Back to School: Cleaning paint-brushes / Nazaj v šolo: čiščenje čopičev

We're back... - to school. This time we will show you how we take care of our paint-brushes with kids.

Pa smo nazaj... - v šoli. Tokrat vam bomo pokazali, kako z otroki skrbimo za čopiče. 

We tell them they should not leave the paint-brushes in the water, because the brushes' hair will change shape:

Povemo jim, da čopiče ne puščamo v vodi, ker lahko poškodujemo oz. ukrivimo dlačice čopiča:

They should put them out and leave them on a cloth:

Vzamejo naj jih iz posode z vodo in jih položijo na krpico: 

[It is a bit different for acrylic paint, but since we usually don't use acrylic paint with kids, we teach them this way (for working with watercolors or tempera paint).]

[Pravila so nekoliko drugačna pri uporabi akrilnih barv, toda ker z otroki ne uporabljamo akrilov, jih učimo kako čistiti čopiče pri slikanju s tempera ali vodenimi barvami.] 

Every time we change the color or want to clean the brush, we dip the brush into the water and push it hard to the bottom of the cup:

Vsakokrat, ko želimo uporabiti drugo barvo ali želimo čopič očistiti, ga pomočimo v vodo in ga močno pritiskamo / drgnemo po dnu posode z vodo:  

Then we wipe the paintbrush on the cloth (if there's too much water on it):

Nato čopič obrišemo na krpici (če je na čopiču preveč vode): 

When we're done with painting, we usually clean our paint-brushes with a soap:

Ko končamo s slikanjem, običajno očistimo čopiče s trdim milom: 

And then we wash them under running water:

Nazadnje čopiče speremo pod tekočo vodo: 

That's why it's very important to use quality paint-brushes, so that they 'survive' all the painting and the cleaning process and serve us well.

Prav zato je zelo pomembno, da uporabljamo kvalitetne čopiče, da 'preživijo' celoten proces - od slikanja in čiščenja, ter nam dobro služijo še dolgo časa.

We hope you find this information useful, so now you're all ready to have fun with the paint and with your kids :)! Enjoy!

Upamo, da vam bodo te informacije koristile in da boste sedaj dobro pripravljeni za uživanje v slikanju in skupaj z vašimi otroki :)! Imejte se lepo! 

Back to School: How to hold paint-brushes / Nazaj v šolo: Kako držimo čopiče

If you learned by now how to hold drawing materials, then you probably won't have any problems holding paint-brushes. 

Če ste se do sedaj že naučili, kako držati risala, potem verjetno ne boste imeli težav z držanjem čopičev.

You can hold them like you hold pencils. If you paint details, you hold the brush closer to the tip:

Lahko jih držite tako kot držite svinčnike. Če slikate detajle, potem čopič držite bližje njegovi konici:

If not, then you hold them loosely, away from the tip:

Kadar pa slikate prosto, pa lahko čopič držite bolj na rahlo, vstran od konice:

 

However, if you use wider brushes and paint bigger areas, you can hold your brush like this:

Kadar pa za slikanje uporabljate širše čopiče in želite poslikati večje površine, potem lahko čopič držite tudi tako kot kaže slika:

Or you can hold them the same - like smaller brushes:

Seveda pa lahko tudi širok čopič držite enako kot ožjega:

Easy, isn't it?

Lahko, kajne?

Hmm, and now that our paint-brush has got dirty... - what's next? Well, you will have to wait until next time or you can come to Koper on Saturday (24. Sept.) and watch me paint at the event Sladka Istra (= Sweet Istria)...

Hmm, in sedaj, ko smo zamazali naš čopič... - kaj sledi? Počakati boste morali do naslednjič, ali pa me lahko opazujete pri slikanju v soboto, 24.9. v Kopru, na prireditvi Sladka Istra. Vabljeni!

Back to School: How to hold pencils and other drawing materials / Nazaj v šolo: Kako držimo svinčnik in druga risala

Now that you've got drawing materials, it's time to learn how to use them. It is very important to use them the right way as the hand is 'the eyes' of the brain. When we write and draw, we stimulate our brain in a certain way, and that's important for our development. 

Sedaj ko ste priskrbeli ustrezen risarski material, je čas, da se naučimo kako ga uporabljamo. Zelo je pomembno, da risala uporabljamo pravilno, saj je naša roka 'oko' možganov. Ko pišemo in rišemo, stimuliramo določene dele naših možganov, ki so pomembni za naš razvoj. 

We said a few words in this post how to hold a pencil, but since I was talking to a brain specialist who also mentioned the importance of the correct use of a pencil, we decided to say a few words more, now that the school has started.

