Spin Art and Cardboard Sculptures Blue Peter

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Coming up on today's Blue Peter, we're getting arty.

We're going to bring you some amazing sculptures,

but can you guess what they're made of?

Award-winning artist Damien Hirst shows you how to create

your own incredible spin art pictures.

And I set off on a special mission around London to bring you

the latest photo technique for the Blue Peter Calendar.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING.

-Hello!

-Hello!

Welcome to today's Blue Peter.

Today's show is all about getting you creative at home.

But before we get stuck into that, we have some very good news.

Last night saw the opening of the Paralympic games,

today the action started.

Just over an hour ago we won our first Olympic gold medal.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING.

Courtesy of Sarah Storey.

Now, this story... Sarah Storey...

We've been following it for quite some time.

When she was 14 she actually appeared on Blue Peter

to show the first Olympic gold medals she won.

And we've been in touch with Sarah, we caught up with her earlier

this year when she was at a training camp in Majorca.

She told us how she'd feel if she won another medal.

I think every time you stand on top of that rostrum

with a gold medal round your neck and the national anthem playing

it's the proudest moment of that particular time of your life,

and I've been fortunate enough to stand on top of that rostrum

on so many occasions I thank my lucky stars every time I'm up there,

cos you never know when it's going to happen again,

you need to do the hard work now to make it possible that

it will happen again for the next competition.

World Championships, Paralympic games,

they're the ones that you aim for all the time.

Winning every one feels the same as it did the first time.

All that hard work she talked about has paid off yet again.

Here she is with her first Paralympic gold medal.

Incredible. Congratulations, Sarah.

Now, we love our pets on Blue Peter,

and even though they are as cute as Barney the dog.

-Look at him go.

-There he is, snuggled into the sofa.

Sometimes our four-legged friends really do test our love.

So, we smiled when we heard about the new internet sensation

that involves posting pictures of your pets on the internet

alongside a note that details the mischievous things they get up to.

I could write a book of the ones that Barney does.

It would be a bestseller.

We asked our crew to let us know what their pets do.

Our friend Servet sent us a picture of her cat,

who likes to sit on the computer keyboard

and ends up sending e-mails to random people saying random things.

It's such a great idea. Look at this one.

This one is my favourite, because I do the same.

No I don't. "I love eating tissues out of the bin."

That's Becks' dog, Tess - he's cute, I'd let him do whatever he likes.

We had to get involved with this,

look what Barney does when Helen's out of the house.

Barney likes to sneak into Helen's bed

when you go to work, did you know that?

I do know that, because I peel back the duvet and the bed

is covered with long, red hairs, so I know what you get up to, mister!

If your dog, cat, rabbit, parrot, whatever, does anything naughty,

do let us know, send us a picture and your pet could get on the TV.

[email protected], please get in touch,

we'll try and read them out at the end of the show.

We know you guys love making things, so when we saw these sculptures

we had to introduce you to their fantastic creator.

He is with us in the studio now.

Chris Gilmour, thank you so much for coming to see us,

and for bringing all these fantastic objects.

Let's start at the beginning, these are sculptures you have made.

It's no ordinary material - in fact it's a VERY ordinary material.

It's something you can find lying around the house - tell us.

It's cardboard boxes.

All of these are made of cardboard boxes, glue and nothing else.

Talk me through this guitar, because it is so detailed.

Where on Earth do you begin making all the strings and things?

Looking at a real guitar, seeing what kind of shapes are there,

finding the right cardboard, I use different coloured cardboard boxes

to get different textures and shades on this,

and then making all the details a bit at a time.

So it's not just making a cardboard box into a guitar shape,

you research the right dimensions and sizes,

the keys are the same size you find on the real guitar.

The realism is unbelievable, look at the drum set, you could play that.

My favourite, however, is right behind you, the bike.

That would take me 10 years to even attempt that.

How did you go about making that?

Not quite 10 years, it took about three years of research,

figuring out how to make the pieces, testing out how to make it work,

because the spokes are made of paper rolled up,

and the chain is separate pieces, so it's a lot of work.

