A box of Blocks and cut dowel rods?

Today is the first day of my Spring class...Am I ready? well I've been working at it and feeling that I still need more time to get ready but I'm going for it. I ask my student at the beginning of most session to pay a small fee for added supplies. This way I know we all have the same things...as you can see a box of wood cut in 4" section that my son cut for me...such a good boy~

I'm a paper person and that's my first love, I love to write though I don't form those sentences as good as others it doesn't stop me for putting pen to paper. And I love the feeling of paper in a book and the rough edges of a handmade book too. Then there's the handmade papers, Oh to start from nature and bring it full circle is another long passionate love of mine.. But there's the side of me that needs to create on the surface and printing though that's not my main medium I love to do that too. So every session I try to share a different technique with the students so they too can build on their experience and their stock of interesting papers to us in collage. I look at Eric Carle and all the papers he makes before hand and I'm in heaven with that. So that's the start of this class...we are going to make things/stamps and mini rollers that will print on our papers. We will also learn about the Citra Solve papers using the National Geographic and printing on Deli papers... along with all the printing going on we will be doing some major collage exercise in composition focusing on center of interest... Using our story telling abilities through the elements and principle of design...what a mouthful that all is but it should be good... these are my advanced students and I push them and get them to take that closed up inside emotion and bring it outside... Yes get them be outside the box on the thinking and the creating...Challenge them.. some get it some don't but along the way we create and learn together and by the end of class we have accomplished some great masterpieces and share so much more..