Paper Plate Greek Warrior

I’ve done many projects over the years based on Ancient Greek ceramics, making vases and dishes and then adding designs onto the surface. Recently, I worked with a group of Year 5/6 pupils at North Newton Primary School in Somerset and the work the children created inspired me to take the idea one step further and create a small animated figure. I’ve made similar figures before too, but on a larger scale, this one was just made from paper plates.

For the school project I took along a pack of paper plates (I’d bought slightly stronger, better quality ones so that they didn’t warp so much when painted) I also had the usual basic tools, pencils, paint, brushes, PVA glue, scissors . . . but the main ingredients were the plates, some black and orange paper, and some orange tissue paper.

One of the children’s designs with just the central image added

I also took some photo montages of a variety of Ancient Greek pottery designs. Often they are figurative, and tell stories of gods, goddesses, hero’s and monsters, so they are great for children learning about Ancient history.

The children used the images as reference, but I encouraged them to add their own imaginative ideas too. They didn’t have to directly copy anything, just take ideas from the style, costume, and to try to incorporate similar patterns and details.

A few of the children’s designs

Firstly, the children pasted some orange tissue over the central circle of the plate, then I showed them how to make a very basic figure, in pieces. We cut shapes from the black paper, starting with a basic torso, then gradually cutting out separate elements, heads, arms, legs, feet, accessories, and gluing them into place. Adding pieces one at a time gives the children more options and more control. If they make a head and it’s too small, they can make another, or they can move it so it is looking in different directions before deciding what looks best and fixing it down permanently.

I like work like this because it becomes a combination of three elements, firstly, they are using the reference images as inspiration. Secondly, they are using their own imaginations and responding to what’s appearing in front of them, and finally, they are reacting to how the materials work, if something is too tricky, they simplify it, if it’s not working, they adapt it.

I try not to waste materials if I can help it, so any black paper we had left over from the figures was used to chop out some extra patterns and designs for the background and the rim of the plates. The paper was quite thin, so we were able to fold it a couple of times so that any shapes we cut were then multiplied, four, or maybe eight pieces at a time. These were all glued into position.

An example showing additional painted details.

Finally, we painted on some smaller details and patterns. I limited the colours the children could use so that the designs stayed in keeping with the originals. We just used orange, gold, and black paint and some nice fine brushes.

This was my example which I created alongside the children.

So, taking this idea a step further, I decided when I got home to create a moveable version. I cut out some pieces for a similar warrior but this time, instead of gluing it together, I used some small split-pins to connect it, mainly on the obvious ‘joints’, but I also put a few sections into the torso so the the body could bend a little too.

The pieces I used were just cut from the central section of an additional paper plate.

My version was made using more basic, cheaper paper plates, so I glued on the additional outside rim on top of another plate so this had two thicknesses, obviously making it stronger. Then I painted this with orange paint.

I then painted on the black designs. I used a thin brush on the figure, but for the plate edge I used a flat sponge. If you carefully sponge the paint on it only touches the raised surface pattern and gives it a really nice authentic effect.

You’ve then got a really nice, moveable figure which you can push into any pose, or fix down if you like. So far, I’ve kept this separate, and I’ve been enjoying making it ‘come to life’. Basic stop-frame animation is pretty easy with something like this, I just pinned down the plate in the centre so that it could spin. Or, like in the last clip in the video below, you can just move it in ‘real-time’. By simply ‘walking’ the legs, the rest of the figure takes on a life of its own.

I’m pretty certain I’ll be coming back to this idea, there’s lots of scope to add to it, or to tweak it further. watch this space . . .