O tem, kako držimo svinčnik, smo že nekaj rekli v eni od naših objav, toda ker sem pred kratkim govorila s specialistko za možgane, ki je tudi zelo poudarila pomembnost pravilnega držanja pisala, smo se odločili, da o tem še enkrat spregovorimo sedaj, ko se je začela šola. 

We help ourselves to put a pencil in a hand with our left (or opposite) hand. We set it out like you see on a picture bellow: it rests on a middle finger and on the spot between thumb and forefinger.

Da pisalo položimo v roko, si lahko pomagamo z levo (oz. nasprotno) roko. Pisalo namestimo tako, kot vidite na sliki spodaj: pisalo počiva na sredincu in na predelu dlani med palcem in kazalcem.   

Then you just hold the pencil with thumb and forefinger.

Nato palec in kazalec samo združimo in z njima primemo svinčnik.

On the pictures below you can see how the hand looks like without a pencil. You can see we use three fingers. The middle finger is for a support, so it is not set right next to a forefinger. We push it a bit more toward the inside of the hand.

Na slikah spodaj lahko vidite, kako izgleda roka brez pisala. Vidite lahko, da uporabimo tri prste. Sredinec je za podporo, zato ni čisto ob kazalcu. Potisnemo ga nekoliko proti notranjosti dlani.

With the thumb and forefinger we create so-called pipette hold.

S palcem in kazalcem naredimo t.i. pipetni prijem.  

Here is one of the tips how you can help yourself or your children to learn and practice for a pipette hold. They should thread beads or other small objects, where they need fine motor skills.

Tukaj je ena od idej kako si pomagate ali pomagate svojim otrokom, da se naučijo in vadijo pipetni prijem. Nizajo naj perle ali druge manjše predmete, kjer je potrebna fina motorika.

If you make sketches with your drawing materials, you can hold your pencil more loosely - like you see on the picture below. 

Kadar pa skicirate z risali, pa lahko svinčnik držite tudi bolj sproščeno - kot vidite na spodnji fotografiji.

We hope, the post was helpful. If you have any other tips, suggestions or comments, let us know - our mission is to help as many people as we can and to help each other. Thank you!

Upamo, da je bila ta objava koristna. Če imate še kakšno idejo, namig ali komentar, nam sporočite - naše poslanstvo je, da pomagamo čim večjemu številu ljudi in da si pomagamo med seboj. Hvala!  

Back to School: How to choose art materials for your kids - drawing material / Nazaj v šolo: Kako izbrati ustvarjalni material za vaše otroke - risala

When choosing drawing materials for the children, we should have two important things in our mind. First: strong pigments, and second: the age of a child.

Ko za otroke izbiramo materiale za risanje, moramo imeti v mislih dve stvari. Prvič: močni pigmenti, in drugič: starost otroka. 

Children love strong, vibrant colors. Therefore, we should give them drawing materials with strong pigments. (Look at the difference on the picture: unhappy faces show the drawing materials with less pigment, happy faces show those that your children will love). We should avoid buying fluorescent colors, which are not natural colors. 

Otroci obožujejo močne, živahne barve. Zatorej jim izberemo material z visoko vsebnostjo pigmentov. (Oglejte si razliko na sliki: nesrečni obrazki kažejo risala z manj pigmenta, veseli obrazki pa risala, ki jih bodo imeli vaši otroci radi). Izogibajmo se nakupu fluorescenčnih barv, ker to niso naravne barve. 

The younger the child is, the thicker the drawing material should be. The older the child, more the child wants to draw details and needs thinner pencils, markers or crayons. (See on the picture: from left to right).

Mlajši kot so otroci, debelejša risala potrebujejo. Starejši kot je otrok, več detajlov želi narisati, zato potrebuje tanjši svinčnik, flomaster, voščenko. (Na fotografiji: od leve proti desni).   

For the pencils, we recommend to choose a soft (B) pencil. At our workshops we usually use B2 pencils. 

Izmed svinčnikov priporočamo, da izberete mehke svinčnike (oznaka B). Na naših delavnicah uporabljamo B2 svinčnike.

Some colored pencils and crayons are water soluble, some not. Whichever you'll choose, keep those two things, that we mentioned above, in your mind.

Nekatere barvice in voščenke so topne v vodi, nekatere ne. Katere koli boste izbrali, imejte vedno v mislih tisti dve stvari, ki smo ju omenili zgoraj.  

Instead of the crayons, we prefer to use oil pastels. They give a similar effect and (usually) have stronger pigments.

Namesto voščenk na naših delavnicah raje uporabljamo oljne pastele. Dajo podoben učinek in imajo (običajno) močnejši pigment.  

