This is an original lesson by Mr. Fuentes in which students get the opportunity to create a fun faux neon sign using household objects or materials that can be purchased for under $10.

Students will create a faux neon shape(s) that appears to be a form. There are three ways to turn a shape into a form. Generally those three ways are through a detailed line drawing, through shading and through linear perspective. For this assignment students will use their knowledge of linear perspective to create a sign that appears three dimensional.

Assignment:

Create a neon sign that appears to be a 3-dimensional form. This can be achieved through a detailed line drawing or through the use of linear perspective. The artwork can be a geometric form or it can be a representational image of an object appearing to be in 3-D.

All Neon Signs must adhere to the following rules:

1. All connections must be clean. Two straws connecting should appear to be one. There must not be a raised area where the connection exists

2. No visible tape. The clear tape must be wrapped around the connections and hidden from sight.

3. All edges and corners must be a curved.

4. No straw holes or openings must be visible

5. There should be no pencil marks or any other such marks on the backing. The black foam board must remain clean in appearance

6. Your object should be readable/easy for people to understand.

7. Students must use straws of at least 2 different colors.

HOW TO START:

• On a regular sheet of paper, sketch your design out first

• Draw your design on the foam board. Draw big and realize that you need to be flexible with your drawing. In other words, one you begin tracing with your straws, realize that some design decisions will change depending on the straw medium. Use a white color pencil to be able to see your design easier. Do not worry about your lines being visible at the end, once you are finished tracing your straws, you will flip the blackboard over and use the clean side.

• Once you have your design drawn on your board, you will trace your design using the longer flex straws. In order to keep the straws at a certain line or angle, you will need to tape down your straws to the board using the clear tape.

• Stretch the flexible part of the straw as you need and shape the straw as you go about tracing your lines.

• Cut the straws to the lengths that you need for the various sections

• To join 2 straws together to continue your line, Cut 1 end of the straw in 4 cross sections. Stick the other straw inside the section you just cut. The cut sections should hug the other straw in place. Use clear tape to tape the two straw sections together. Make sure the tape does not become visible.

• Finish tracing the entire design with your straw

• Once you finish tracing your straw and the entire section is one continuous line, remove all tape and flip the blackboard over to use the clean side

• Place your shape in the clean side of the blackboard. Line it up exactly where you want your figure to go.

• Use a toothpick to cut two small holes to run your nylon cable ties (zip ties) through so they can hold your figure in place.

• Use the zip ties in only a few small sections; leave plenty of room for your sculpture to "bounce up."

• Flip your blackboard over and attach the LED light pack (this should be the back of your sculpture) to the bottom of your board

• Face the front of your sculpture again. Look at the bottom part of your continuous line. Use the toothpick to cut a small hole under a section of the line. The hole should be big enough for an LED light to fit snuggly through.

• Go to the back of the board and insert the first LED light in the light pack. Make sure the light fits tightly. Add tape to hold the light in place

• Repeat this process until you have placed a light underneath the straw line.

• Use more LED packs as needed

• If you need to, add some more zip ties to your sculpture for stability.

examples

Step 1: Create an awesome sketch

Step2: Draw your awesome sketch on your matboard

Step3: Trace sketch with longer flex straws. Tape down your straws to retain the shape of your image

Step4: Cut straws to the size you need and add sections together

Step5: The end straws should connect to the first straw you laid down thus making the outline one continuous line

Step 6.