Article Type Making Art Together Making Art Together Categories Collage Sculpture

Rolled Paper Relief with Susan Schwake

Meghan Burch

Last month, Artist and Author Susan Schwake returned to The Carle’s Art Studio to share a project from her latest book 3-D Art Lab for Kids.

Guests of all ages had fun turning beautifully patterned papers into rolled paper relief sculptures.

Susan Schwake at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

To try this at home, gather: squares of decorative or colorful paper (origami paper works well!), a glue stick, Elmer’s or other clear-drying glue, and a piece of mat board or cardboard (cut a panel off a cereal box!).

Rolled Paper Relief activity from 3-D Art Lab for Kids

Start by choosing a piece of paper and drawing an “x” on the back with a glue stick. Then, roll the paper into a tube, adding a little more glue to the end of the paper to secure the shape.

Rolled Paper Relief at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art  

Susan Schwake rolling origami paper

For kids who had a tough time getting the paper roll started, Susan showed one of her tricks: fold in the first ¼” to ½” of one edge the paper and use that as the starting place for the roll. 

After making a small pile of paper rolls, begin arranging them on the matboard or cardboard backing in whichever way you chose. Then, use white glue to secure the paper rolls.

rolled paper relief sculpture by child

Some of our guests experimented with bending and rolling their tubes, others just took the invitation to create in 3-D with paper and ran with it.

Peole in the Art Studio with their art

The young artist (about 13 years old) who made the sculpture below worked silently and steadily for almost an hour. This isn’t even his finished product!

If you like this invitation to create, check out a previous Susan Schwake visit to The Carle: Monster Mash Up.

Making Art with Children is generously sponsored by the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority.

Authors

Meghan, smiling and wearing a grey shirt with a blue background.

Meghan Burch

Art Educator from 2003-2016, Meghan has a BFA in Illustration from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She tries to think with materials and work with her hands every day.