Design A Repeat Motif Placemat

Ever wonder where some of the designs and patterns in our clothing, furniture, and art come from? Towards the end of the 19th century, artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement wanted to make art that differed from the factory-produced materials of the Industrial Revolution. To do this, these artists invested in work that prized craftsmanship in the areas of building, painting, and weaving. Popular motifs during this time made use of flowers, local colors, and local materials for inspiration.

In this activity, encourage your teenager to honor the American Arts and Crafts Movement by letting her design her own hand-drawn, repeat motif for a decorative table placemat. You can get ideas for your motifs by looking at wallpapers and patterns made by William Morris or Frank Lloyd Wright. These designers have two very different interpretations the arts and crafts design of the time.

What You Need:

• Pencil
• 8" x 8" paper, one sheet
• 11” x 17” paper, enough sheets for the number of placemats
• Colors or paint
• Clear tape
• Re-positionable, Clear Con-Tact® Cover, which can be purchased from school supply store or most hardware stores

What You Do:

1. Decide what motif you want in your piece. A motif is a design element that you repeat several times to form your design pattern. You can incorporate any motif for this placemat—a butterfly, star, or even symbols of your local floral and fauna. In this activity, the example of the butterfly is used.
2. Create your central motif. Take a sheet of paper about 8” x 8” and draw a design in the center. Do not let your design touch the outside edges of the paper.
3. When you have finished your central motif, feel free to add some background such as leaves, vines, stars, and so forth around the central element. Again, remember not to touch any of the paper's outside edges.
4. Cut your drawing into quarters. Cut once from top to bottom in the center, then cut across from one side to the other. Refer to image below to see where to cut:



5. Reassemble your central motif so that the top two quarters meet with the blank edges in the center. Tape together on the back side.
6. Reassemble the two bottom quarters with the blank edges in the center and tape together on the back side.
7. Tape the top half to the bottom half with the blank edges in the center. Tape from the back side. You have now created your basic tile, and it should look as follows:



8. Now you can fill the tile's blank center with a unifying pattern.
9. Line up your tile under a piece of good 11" x 17" paper. Trace your motif onto that paper.
10. Move the tile over and match it to the end of your first tile, which you have just finished drawing. You can stack the tiles or offset them to fill your picture frame with a repeat pattern.
11. When your design is drawn out, use markers, paint or another medium to add finishing touches. Refer to image below:



12. Cover your final placemat top and bottom with clear contact. Allow the clear cover to extend beyond the placemat so that it meets on the edges. Use a towel and rub gently one way so that the contact adheres.
13. Use your basic tile and repeat steps 9-12 for more placemats. You can use this  technique anytime you want to create a repeating pattern.

About the Arts and Crafts Movement:

Toward the end of the 19th century, artists wanted to make art that would be different from the "soulless" mechanical productions of the Industrial Revolution. Instead of assembly lines where people created things without having special skills, these artists wanted more meaningful and authentic styles that signaled an artist's craftsmanship and handiwork. The Arts and Crafts Movement was born from this desire and took place in many countries, including England, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and the United States.

Work from the Arts and Crafts Movement included hand blown glass, weaving, printing, building, and painting, and the wallpaper and stained glass lamps, furniture pieces, and architectural masterpieces from this period still influence artists today.