Crawling geckos! Jumping geometrics! Without fabric or sewing a stitch, design a traditional appliqué-like mola using the amazing technology of Crayola® Color Switchers™ Markers!
1.
A mola is a traditional blouse worn by Kuna women. The Kuna live on a chain of islands called San Blas Archipelago, on the Atlantic side of the Republic of Panama. These blouses are made of two panels that are hand stitched with intricate designs. Admiring travelers collect molas to wear or display in frames.
2.
Molas are created with simple, brightly colored cotton fabric that is cut into a shape and hand stitched onto a panel of cloth. Additional layers of colorful fabric are added on top of the original one. They are stitched around the outer edge, cut into an "outline" of fabric to reveal the color beneath, and stitched on the interior wall. This creates a multi-colored, multi-layered design with an otherwise simple pattern.
3.
Mola designs include everything in a Kuna Indian’s life, including the natural world, dreams, imaginary monsters, geometric shapes, and contemporary imagery brought in by tourists.
4.
To create your own mola replica, use Crayola Color Switchers Markers to draw the outline of an animal, person, or imaginary creature in the center of white construction paper. In the spaces around the outline, draw additional creatures. Leave space around each drawing. Fill smaller spaces with simple shapes, such as geometric shapes.
5.
To create the mola effect, outline each drawing with different colors until the bands touch.
6.
When your whole paper is filled with color, flip the Marker and apply the special color switcher to draw patterns on top of the lines you made. You can make these patterns look like stitching by using dashed lines, for an effect similar to the cloth molas
7.
Mount your mola on a contrasting color of construction paper with Crayola Glue Sticks. Include in a display of traditional textile designs from many parts of the world.
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