Tooling foil is such a lovely material. Students familiar with the baked potato version of foil are always curious how this material reacts to a tool. My simplest project using tooling foil is just a straight emboss from a photo.
Students select a calendar photo that has a subject they like. I always have a collection of discarded calendars from teachers.
Tape the photo to the back of the cut sheet of tooling foil. I caution them to only put only one piece of tape at the top of the photo. That way you can lift up photo every once in a while to see how the foil is taking the embossed lines, or if you missed any lines.
- Lay the foil with the photo attached on a thick pad of newspaper. This is important. The give of the pad of newspaper is what allows the foil to accept the embossed line.
- Select the most important lines in the photo and trace them with a pencil. Press hard enough that you can feel the foil give a little, but not so hard that you punch through the foil. As they work, they view their progress by lifting up the photo. Here’s where they can add textural elments that are not in the original photo.
- Color with sharpies! Sixth graders LOVE working with sharpies. Mistakes can be corrected with Germ-X and a tissue.
In My Mind's Eye 