Would you say that in a sense this is engineering, as well as art?

Yeah, there's a lot of thought gone into how to make it,

how to make it work.

But it's all in the fine detail,

even the cogs on the wheels, the spokes where the pedals are,

they are like real spokes.

I would sit on that if it was in a gallery.

-Yeah...

-Not a good thing?

Not great, no, that has happened.

I had a wheelchair in an exhibition in Milan in Italy.

Somebody did sit on it and completely flattened it.

When I saw this typewriter I wanted to press the keys,

because, as we keep saying, they are so, so realistic.

All the detail in there is incredible - you must be incredibly patient.

Talk me through the mechanisms and all the different bits.

This is made with different types of cardboard,

some very thin cardboard to make the buttons,

and a lot of looking at the thing and making the measurements,

but a long time putting all the pieces together.

There must be about 200 pieces just in the keys.

You say that, 200 pieces, and it is a bit like a jigsaw, isn't it?

In making things out of cardboard, at first I thought origami,

but it's not at all like that, and if we move over to this table

we can actually see that, because we have bits and pieces spread out here,

and they're going to come together to build a guitar.

What stage you at here, Chris?

I've got the body made up and I'm making the detailed pieces.

You can kind of see how it's coming together.

Can you use any type of cardboard?

Yeah, I guess, you could use cereal boxes or even paper.

I'm using cardboard boxes that you get from the supermarket,

but I started off when I was a kid making things out of paper.

It's quite hard to show you how small these are.

These go onto the guitar pickups, you can see how tiny that is,

but you go to both sides, from the small to the big.

If we look at this picture, this is a life-size car,

also made out of cardboard using the same techniques.

That has all the details inside, the engine, everything's there.

-You made the engine?

-Yeah, the whole thing.

Chris, this is absolutely brilliant.

If you were to show us how to put finishing touches to this guitar,

-can you teach us?

-Yes, I'm making the pickups now,

which are the microphones for the electric guitar.

They look really complicated, but they're very simple shapes.

I've got the glue gun.

You can use PVA glue or whatever glue you can find.

These are rectangles of cardboard, and they're kind of rough.

I like to cover them with a bit of paper,

so do you want to put a drop of glue there?

Is this something you can encourage people to do at home?

It's a very difficult thing to do, and you're very skilled,

-but can anyone have a go?

-Absolutely.

I started when I was a kid making castles or dolls' houses

or cars or planes or spaceships...

From things that you saw on Blue Peter?

I see what you're doing, you're trying to claim it!

-That's what I did, it's brilliant.

-Definitely.

You've said that things like guitars and radiators,

you can make those to size, and you have to be quite formulaic,

but I love these over here.

They're very different, it's a different technique.

How have you done these?

These are pretty solid, so there's a skeleton inside made of cardboard,

drawing the person's profile then wrapping cardboard round,

so it's just sheets of cardboard folded to make the dress.

So you've sort of moulded this, rather than built it?

Yeah, just folded to make the shapes.

If you are going to have a go at making these cardboard models,

please let us know how you get on, we love to see your efforts,

and, like Chris, hopefully we can say one day we inspired you.

Thank you so much for coming in and showing us all your bits and pieces.

Over the last year we have been creating a photography calendar.

Each month, we've been introducing you to a different technique.

For September I had a bit of a challenge,

but before I even took the photograph

I had to track down something quite unique.

It's like a needle in a haystack.

'I'm on a treasure hunt the size of a city...'

Where is it?

'..with no clue where I'm going.'

The search continues.

'This is London.'

Let's go get it.

'And rewind six hours...'

'..this is me.'

I've been told to bring my camera, a map of London,

and to wait here in the centre of Millennium Bridge.

I have absolutely no idea what's happening today,

all I know is I'm meeting a guy called Kurt.

Are you Kurt?

Nope. OK.

-Hi, are you Kurt?

-Yeah.

Nice to meet you.

This is a little embarrassing, cos normally I know

who I'm going to meet and what to interview them about,

so, excuse me for being rude, but who are you and what do you do?

