Many Hands Bowl

Hand bowls are a fun and easy way for students to work with slabs. You'll need a small bowl for each student and have them line it with a piece of newspaper to keep the clay from sticking.  Then start by rolling out a large slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and have students trace their hand 3-4 times.  HINT: You can add texture to your clay at this point if you want or keep the clay smooth.  Cut out the hands and smooth out the edges.  Lay the first hand into the bowl letting the fingers rest on the edges, then scratch the bottom of the hand.  Lay the next hand in the bowl scratching and attaching where it overlaps with the first hand and adjusting the fingers position as desired.   Continue with the rest of the hands until the bowl is formed.  You can add the students name and age in the bottom on the hand bowl if desired with rubber ABC stamps. Let the hands dry in the bowl and when dry, CAREFULLY remove from the bowl to bisque fire.  Then glaze making sure to cover all the edges of the hands then glaze fire.

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Nesting Bowls

Pinch pots are simple to make, but nesting them is a great challenge for students to get them just right!  I ask students to create 6 nested bowls in whatever shape they'd like (hearts, circles ovals etc..) using just the pinch pot technique to create them.

Have students start by making 6 spheres of clay that gradually get smaller and smaller (the first one can be about the size of a grapefruit). Starting with the largest sphere, have students stick their thumbs into the sphere and squeeze around the sides until all the clay is stretched out into a bowl shape.  Form the bowl into the desired shape and start on the next one, as each bowl is stretched out test it for fitting into the larger one.  Once they are all nested let them dry and bisque fire them.  I gave a color theory lesson on tones and tints for students to think about when painting their bowls.  You could also have students create a pattern of colors or use only warm/cool colors when glazing.

!!! B CR8IV!!! 

Pool People

Dreaming of Summer....this amazing piece was made by one of my students and it won Honorable Mention in the National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition! Yahoo!
These pool people are created by starting with a basic pinch pot for the pool, students are encouraged to play with the shape and texture of the pool, especially the exterior.  Next have students roll a log of clay the height that they want their person to be and about 2" thick.  With a knife slice into the bottom of the log to create 2 legs and then cut 2 diagonal cuts for the arms.  Squeeze the neck and round out the head with your fingers.  This should give you the basic body parts, next you can add details like a bathing suit, hair (we used a garlic press), fingers, toes and don't forget pool toys too!  Lastly, have students position their people into the pool, but don't attach them to the pool.  This girl is just relaxing on the side, but remember they can be doing a handstand or floating on their backs etc...  Once you are finished building, let the pieces dry and then bisque fire them.  Glaze all of the parts and position your person and their pool toys into the pinch pot.  Before loading the pieces in the kiln add in some pieces of glass (colored, clear or marbles).  You don't need a lot of glass to give the effect of water once it melts in the kiln.  The people and items will be attached to the pool after the firing on a permanent summer vacation!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Tea Bowls

The Japanese have mastered the art of the tea bowl, which can range in style from a perfectly symmetrical shape or an exquisitely organic form.  This is a great project to talk about the anatomy of a pot with your students; the lip, body and foot are all essential elements to the parts of a tea bowl.  There are a few options to build the body of the bowl, one is to make a pinch-pot with high sides to it, or if you have access to a potters wheel, throwing a bowl is an option, the other choice which I have done here is to use a slab of clay.  I rolled out my clay flat and used a paper template to cut a small cylindrical shape, you can cut out rectangular paper templates for your students too.  Once the shape is cut out, its rolled into a cylinder and the edges are scratched-to-attached together.  The bottom is made narrower by cutting 4 V-shaped notches or darts, one on each side.  Then scratch the inside edge of those V-shaped cuts and fold them in together.  This may leave a small square hole in the very bottom of your tea bowl, if it does, just cut a small flat square to scratch-to-attach on and cover the hole.  This procedure is a little bit tricky but it shapes the body of your tea bowl to be wider towards the top and narrower towards the foot, which is the traditional shape of a tea bowl.  Design and pattern can be added to the outside now using tools or stamps and the lip of the bowl should be smoothed out with your finger.  Next, roll out a coil of clay and wrap it up to make a small donut shape that will fit onto the bottom of your tea bowl to create the foot.  Make sure to scratch-to-attach both parts together and also add some surface decoration to the foot.  To learn more about the tradition of tea bowls and the Japanese Tea Ceremony, click here.  

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Ice Cream Bowls

This is a great basic clay project that anyone can enjoy!

Create your very own ice cream bowl using the pinch pot method of building, design patterns & textures and think about the functionality of your bowl; size, shape & texture. 

Sessions:  One 30 min - 1 hour session
Age: Kinder and up

Materials:

Low Fire Clay

A Variety of Clay Tools

Low Fire Glazes & Brushes
Kiln

Steps:

1.  Cut off a piece of clay that is about as big as a baseball. 

2.  Shape it into a sphere by hitting it with curved hands until all flat sides and points are rounded.

3.  Push your thumb into the sphere (be careful not to go all the way through).

4.  Start to squeeze the clay with your thumb on the inside and your fingers on the outside.  Squeeze and turn the clay so the hole that you made with your thumb is stretched out and starts to form a bowl.  This is called making a pinch pot because you are pinching your clay into the shape of a pot/bowl.  Keep squeezing and stretching the clay until it is stretched out to the size that you want your bowl to be.  Hint: If you stretch and squeeze it to much, you clay will become thin and fragile, try to keep it about as thick as a pancake.    

5.  Now you can change the shape of your bowl if you'd like.  It can be anything; oval, heart, triangle.... I'm going with a square shape for this bowl.  You can also use this time to smooth out any cracks or rough areas of clay--your fingers are a great tool for this!  Hint:   You can also use a spray bottle to keep your clay damp--don't overdo it though, your clay will become mush!

6. Now it's time to decorate your bowl, use your clay tools to add design, pattern and texture to your pieces. Experiment with different ideas, if you don't like them, you can always smooth them out and try something different.

7.  Sometimes finding tools that are not really for clay; such as this ballpoint pen, can create a really effective design. 

8.  I like to create the majority of my design and texture on the outside of the piece, this helps keep the bowl easy to clean, especially if its going to be used for food.  

9.  The finished design!

10.  This bowl will now need to dry completely, be fired in a kiln to cone 04 so that it is bisqued, then it will be glazed with a variety of colors and fired again.  Then all that you'll need is ice cream! 

ENJOY!!