DIY de Los Muertos (DIY Sugar Skull) by andreamakesthings

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Introduction: La Catrina (or Sugar Skull) is widely recognized as a symbol for the Mexican holiday, Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead. A holiday where families go visit their deceased and bring prayers, food and songs. Aside from Dia De Los Muertos, La Catrina has grown as a symbol of Mexican artisanry, often representing las Catrinas as the very people who make it. This lesson plan is intended to teach students over the history and evolution of Las Catrinas.
La Catrina was created around 1910 by illustrator, Jose Guadalupe Posado, to portray those of indigenous background who tried to renounce their heritage and embrace a euro-centric aristocratic life style. Posado illustrated them as skeletons to serve as a reminder that people from all backgrounds and walks of life would ultimately end up on the same path.
Objectives: Students will learn the history of Dia de Los Muertos and the story behind La Catrina. They will design their own Catrina using 3D-printed decorations.
Audience: This activity is intended for grade levels 2nd-9th.
Subjects: History, Art and Design
Materials: TinkerCAD, Thingiverse, 3D Printer, Glue
Print Time: Depending on print settings, skulls can take ~5 hours. Decorations can take half an hour. Optional: Students can break into groups of 3 to design a group skull and reduce amount of printing time.
Duration: 2-4 class periods
Activity:
Step 1: Students will receive a paper with the drawing of a skull as well as a transparency. Students will draw a design on transparency. This design will later be printed and applied to the skull.
Step 2: Using a camera, students or teacher will take photo of their transparency against a white background.
Step 3: Send photo to email, then use a vector conversion website to convert your photo into a vector image.
Step 4A: Download the SkullMold.stl and upload to TinkerCAD in the same workplane.
Step 4B: Align the skull design so that the mold intersects with the design and is aligned with the design.
Step 5: Download “Lisa the Printable Skull” from Thingiverse and upload to TinkerCAD. Select the Hole tool to convert the skull into a hole.
Step 6: Align the “hole” skull and the design so that ~5 mm are protruding from the skull. Use the “Align” tool to assure the two objects are well-aligned. Then group.
Step 7: Have students select what flower decorations they would like on their skull. The project has two skull files preset with holes to fit the decorations.
Step 8: Print all the desired files. Recommend printing with Supports enabled along with standard settings.
Step 9: Assemble! The flowers are designed to be pressure fit with the dowels that were printed alongside them. The skull design will have to be glued on.
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on their ability to follow through with instructions and willingness to participate in the activity. Optional: Students can be quizzed on the history of La Catrina and Dia de Los Muertos.