Well, I'm Kurt Perschke, I'm an artist from New York,

and I'm the artist behind the RedBall Project.

The RedBall Project? OK.

LAUGHING: Let me show you something.

Oh, what? That's the red ball.

Kurt pent the last 10 years taking his huge, inflatable

red ball to cities all over the world.

Today it's in London.

Well, that's... How am I involved in this?

What do you need me to do?

I'd like you to take a fantastic photo of it

for the Blue Peter Calendar.

I'm sure I can find a big red ball somewhere.

I'm glad you're game, because I'm not going to tell you where it is.

-I'm hoping you're going to find it.

-Did you say find it?

-Find it.

-You're not going to tell me where it is?

I'm going to give you three clues, and they're on here.

OK. Where do you start looking for a big red ball in London?

My mission is to find and take a photo of this unique

piece of street art for the Blue Peter Calendar.

It's time for the first of Kurt's three video clues.

RedBall is 15 feet high, it gets wedged in spaces high and low,

and it takes about 30 minutes to inflate.

RedBall is always placed in architecture,

always trapped in some space I've found.

Well, that's got to be the shortest clue ever.

London is full of amazing architecture.

It's everywhere you look.

The RedBall's location is still a mystery, but I do know

there's lots of cool architecture in London's financial district -

Maybe Kurt's hidden it there.

I've spotted a big, circular window at the top.

The RedBall would look brilliant in it,

so I'm going to take a picture and show Kurt,

cos I think it should be there next.

'I'm finding lots of spots where Kurt could have put the RedBall,

'but not where he's put the RedBall.'

I'm looking for all those nooks and crannies around London

where the ball can be trapped.

'My search has got me looking at London with brand-new eyes,

'and I've got the photographs to prove it.'

I'd put the RedBall right there at the bottom.

'I found loads of great architecture,

'but I need to find the actual RedBall.'

I've found it, look, right there -

big red ball on a map.

It's not really, I think it's time for clue two.

The RedBall Project is really about people.

So, look for sites where there's an audience who can play with it,

touch it and take photographs.

OK, so the big red ball needs an audience.

The one place you will find lots of people is tourist attractions.

I've got a plan.

Time is running out for me to find the RedBall

and take a picture for the Blue Peter Calendar.

It's time to speed up my search.

One of these should do the trick.

I'm on a sightseeing bus, we're travelling at speed,

if this big red ball really does want an audience, we'll find it,

because we're heading to where the audience is.

The bus is calling at all of London's famous landmarks.

There are tourists everywhere - a perfect audience for the RedBall.

But an hour later I'm still looking.

In fact, the search for the RedBall is starting to get to me.

It's weird, everything that's red and big

I'm jumping straight on it, "There it is!"

No, it's not, it's a red flag.

No sign of it anywhere.

Where has he put this ball?

Trafalgar Square is in sight.

Where is it?

From the corner of my eye I saw something massive and red there.

It might have been a bus going over the bridge.

Have I just seen the RedBall?

I've convinced myself I've seen it, but I don't think I have.

I'm looking for big, red things - London is full of big, red buses.

I have found the big red ball, it is on this bridge,

whatever bridge this is.

That's what I saw on the way past, it wasn't a bus, it was the ball.

We should be able to see it from here.

Excuse me a second.

What a great place to put it, as well.

The search has taken me all over central London,

but I have finally found the RedBall,

using only two of Kurt's three clues.

It is so good to finally be this close to the big red ball.

But that's only half the battle, of course,

now I've got to take a photo for the Blue Peter Calendar.

Are you coming? Doesn't it look awesome?

Kurt has squeezed the RedBall into the arches

of the Golden Jubilee Bridge.

It's a great architectural spot where everyone can see it,

just like he said.

And I think that should just about do it.

That's going to look great on the Blue Peter Calendar.

That's the RedBall snapped, but I wonder what Kurt will think

of the other pictures I've taken today.

It inspires you to look for where you'd stick a red ball.

