5th grade artists looked at Islamic art. We noticed the patterns, the repeating elements and the lack of representational imagery. We came up with six different ideas for our 1"x1" eraser stamps. The ideas had to be: abstract, asymetrical and fairly simple given the size of the erasers. After we chose our strongest design, we drew the design on the end of the eraser and then began to carve away the negative (empty) space on the eraser. The areas we left in relief (raised up) are the designs you see here. Using a guide sheet to help us line up our stamps, we created radial balance. Each stamp is repeated four times as it rotates around a central axis. Lastly, since we printed on thin rice paper, we used rulers and following specific measurements, we created a paper mat for our art. The original idea for this project can be found here: http://www.artforsmallhands.com/2010/07/printing-patterns.html