use for embossing such as spoons, large hardware nails, etc., and a thick plastic shower curtain liner to protect the table:

 

First, I cut the aluminum into rectangles:

 

This was tricky because the aluminum edges were a little sharp. Had I thought of it, I could have used our large paper cutter and spared myself a few nicks from the edges.

Then we began "drawing" pictures and designs on the rectangles:

 

Then we colored the pictures:

 

We were very happy with the results and discussed different ways to display the pictures. We liked the traditional "collage" arrangement with dangling beads on the bottom (see above link examples) but decided to do something different. We clipped the pictures to the backyard fence in one long row:

 

 

 

The children want to make some more, so maybe we'll wire the next set together and dangle some pretty beads at the bottom. But for now, we're very pleased with our backyard art.

Comments

[Kristin]

I love 'em!

[Kristen]

Yours look great-thanks for the link!

[kristen]

Love that you hung yours outside-they look so shiny!!Thanks for the link.

[Karla]

Great project! Love this idea and will put it to work soon on my classroom...

[Ian]

What an excellent craft activity. Love the idea.