It's about activating your imagination,

just look at the city and the town around you

for opportunities and possibilities.

I've got so many for you, look - St Paul's Cathedral.

So, go on, get inspired

and think about where you would put the RedBall in your town.

And there it is, the finished picture.

It's such an amazing project,

and this is what the picture looks like in the Blue Peter Calendar.

If you'd like to print this out,

all you've got to do is head to the Blue Peter website

and you'll find the button on there.

Those of you with a keen eye will notice

this photo is not entirely one colour.

It's using a process that has loads of different names,

either colour splashing or colour stroking or colour dodging,

and there are applications you can download onto your phone

or tablet to achieve this effect.

This one I'm using is called Colour Splash.

It's very simple, you load up a photograph that's colour,

the software makes it go black and white,

then to highlight the bits you would like to be in colour,

all you do is drag your finger over the area like that.

Let's make Helen's face bright and orange. It looks weird

cos you wouldn't normally do that with a person.

So I'm going to try something else instead.

I'm going to go straight onto the Blue Peter badge

and highlight just the Blue Peter badge.

This is what the technique's for -

to highlight a certain part of the photo that you want to focus on.

You can buy cameras that have this software inbuilt

or you can download applications like this

and you can create great effects.

There are other photos you can see here

that use the same technique, and they all involve flowers.

The great thing about these is you can pick either an area

that's got loads of flowers in it, loads of colour,

or you can select a specific flower, like this buttercup here.

Or go for the big bright colours, the vibrant ones are really good,

and the taller and the bendier and the weirder the shape,

obviously the more attractive the picture.

That's a nice one. This one here I took in New York on holiday.

That's a famous yellow taxi.

This next one, Helen suggested I take this picture

whilst we were in Poland. She saw it on the street and said,

"Wouldn't that make a good photograph?"

So I took it and used the colour dodge technique on that.

If you'd like to get involved

and make your own colour splash pictures, please send them into us

and we'll try and show them next week on the show.

That's our e-mail address. Get in there, get creative.

We'd love to see what you can do. Helen.

You don't have to do it on a computer. You could just print out

a black and white picture

and then colour one bit of it in with a highlighter.

If you were watching the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games

you might remember this image.

It was created by using a technique called spin art

and it was done by the award-winning artist Damien Hirst.

He said he got the technique from watching Blue Peter as a kid.

So in an effort to inspire more budding artists

we sent our friend Michelle from Deadly Art

along to meet the lucky man himself.

Damien Hirst is one of the UK's most famous

and successful artists of all time.

You may recognise some of his work.

There's the real shark that's preserved in a giant fish tank.

Ugh, creepy!

And the platinum skull that's covered in 8,601 real diamonds

and cost £40 million to make.

Bling or what?

His artwork is certainly diverse and strange

so he must be an interesting man.

That's why I've come here, London's Covent Garden, to meet Damien

and see some of his other most famous work in action - spin art.

# You spin me right round, baby, right round... #

Spin art is created by pouring paint onto a canvas

and then spinning it at high speed.

This creates a centrifugal force

that causes the paint to spread outwards in unpredictable ways,

creating some very exciting patterns.

Damien has set up a spin art workshop for kids

so they can get stuck in and try it out themselves.

It looks very fun and very messy.

Damien began creating his spin art paintings back in 1992,

but he didn't invent the technique himself.

He got the idea from watching an episode of Blue Peter 37 years ago.

Now, then, if you like to paint but are one of those people

who never really knows what to draw,

I've got the perfect thing to you. It's this.

If I put some blobs of paint on here,

the whole lot then spins round and you'll get a Noakes masterpiece.

Look at that. Hey, that's rather nice, isn't it? That's super.

So, Damien, is it true that you were inspired to do spin art

because it was on Blue Peter?

I did used to watch Blue Peter when I was a lot younger.

John Noakes did it in 1975, didn't he?

So why is spin art special to you?

I remember once being in my studio and I had a blank canvas,

and I was thinking, "What can I paint?"

Then I remembered when I was a kid the spin paintings.

