Lesson Summary
Students will design and carve symbolic medallions out of soap, expressing meaningful concepts. They'll plan designs in their sketchbooks before carving, considering foreground, middle ground, and background planes. Planning is key to determining which parts of the soap to remove.
Lesson Objectives
Learn carving techniques
Explore circle design principles
Practice sculpting by removal
Discussion
What is a medallion and its purpose?
Have you won a medal before? For what?
Any ideas for your medallion? What's its purpose? e.g. gift, medal, memorabilia
Process
The soap medallions will have 3 planes: a foreground, a middle ground and a background. Planning is crucial for this project, so you will need to plan your ideas well to determine which parts of the soap needs to be removed, and which parts need to be kept.
Trace Soap Bar: Sketch the soap's shape in your sketchbook.
Brainstorm: Think of themes and sketch within the soap outline.
Front Design: Finalize a theme and draw the front design, keeping it simple enough for carving.
Back Design: Create a correlating back design, simpler than the front.
Three Planes: Number the foreground, middle ground, and background depths.
Outline Design: Transfer the design to soap using a thin carving utensil.
Carve: Gradually carve the soap. Determine the depth of each plane on the side of your soap bar.
Refine: Smooth rough areas and add details for refinement. The more time and effort you put in, the better the outcome.
The back of the medallion design may be a simple shape or a letter. This type of design may be a more ideal for younger students.
Terminology
Medallion — A portable artistic object, typically a thin disc with a design. Often commemorative, they're given as awards or worn as jewelry.
Relief Sculpture — Combines features of two-dimensional and the three-dimensional artwork. It gives an impression that the subject has been raised above a flat two-dimensional surface
Foreground — The part of a view in a scene or picture that is nearest to the observer.
Middle ground — The middle distance of a scene or picture.
Background — The part of a scene or picture that is farthest from the viewer