Have Fun with Braille Drawings

BRAILLE EXCHANGE -

Have Fun with Braille Drawings

Seminars@Hadley

BRAILLE EXCHANGE -

Have Fun with Braille Drawings

Presented by

Doug Anslovar

May 5, 2016

You are listening to seminars at Hadley. This seminar is Braille Exchange - Have Fun with Braille Drawings, presented by Susan Fisher and Debbie [Segal], moderated by Doug Anzlovar.

Doug Anslovar

Welcome to seminars by Hadley, my name is Doug Anzlovar, and I'm the vice president of education and training at the Hadley Institute. Today's seminar topic is have fun with Braille drawings, and it covers using the Braille letters to draw picture art, and create your own Braille drawings. Now, let me welcome today's presenters, Susan Fisher and Debbie Segal. Both Susan and Debbie are veteran instructors at Hadley, and teach Braille courses in our professional and family education programs.

Debbie Segal

No matter what your Braille level, that is whether you know contracted or uncontracted Braille, you'll find success with these pictures, as long as you know the numbers of the dots in the Braille style. In our past drawings, we did not identify the name of the picture we were drawing before doing the drawing. Instead, we waited until the picture was completed, and asked students to identify what they created. With this seminar, however, we will be identifying the name of the picture prior to its creation. We'll go slowly when we do the directions for each picture. In past drawing seminars, the directions for each line were read twice. For this seminar, the directions for each line will be read only once. That will enable us to draw a good number of pictures. If you make a mistake, or lose your place, not to worry. Like all Hadley seminars, this one will be archived. After completing a line of drawing, you will need to advance to the next line. If you are using a Brailler, move the embossing head lever as far left as possible. We always begin each line with the embossing head lever all the way to the left. That is in cell number one. If you're using a slated stylus, each line begins at the far right in cell number one. Please hold all your questions until we have completed all of the pictures. We will then have a short question and answer session. Susan will be giving directions for the first three pictures.

Susan Fisher

Thanks, Debbie. These first three pictures can all be drawn on the same piece of paper. However, if you prefer, you can draw each picture on a separate sheet of paper, or you can draw two pictures on one sheet, and one picture on another sheet. Our first picture is a picture of a shamrock, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. The three-leaf clover is thought to be a symbol of good luck. There are three lines in this picture, along this line is four cells.

We'll then begin in line number one, space one time, write the contraction for the letters OW, and that's a cell of dots two, four and six. Write that one time. Finish line one with the letter O, dots one, three and five. Let's move down to the second line, where we begin with the contraction for the letters OW. Again, that's a cell of dots two, four and six. Write the letter O, dots one, three and five. Write the OW contraction, dots two, four and six. Complete line two with the letter O, dots one, three and five. Now, for the third and final line, space twice, finish your picture with the spell of, for the contraction dots one, two and six. That's the GH contraction. We've now completed your picture of a shamrock.

Our second picture is that of a pumpkin, that's also known as a jack-o-lantern. This picture takes seven lines down and twelve spaces across. It has a stem on top, two eyes, a nose, and a smiley mouth with teeth. We're gonna begin line one, by spacing five times, and I'll pause while you're spacing five times. Write the letter P, dots one, two, three and four. Finish line one with the WH contraction, dots one, five and six.

We're now ready for line number two. Space one time, write the IN contraction once. That's a cell of dots three and five. Write the letter C three times. That's dots one and four, you need that three times. The letter E, dots one and five. The letter I, dots two and four. Three cells with the letter C. That's dots one and four. Finish line number two with one cell of the EN contraction, dots one and five.

We're ready for line number three, which begins with the letter S, dots two, three and four. Space one time. Write the contraction for the word the. That's dots two, three, four and six. Write the letter X, dots one, three, four and six. Write the letter Z, dots one, three, five and six. Space twice. Write the contraction for the word the. That's dots two, three, four and six. The letter X, dots one, three, four and six. The letter Z, dots one, three, five and six. Space one time. Finish line three with the WH contraction. That's one cell of dots one, five and six.