I thought, if you make art like that, it always looks great

and you don't need to work out what you're doing.

I've always thought a great reaction to art is "wow".

-With spin art you always get "wow".

-Wow!

Any kid can make them, any age. You can give them to your parents,

give them to a friend,

people appreciate them and put them on the wall.

ALL: Wow!

So what would you say were your three top tips for creating

a great piece of spin art?

First tip, you've got to believe you can do it.

Second tip, wet the paper first so the paint flows really easily

and it always looks better.

And the last tip is, you've got to know when to stop.

If you think it might be finished, it is finished. Stop.

Cos you put a bit more paint in and you can ruin it.

You can see Damian's spin art at an exhibition of his other artworks

at the Tate Modern gallery in London.

Well, I'm convinced. Spin art certainly looks like a lot of fun.

I think we should get stuck in and try it out ourselves, don't you?

We have come to the Blue Peter garden to have a go at spin art ourselves

but before we get stuck into that, we're very happy to say

that for becoming one of the world's most acclaimed artists

and for keeping Britain at the forefront of modern art,

we have decided to give Damien Hirst a gold Blue Peter badge.

It's the highest award we give on Blue Peter

and we think Damien well and truly deserves it. Well done.

Come on then, let's get creative.

Right, the first thing you're going to need is a strong bucket

and you need a decent handle on that as well.

So tie a thick rope to each side like this,

and then you loop the rope over the branch of a tree.

Just like you would with a swing, but you need that to be nice and solid.

It might be an idea to get an adult to help you with this,

They're going to be taller, so they can reach the tree.

-Then get a bucket...

-A bucket for the brick.

Get a brick, put that into the bucket like that. That'll hold that down.

Then you'll need your canvas. In this case, you can use a paper plate

or you can just draw some circles out of ordinary white card.

Place that on top of the brick in the bucket.

Now just as Damien Hirst said, you need to wet the canvas.

So you spray that with...

You use these in your garden, don't you, to spray your house plants?

-Or you can just flick a bit of water on it.

-Then the fun bit comes.

Take your paint. Squirty bottle paint is better

because you can squirt it and it's easier than using a brush.

Any colours you like, just go for it.

-Wahey!

-Look at that.

OK, now this is my favourite bit.

You spin the bucket round, twisting it on itself.

You need to keep turning it in one direction

so that the rope twists around.

Now that means that when we let go,

this will spin just like a swing, creating a centrifugal force

in the middle and that'll force the paint outwards.

-OK.

-I'm ready for this. Are we ready for this?

ALL: Yeah.

-OK, give me a countdown. Three...

-ALL: Two, one.

I don't want to get splattered with paint, so I'm standing back.

That is brilliant, isn't it?

-Ooh!

-That's like a magic trick.

If all goes to plan, your artwork should stick to the side

of the bucket. When that happens, you know it's ready.

-Much like when a cake falls off your spoon. Look at that!

-Oh, nice!

As simple as that. A tiny bit of spin art. It's so simple to do.

You can see ones we've done here as well.

They're all very simple, don't take too long to dry.

-I'm going to do another one.

-You don't have to make a circle.

You can make a landscape version of spin art.

If you want to do that, head to the Blue Peter website after the show.

-Don't get it that wet!

-Sorry.

We've got a web exclusive on there,

showing you how to create that type of painting.

-You're enjoying yourself.

-Loving it.

While he gets on with more spin art, it's time to talk about Story Lab.

We've been telling you about a project

that's all about encouraging you to get reading.

Some famous faces have been talking you through their favourite books.

Today we've got a new chap. He's called Amazing Phil.

He's an internet blogger. This is going to get very messy, Barney.

-It's really wet that.

-Yep.

-I'm going to hang onto it!

He's an internet blogger and a comedian.

His favourite book is Skulduggery Pleasant. Amazing. Go!

Look at it go! I made that.

Skulduggery Pleasant?

That's what this brilliant book is called. Here's Stephanie.

