African Masks on Batik Paper- Fourth Grade

Here is a great video describing a batik process:

http://www.theartofed.com/2013/04/01/video-making-a-simple-batik-for-the-classroom/

My fourth grade students and I did a similar process, only we used crayons instead of oil pastels.  I also watered down earth tones of tempera paint so much that it resembled watercolor paint.  This step cut out the rinsing in the sink all together.  When the paint was dry, students then outlined their drawings again using black oil pastels as the last step.

FYI: I think manila paper works best for this project.

When drawing the mask, I provided students with a African mask pictures and patterns packet with printouts of lots of different styles of masks and patterns throughout the continent.  They were given the choice to combine different attributes of various masks to make their own.  Some students also chose to create an African pattern background.