We're ready for line number four. Write the letter L, dots one, two and three. Space four times. The the contraction, dots two, three, four and six. The letter Z, dots one, three, five and six. Space four times. Finish line four with one cell of dots four, five and six.

We're more than halfway done with our pumpkin. We're ready for line number five. Begin with the letter L, dots one, two and three. Space one time. The WH contraction, dots one, five and six. The letter E, dots one and five. Two cells with the semicolon, which is dots two and three. One cell with dots two, three, five and six. One cell with dots five and six. The letter I, dots two and four. The letter S, dots two, three and four. One space. Finish line five with one cell of dots four, five and six.

We're ready for line number six. Begin with one cell of the GH contraction, dots one, two and six. Space twice. Write the letter E, dots one and five. One cell with dots two, three, five and six. Write two hyphens. Each hyphen is a cell of dots three and six, so we're gonna write dots three and six twice. Dots two, three, five and six. The letter I, dots two and four. Space twice. Complete line six with the AR contraction, that's dots three, four and five.

For our last line, space one time. Write the letter E, dots one and five. Write the hyphen eight times. As you'll recall, the hyphen is written with one cell of dots three and six. We need eight of those. Finish the pumpkin drawing with one cell of the letter I, that's dots two and four.

If you'd like to do our third picture on a separate piece of paper, feel free to do so. This picture celebrates Thanksgiving. We're gonna draw a picture of a turkey. You can center this picture on a page, and use it for a Thanksgiving placemat. Another suggestion is to write what you are most thankful for around the picture. It takes ten lines down and 18 spaces across to draw a turkey. There are a lot of spaces in this picture. I'll pause to allow sufficient time for you to make these spaces.

Line number one begins with six spaces. The letter S, dots two, three and four. The letter C, dots one and four. The WH contraction, dots one, five and six. Space six times. Write the IN contraction, dots three and five. Write the EN contraction, dots two and six. Write the letter I, dots two and four. The letter E, dots one and five. The IN contraction, dots three and five. Finish line one with the EN contraction, dots two and six.

For line number two, we begin with five spaces. Write the OW contraction, dots two, four and six. Space one time. Write the letter A, dot one. Write one cell with dots four, five and six. Space three times. The IN contraction, dots three and five. The EN contraction, dots two and six. The letter S, dots two, three and four. Space five times. The letter I, dots two and four. Complete line two with the letter O, dots one, three and five.

Line number three begins with five spaces. The letter S, dots two, three and four. Space twice. The AR contraction, dots three, four and five. The IN contraction, dots three and five. Two cells with the colon. The colon is a cell of dots two and five, we need to write that twice. The GH contraction, dots one, two and six. Space nine times. Finish line three with one cell of the letter O, dots one, three and five, and then we're ready for line number four.

For line number four, space four times. Write the letter S, dots two, three and four. Next, we're going to space 18 times, and I'll pause. 18 spaces. Finish line four with the letter O, dots one, three and five.

Line number five, space four times. Write the letter L, dots one, two and three. The letter L, dots one, two and three. Space 18 times. Again, I'll pause for 18 spaces. Finish line five with the letter O, dots one, three and five, and we're halfway done.

For line number six, space four times. Write the GH contraction, dots one, two and six. Space 17 times. That's 17 spaces. Finish line six with one cell of the letter O, dots one, three and five.

We'll begin line seven with five spaces. Write the GH contraction, dots one, two and six. Space 14 times. That's 14 spaces. Write the GH contraction, dots one, two and six. Finish line seven with one cell of the AR contraction, dots three, four and five. Three more lines to go.

Line eight begins with six spaces. One cell with the GH contraction, that's dots one, two and six. We're going to space 12 times. 12 spaces. One cell with the GH contraction, dots one, two and six. Finish line eight with one cell of the AR contraction, dots three, four and five.

On to line number seven. Seven spaces. Line number nine. This is line number nine. Space seven times. We begin line number nine with seven spaces. Write the letter E one time, that's dots one and five. Write five cells with the hyphen, and the hyphen is a cell of dots three and six. We need five of those. Write the letter I, dots two and four. The letter E, dots one and five. The letter I, dots two and four. The GH contraction, dots one, two and six. The AR contraction, dots three, four and five. The letter E, dots one and five. We end line number nine with the letter I, dots two and four.