The story kicks off when her favourite uncle, Gordon -

great guy, horror writer, mad about magic -

suddenly dies. That's bad in so many ways.

Partly because Stephanie discovers that her uncle's enemies

are now after her.

Luckily she' got some help from her uncle's friend,

Skulduggery Pleasant.

He's an amazing detective, a master magician.

He's a fighter against evil and he's dead!

CHURCH BELS TOLLING

Yep, a skeleton. This guy is seriously dead.

But also seriously fun.

Hm.

Stephanie wants to pick Skulduggery's brain

- well, his skull - about the magic he can do.

Here, he's teaching her about air.

"Displaced air doesn't just disappear.

"It needs somewhere to be displaced to."

"Can I see?"

They reached the edge of the carpark and passed the low wall

that encircled it.

Skulduggery flexed his fingers and splayed his hands,

snapping his palm towards the wall.

The air rippled and the bricks exploded outwards.

Stephanie stared at the brand new hole in the wall.

"That," she said, "Is so cool."

That really was so cool!

With Skulduggery's assistance, Stephanie has to battle

to stop her precious key from falling into some very evil hands.

That's so much more exciting than maths homework and so much harder.

You find out about some of the friends and troublemakers

she meets along the way.

Like the beautiful and dangerous China Sorrows.

Mr Bliss, with pale blue eyes and super-strength.

The sinister army of paper-thin Hollow Men.

The power-hungry evil sorcerer Nefarian Serpine.

Maybe worst of all?

Stephanie's Aunt Beryl.

This book is scary, fantastical and funny.

When I first picked it up, I couldn't stop reading it.

It's like my hands were glued to the page. Well, not with actual glue.

Then I wouldn't have been able to turn the pages,

and I wanted to find out what happened next.

It's great when a book can show you

a side to the world you've never seen before.

When it's finished, you think

maybe that's what the world is actually like.

Books can change the way you think.

I did it! I did it! Yes!

Obviously, I knew it was him!

Wow, how scary was that guy?

Hey, why didn't the skull go to the dance?

Because he had no body to go with!

CHEERING

I thought it was too early for Christmas crackers,

-but you got that from somewhere!

-Stop it!

-Right, we were doing

a bit of spin art earlier. Here are two that we made.

We've put them on a piece of card because they're still a bit wet.

If you have a go, please get in touch and let us know how you get on.

We also asked you earlier to let us know

what your mischievous pets get up to.

Our dog Barney likes to dig for things behind me on the sofa.

That might be a good note... Yeah, that's a great shot.

Let's finish on that one.

Laura and her pet dog Maybe... is that really a name?

That's a great name for a dog. She sent this picture in.

-It says, "I chew my mum's slippers."

-Ah!

-Butter wouldn't melt.

-Look at that cute face.

-Barney likes to chew underwear.

There's some great names for dogs here. Heather and her dog Star.

Apparently Star likes to steal toilet paper from the bathroom.

-Brilliant.

-Oh, Barney just licked my face!

-Not me, the dog.

LAUGHTER

Just before we go down that road.

Madzie and her dog Bailey says, "I steal other people's toys.

Where is she in that one?

I think that might be the toys that she's stolen.

And we'd like to finish with a very special one.

This is our very own Shelley. Have a look at what Shelley likes to do.

Barney, you pick your moments, mate. You really do.

Shelley has done this more than once.

She has weed on the studio floor,

which makes it a little bit dangerous for everybody else.

Barney, please stop it.

If you'd like to see more pets and what they get up to,

do head over to the Blue Peter website.

That's almost it for today's show.

Just time to tell you what's happening on next week's show.

He's been asleep all day! We've got a back to school special.

We'll show you how to customise everything

to do with school and make it look a bit more funky.

Lots of you are starting back at school.

Some of you have already gone back, but to celebrate that,

we are visiting some of the most amazing schools in the country.

Doesn't Barney suit a boiler suit?

Also in the studio, Cover Drive are going to be here.

We'll join you then. Have a nice week. Ta-are, bye!

-Stop it!

-Barney, we're on telly!

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