Coil Form

This coiled element can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used to create serpents, tornadoes, whirlpools, or you could glue

images onto it (examples are below).

Water Spirit: These are wooden snake sculptures created by the Baga people of Guinea. They are created and sold to tourists and collectors. The Baga people have a rich storytelling tradition concerning serpents. One of the creation stories is about a gigantic serpent that formed the earth and waters (lakes, streams, rivers). These serpent symbols are still used in the Baga culture today. The Baga people carry wooden snakes in ceremonies honoring the ancient Water Spirit who formed the rivers and made the water flow.
Take a piece of paper for the background and fold it in half. With another piece of paper, cut out an oval or circle that will fit on one half of the folded paper. Make a spiral on the oval or circle you have cut out. This should resemble a serpent form.
Decorate both sides of the spiral with patterns. Cut out the serpent by cutting on the lines you made for the spiral. This will allow the serpent to uncoil.

Place the serpent inside the folded paper where you want it. Glue down the tail of the serpent to one side of the paper with a small dot of glue. Let dry for a couple of minutes. Glue down the head of the serpent to the other side of the folded paper by putting a dot of glue on the serpent's head and closing the folded paper. **Keep paper folded. Let dry completely.

Open your pop up page and enjoy.

Here are some examples of the coil form being used in other ways. In the first example, letters are cut out and glued to the coil form to create the word "Bang". This was a student pop-up book on the theme of hatred.

In the second example, the coil form is used to create a swarm of insects. This page is from a book I created entitled "Death Is...". Photocopied images of insects were colored with colored pencils, cut out, and glued onto the coil form.

Story Starters

Next Lesson: Putting It Together

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