Tenth and final line, we have nine spaces. Write the contraction for the word the twice. The contraction for the word the is written with dots two, three, four and six, and we're gonna write that twice. We finish our turkey with one cell of the letter Z, dots one, three, five and six.

I'm now going to turn the mic over to Debbie, who will be explaining how to create your own Braille drawings.

Debbie

Thank you, Susan. The first thing to do when creating your own Braille drawings is to either have an image in mind, or find a simple drawing and enlarge it. This can be done through internet search. The drawings should be black and white, and simple. Then, decide what needs to stand out in your drawing. Do you want a silhouette, or an outline, or maybe a little of both? Focus on a general feeling of the object, and ignore the small details. Then, start at the top. Decide where on the page you want to start the first line, and then move down line by line.

Creating the Braille design is next. Straight lines can be full cells, and they are the simplest to create. Curves are a little bit trickier. There are several Braille cell choices to use, depending on the slope. For instance, the contraction for the word with, dots three, four, five, six, and then the contraction for the word of, that's one, two, three, five, six. The contraction ER, dots one, two, four, five, six, and the letter Q, dots one, two, three, four, five, can be used for many solid curves. Add a cell, or subtract a cell, to keep the curve going. To change the slope, add the letter D, dots, one, four, five. The letter F, dots one, two, four. An open quotation mark, dots two, three, six, or a closed quotation mark, dots three, five, six.

You may need to simplify your image if it's too detailed. Make bold lines by using full cells, or use dots one, four or dots three, six, to make simple lines that go across the paper horizontally. Dots one, two, three, or dots four, five, six are simple lines that go vertically up and down. You can add detail by adding or erasing cells and spaces. This can be difficult to visualize, and it will be clear as you create your own drawing. For further information, go to the link to creating Braille art with [inaudible 23:10] by Edith West, from the paths to literacy website. This link will be on our resource list, at the very bottom of the resource list. There are more detailed instructions.

For the sake of this seminar, I chose to design the capital and the lower case letter H, to represent Hadley. I came up with these simple drawings by following the guidelines that I just described. This is the process that I went through.

First, I drew the capital letter H on paper. It doesn't have any curves, so it's very straightforward. I didn't want the drawing to be at the very top of the paper, so I spaced down three lines. Also, I didn't want the drawing to be at the very edge of the paper, so I spaced three times at the beginning of each line. Now, it's your turn to emboss this letter with me. Take out a piece of Braille paper, and let's proceed.

We'll start on line three. Row one. Space three times. Make one full cell, which is dots one, two, three, four, five, six. Space four times. Make one full cell. Row two. Space three times. Make one full cell, dots one, two, three, four, five, six. Space four times. Make one full cell. Row three. Space three times. Make one full cell six times, and at this point, you've completed the bar that goes across the capital letter H. Row four. Space three times. Make a full cell. Space four times. Make one full cell. Finally, row five. Space three times. Make one full cell. Space four times. Make one full cell. You've now created a capital letter H.

Now let's try something with narrower lines, and curves, which is the lower-case letter H. This can be done on the same paper as the capital letter H. Just space down a few lines to separate the two letters. Let's begin. Row one. Space three times. Make the letter L, dots one, two, three. Row two. Space three times. Make the letter L, dots one, two, three. Row three. Space three times. Make the letter L. Row four. Space three times. Make the letter S, dots two, three, four. Make the letter C, dots, one, four, two times. Make the WH sign, dots one, five, six. As you can see, I used the letter S and the WH sign to make the curves on this line. Row five. Space three times. Make the letter L, dots one, two, three. Space two times. Make dots four, five, six. Finally, row six. Space three times. Make the letter L. Space two times. Make dots four, five, six. Now you have a lower-case letter H.

When I designed the pattern, I made the upper case letter H bolder, by using full cells. The lower-case letter H had narrower lines, so I just used half a cell, dots one, two, three, and dots four, five, six. The curves are line four with the letter S and the WH sign. Now that you know the basics, you can create your own unique Braille drawings. Susan's now going to give us directions for our last picture. Susan?