Monet's Water Lilies

To introduce this water lily project, I start by showing my students Claude Monet's paintings and talking with them about the Impressionists.  We also look at photos of real water lilies so that they can see the density of the petals and the beauty of their form.  Then rather that recreating the paintings, we build three dimensional water lilies in clay.  This also gives students the ability to play with the textures that Monet achieved through his paintings.

Start by rolling out at slab of clay and cut out your lily pad shape, remind students that the size and shape are up to them and that they should not be perfect.  Using tools, create the veins in the lily pad or add texture to the leaf.  To start the flower, I have students cut out a many pointed star shape.  Scratch to attach the center of the star to the lily pad, then squeeze the points of the star thinner with their fingers, it should start to resemble a flower at this point.  Scratch the center of the star and start to add on more petals.  I like to roll small coils of clay and then flatten them into petals, some of my students prefer to roll out a thin slab and then cut them out.  Keep layering the petals until the lily is filled, making sure to scratch-to-attach each one on.  Students can also add on frogs, beetles, turtles, dragonflies...whatever swampy creature they'd like.  Let them dry, bisque fire, glaze and then glaze fire them, then they will be ready to display in your garden.

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Wonderland Flowers

Just in time for Mother's Day, these Wonderland Flowers bloom year round and don't require watering!  These images show several styles of flowers and you should b cr8iv with the shapes, textures and designs of your flowers, but the directions below will give you a basic idea of how to get started.

Start by making a pinch pot (roll a sphere of clay, push in your thumb, pinch around the sides) that is the general size you want your flower to be.  Scratch the entire inside of the pinch pot bowl with a tool.  Now start making your petals with your extra clay.  You can flatten small slabs of clay and cut them into your petal shape, you can roll coils of clay to create more spiny petals or you can slap small pieces of clay onto the table to stretch them into a petal shape--it's up to you, experiment and see what works best!  Now scratch the backs of each of your  petals and attach them into the pinch pot, layering them around as you go.  You can continue to layer them all the way into the center or you can create a small pinch pot and scratch-to-attach it on upside down to create the center of your flower.  Don't forget to experiment with different textures, sizes and shapes for your flowers. When you're finished building them, you'll need to put a hole in the bottom that is slightly larger than the rod you'll attach later.  I use 3/8th" steel rods for my flowers.  Let your flowers rest in bowls to help them  keep their shape as they dry.  Once you have bisque fired, glazed and glaze fired your pieces, you'll want to attach them to your "stems".  Choose your metal rods and clean them well, they will probably have a greasy residue that will need to be cleaned for your adhesive to stick.  I like to use a  putty epoxy for attaching the flower to the rod. It comes in two parts that you knead together, attach to your piece and it hardens in place.  It can be sanded, drilled and painted, so its a great choice for attaching the flowers to the stems.  I like to make a sphere of the putty and push it onto the tip of the rod, then push that into the hollow space of the flower, then I make a coil of the putty and wrap it around where the two come together and blend it in just like its clay.  Let the putty set up and then you can paint it to match your flowers.  You can make a perennial garden where no two flowers are alike!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers

Georgia O'Keeffe is known for her over sized flower paintings and this project can be used to introduce her work to your students.  Show lots of images of her work and different types of flowers to your students before you start or bring real flowers into the classroom for students to examine.  Also, you'll need to pick up some sturdy plastic reusable picnic plates for this project, one for each student to build their flower on.

Roll out a large slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and lay it over the plastic plate so that its completely covered.  Use a tool to cut off the excess around the edges of the plate.  Now use your excess clay to start shaping petals for your flower, start attaching them to the base piece from the outside edge working towards the middle.  Don't forget to scratch-to-attach them on well.  Keep layering in your petals until you have filled your plate and add texture or details on them as desired.  Next cut a circular hole in the middle of your flower and remove that piece of clay.  Now make a small pinch pot, turn it upside down and scratch-to attach it over the hole. You can add texture to the center of your flower.  HINT: If you don't remove the circular piece of clay from the base of your flower and you attach the pinch pot over the top, your flower can explode in the kiln because you are trapping air!  So don't forget that step!!  Also, you can hang your flower on the wall using that hole to hang on a nail.  Let your flower dry on the plate for support, it will shrink away from the plate and release as it dries. Then bisque fire, glaze and fire again to finish.

To display these flowers, I painted stems and leaves on the wall and hung the flowers above the stems, you can create a garden that never needs to be watered for your classroom this way!

!!!B CR8IV!!!