In 5th grade near the end of the year, all students have to do a Capstone project based on what we were interested in.  My Capstone is going well. My topic is watercolors and my main inquiry question is, “What are the main steps in using watercolor and watercolor pencils on fabric?”

One challenge with my research is finding a website with information on my topic. All the websites that the school knows don’t have this topic. I have to use five resources for my research but I could only find two websites with good information.

My interview really helped with my research. I interviewed my painting teacher who last year taught me how to paint traditional Chinese paintings. She gave some very interesting information that I thought could never be on my topic!  One amazing thing I learned it that are so many people who dedicate themselves to this art style. Another cool thing I learned was that the traditional way has more than 70 steps!  Some people just print the design. Others, (most) still paint the traditional way because they know it shows more skill, talent, and dedication. 

In the 3rd century BC, silk was used as paper. They of course didn’t know how to make paper so they used silk when it first discovered. Silk was discovered when a queen was eating lunch outside. At the time people wore animal skin. The queen was eating when a silkworm’s cocoon fell into her cup. She picked it from the water with her chopsticks and thought it could make some cloth. After that, her people started to harvest silkworms and turn them into cloth. People from Europe started coming, and then the Silk Road was formed. It would take about a year or so to get to China from Europe. Of course, it cost a lot of money, so only rich people were able to make the journey.