Metal Tooling Mythological Creatures

We looked at different examples of mythological creatures in Eric Carle's book Dragons, Dragons.  Students drew a picture of a mythological creature that already exists or could make up their own.  We then discussed the process of metal tooling or repousse.  We made a drawing on scrap paper and then traced it onto a piece of 6x6 aluminum using a wooden stylus.  We made sure to have a piece of felt beneath our aluminum so that there would be something to press into when making our indentations.  When our relief was complete we painted over it with black india ink and immediately wiped it off with a paper towel.  This left the ink in the grooves making their drawing stand out.  The last step was to create a frame- we did this by tracing a square in the center of a 9x9 piece of black paper.  The aluminum was taped to the frame from behind.  Students could decorate the frame with oil pastels if they chose.  The students loved this project!  The results were really successful.