Children should be taught to avoid using an eraser. They don't need it. As art is expressing ourselves, there's no place for erasers. The same goes for the rulers. However, a good sharpener is something we should have near by; we suggest a metal one.

Otroke učimo, da se izogibajo uporabi radirke. Ne potrebujejo je. Umetnost je izražanje nas samih, kjer ni prostora za radirko. Enako velja za ravnilo. Je pa pomembno, da je pri roki dober šilček; predlagamo kovinskega.

How to choose the right materials in the shop? Go to the shop where you can try the materials. You can also find the shops where you can buy each item separately...

Kako izbrati prave materiale v trgovini? Pojdite v trgovino, kjer lahko risala preizkusite. Ali poiščete trgovino, kjer si lahko izberete/kupite posamezne kose... 

a) good markers; b) old, used markers (both drawings by a retarded person - shouldn't he deserve good materials?)
a) dobri flomastri; b) stari, izrabljeni flomastri (obe risbi je narisala oseba z motnjo v razvoju - si ne zasluži dobrih materialov?) 

Try to color a piece of paper. If you have to press a lot to see a trace of a pencil, crayon or marker, then this is not the best material for your child. Your child will have to press even harder to get the same effect as you. When coloring or drawing, a child should fell relaxed and doesn't need to 'work hard' for the result.

Pobarvajte košček papirja. Če morate močno pritisniti, da risalo pusti dobro vidno sled, potem to ni najboljši material za vašega otroka. Vaš otrok bo moral namreč še dvakrat močneje pritisniti, da bo dosegel enak učinek kot vi. Ko otrok barva ali riše, mora delati sproščeno, brez večjega napora. 

Although we're trying to avoid talking about brands of drawing materials and leave the decision to you, we'd like to say that Crayola materials are the worst we've worked with. Yes, they have cheap materials and yes, you get a whole bucket of markers for a little money, but it's not worth it. Not if you want that the children express themselves the way they need to.

Čeprav se želimo v objavah izogniti omenjanju določenih znamk likovnih materialov in želimo izbiro prepustiti vam samim, pa moramo povedati, da so Crayolini materiali najslabši, s katerimi smo delali do sedaj. Res je, da so poceni in da dobite celo vedro flomastrov za drobiž, toda tega niso vredni. Ne, če želite, da otroci zadovoljijo svojo potrebo po izražanju.  

Buy the materials by yourself as children tend to want and 'like' something because of the pretty picture on the packaging, not because it's good for them.

Materiale nakupujte sami, saj so otroci nagnjeni k temu, da želijo ali so jim všeč stvari, ki so zavite v lepo embalažo, ne pa zaradi kvalitete izdelka.

*
We'll talk about how to use drawing materials in one of the next posts.

Kako pravilno uporabljati risala, pa v eni od naslednjih objav.

Do you have questions about drawing materials we didn't cover? Let us know in the comment section... Or read about choosing the right brushes in the previous post.

Imate morda kakšno vprašanje o risalih, na katerega nismo odgovorili v objavi? Napišite nam v komentarjih... Ali preberite še našo prejšnjo objavo, ki govori o čopičih. 

Back to School: How to choose art materials for your kids - brushes / Nazaj v šolo: Kako izbrati ustvarjalni material za vaše otroke - čopiči

School is just around the corner and we thought we'd prepare a few posts for you to help you out of your dilemmas what art materials are good for your children.

Kmalu se bo začela šola, zato smo pomislili, da za vas pripravimo nekaj objav in vam pomagamo iz precepov, kateri ustvarjalni materiali so primerni za vaše otroke. 

Before we get started with today's topics, there's something very important every parent and a person who works with children should know. The materials we give/buy for the children show how we respect the children and their personality. If we give them old, used materials that are in bad shape, the children will get the message that we don't trust them they'd use the new materials with care. That doesn't mean you should buy super great and the best materials for your children, it means that we don't give them a marker which doesn't work or whith which a child has a hard time to draw with...

Preden pričnemo z današnjo temo, pa bi radi poudarili nekaj zelo pomembnega, kar mora vedeti vsak starš ali oseba, ki dela z otroki. Materiali, ki jih damo/kupimo otrokom kažejo naše spoštovanje do otrok, njihovih osebnosti. Če jim damo stare, obrabljene materiale, bodo otroci prejeli sporočilo, da jim ne zaupamo, da bodo skrbno rokovali z novimi materiali. To ne pomeni, da otrokom kupimo super fantastične in najboljše materiale, to le pomeni, da jim ne dajemo flomastrov, ki skoraj ne pišejo več in otrokom povzročajo težave pri izražanju...

