A New Year Means A Clean Start

Happy New  Year!  I can't believe it is 2015 already.  It's a clique to say but I can't help but feel it's true; time flies, especially is you're having fun!  Reflection is a big part of my artistic and educational pedagogy.  I spend much of my time reflecting in my daily tasks.  When a task takes a lot of repetition like cleaning and cutting vegetables, I feel my mind go to what I can best describe as a meditative state, much like when I throw pots.  It's in this state that I do my best think: about life, my career, my artwork, and the world around me. 

I'm still reflecting on 2014, a lot of good things happened in the beginning of the year but it didn't end as positively as I had imagined.  The holidays were strewn with several deaths and illnesses of close friends and family and the stress of being a part-time art teacher and artist started to weigh heavily on me.  Stress tends to make me cleaning and organizing, as if the physical ability to clean and organize chaos helps me clean and organize my emotions, thoughts, and demands.  The other nice part of cleaning and organizing is the accomplished feeling of starting fresh.  I don't think there is ever quite as good of a sleep as going to bed the first night of making the bed in clean linens. A new semester or school year is always fresh with the feeling of anything is possible.  

Keeping my house and my classroom clean and organized are a way I help keep my stress levels low.  I have been accused of being a "clean art teacher"; I'm not sure if that is good or bad but it seems to hold true when I reflect on my daily teachings.  One thing I let get out of hand is glue bottles.  

It seems a majority of the art teachers that I have run into lately are obsessed with glue sponges.  They have their plastic lidded containers with a sponge filled with glue inside.  This, I do say, is a really cool idea and I love it for certain projects, but I just can't seem to drop the use of glue bottles completely. I think learning how to use a glue bottle appropriately is an important skill even if it seems a bit passé. Through the few years of teaching experience I have had, I have developed a stream line way to clean and fill the glue bottles so it doesn't eat up a bunch of my time.  I even learned a new trick from one of my fellow second grade teachers while cleaning this semester's glue bottles.  

Glue Bottle Cleaning Procedure

1. Get a microwaveable safe bowl.   
2. Line up your glue bottles and remove all the caps.  Place each cap in the open position in the microwaveable safe bowl.  
3. Wipe down each uncapped glue bottle to remove buildup, especially near that top.
4. After all the caps are open and removed, fill the bowl with water.  
5. Microwave the bowl filled with glue caps from 3-5 minutes.  I sometimes repeat this process several times, giving the caps a good swirl with a brush handle to agitate the glue clumps.
6. Once the water in the bowl has cooled enough to handle, use a paper clip to remove any glue that did not dissolve in the hot water from the inside of the glue cap.
7. Run water from a faucet in the glue cap to ensure it is clear.
8. Fill all glue bottles going down the line.
9. Cap each glue bottle and store in your usual location.

This whole process takes me alone about an hour.  If I don't have time to do it by myself, which let's face it, many of us teacher's don't, I'll have students come and help me.  They love fishing glue clumps out the caps.  I always fill the glue bottles myself because I don't want students accidentally spilling a gallon of glue all over my floor.  Having students help gives me the ability to multi-task and get a lot accomplished.  

To some people this may seem like a headache and not worth the time, but I believe the care I and the students exhibit to the glue bottles will make them last longer.  Plus, I hate having students come me during projects with glue bottles that need emergency de-gluing.  I would much rather make this part of my winter and summer cleaning so that my lessons run smoothly. 

The one trick that my second grade teacher shared was using Vaseline.  By putting a dab of Vaseline inside the the tapered part of the glue cap the cap doesn't clog.  Apparently the lubrication keeps the glue from sticking to the interior walls of the glue cap.  While talking about this in the lounge, another teacher said that she had read that if you soak the entire glue cap in vegetable oil it prevents the caps from clogging as well. After cleaning the glue caps before winter break I tried the Vaseline trick.  We've only been back in session for a few days now but I hope it works and will soon be part of my glue bottle cleaning ritual. 

Happy dabbling.