The next thing we need to teach children before they use any kind of materials is: how to use these materials. If we teach them that, then the materials will be in a good shape and in a perfect condition all the time (if we choose quality materials of course). We will show you how to use the materials in a future posts..., but now we will start with the posts which will tell you how to make sure you buy quality materials for your kids.

Naslednje, kar moramo otroke naučiti preden začnejo uporabljati materiale je: kako se te materiale uporablja. Če otrokom demonstriramo uporabo materialov, bodo materiali dolgo časa ostali v prvotnem stanju in se ne bodo hitro uničili (če seveda kupimo kvalitetne materiale). V naslednjih objavah vam bomo pokazali, kako demonstrirati uporabo materialov..., sedaj pa bomo začeli na začetku: kako poskrbeti, da otrokom kupimo oz. priskrbimo kvalitetne materiale.

So let's get started! :) - with brushes:

Pa začnimo! :) - s čopiči:

When we go shopping for brushes, we need to know first what kind of paint the children will paint with. Tempera, watercolors or aquarelles, acrylic paint...? For watercolors (or paint where we use lots of water), 'round' brushes are the best (top of the picture), and for tempera and acrylics we use flat brushes (bottom of the picture).

Preden se odločimo za nakup, moramo vedeti s katero vrsto barv bodo otroci slikali. Bodo to tempere, vodenke (akvarelne barve), akrilne barve...? Za vodenke (ali barve, kjer uporabljamo veliko vode) so primerni 'okrogli' čopiči (zgornji del slike), za tempere in akrile pa uporabljamo ploščate čopiče (spodnji del slike).

Smilies show which brushes are good and which are not so good. Any brush that looses its hair is not worth a cent. You can try this by pulling its hair or pushing the brush hard into your hand.

Smeški na sliki kažejo kateri čopiči so dobri in kateri ne. Kateri koli čopič, ki mu odpada dlaka, ni vreden niti centa. To lahko preverite tako, da potegnete za dlake čopiča ali ga močno podrgnete po dlani. 

Round brushes should always have a point at the end, so when wet, you can paint precise lines with them no matter what size of the brush you have. 
Flat brushes should also be thinner at the tip. When wet, you can paint precise lines with it as well. If we choose quality, soft flat brushes, we can use them with watercolors too. 

Okrogli čopiči naj imajo vedno dlake združene v konico, tako da lahko, ko so mokri, naslikamo natančne linije, ne glede, kako debel čopič imamo. 
Ploščati čopiči naj bi tudi bili tanjši pri konici. Ko so mokri, lahko tudi z njimi naslikamo natančne linije. Če izberemo kvalitetne, mehke ploščate čopiče, jih lahko uporabljamo tudi pri slikanju z vodenimi barvami.  

We usually choose brushes with synthetic hair for various reasons. One of the reasons is that we can use the brushes with different sorts of paint, plus they don't have a smell like some brushes with animal hair...

Običajno, zaradi različnih razlogov, na naših delavnicah uporabljamo čopiče iz sintetičnih dlak. Eden od razlogov je, da lahko te čopiče uporablamo pri različnih vrstah barv, prav tako nimajo vonja kot nekateri čopiči iz živalskih dlak.

We recommend to buy brushes in an art shop. They have cheaper brushes for school children which are still good enough for your child and won't fall apart. If you are afraid your child would loose the 'precious' brushes (or other materials), put the name labels on every item he/she has.

Priporočamo, da čopiče kupite v trgovini z umetniškim materialom. Običajno boste tam dobili cenejše čopiče, posebej za šolske otroke, ki pa so še vedno dovolj dobri, da ne bodo razpadli. Če vas skrbi, da bo vaš otrok izgubil 'dragocene' čopiče (ali materiale), na vse otrokove stvari nalepite nalepke z imeni.
 

Do you still have questions about brushes? Ask in the comments bellow and we'll try to help! :)

Imate morda še kakšno vprašanje o čopičih? Napišite ga spodaj v komentarje, pa bomo poskusili pomagati! :)

*
Next time we'll talk about drawing materials - pencils, colored pencils, crayons...

Naslednjič pa nekaj več o risalih - svinčnikih, barvicah, voščenkah...      

*

PS: These recommendations are strictly our own experiences from workshops with children. No sponsors here or claims that these recommendations are the best advices ever. Your experiences count too! 

PS: Ta priporočila so nastala izključno na podlagi naših izkušenj z delavnic z otroki. Nobenih sponzorjev ni v ozadju ali trditev, da so ta priporočila edina prava do sedaj. Tudi vaše lastne izkušnje štejejo!