Baby Bugs

These cute little bugs are easy to build and your students can make a bunch in a short period of time.  Start with a small sphere of clay, about the size of a large marble and elongate it into an oval for the body.  Roll out a coil of clay and flatten it gently with your hands, scratch to attach it onto the body to create the wings.  You can add on big bulgy eyes or a stinger tail at this point too.  Next I used nichrome wire (this is high temperature wire--do not use any other type of wire in the kiln!) and cut short lengths of it to create the legs, push the pieces into the clay and let dry, you could also add antennae this way.  HINT: You may need to let the baby bugs dry on their backs until they are strong enough to stand on their wire legs.  You can also make a small wire loop to push into the back of the bugs, so that you could hang them and create a mobile of flying bugs after they are finished.  If you want to tie this project into your classroom curriculum, have students make each section of their insects anatomy realistic (head, thorax, abdomen, legs, wings & antennae).  HINT: If they are standing on their wire legs in the kiln for glaze firing, you can glaze the entire surface of the bugs without risking them sticking to the kiln shelf!

!!! B CR8IV!!!

When Pigs Fly...

I love to show David Wiesner's book Tuesday to my students when we create this project.  His amazing illustrations of flying frogs are a great jumping off point for students to start their own flying pig projects.  We talk about all the ways that a pig could fly...superman capes, jet packs and wings are some of the most popular ideas.  The pigs' bodies are made from simple pinch pots. Start with two equal spheres of clay and make them into pinch pots by pushing your thumb into the center of the sphere and squeezing around the sides until you have a small bowl shape. Do the same to both spheres. Take your scratching tool (wire tool, fork, comb...) and scratch-to-attach the edges of the bowls. Then gently push them together and smooth out the seam with your fingers. This hollow shape creates the body of your pig.


Now using some extra clay, create your snout, legs, tail, eyes and ears, plus of course your mode of flying. If you're making wings like I did, roll out two small coils of clay and gently press them flat, scratch the end of each shape and scratch the back of your pigs' body and attach them on, you can also add feathery texture to them with a tool. You can make legs by rolling out snakes or coils of clay and then scratch-to-attach them onto the body, think about the position you want your pig to be in, mine are attached in "superman" pose.  I also used a knife to cut the toes of my  pig.  To make the snout I make a "mini-marshmellow" shape or a short cylinder and use a poking tool to create the nostrils.  The eyes are small spheres that are flattened and also poked to create pupils.  To make the ears I flatten a small pancake shape of clay and then cut out two equal triangles.  The tail can be tricky to roll out a thin coil of clay and then wrap it up into a spiral, I recommend using extra soft clay to do this.  Remember that all of your pigs' parts need to be scratched-to-attached on!  This is a great project to talk about the difference between realistic art and abstracted art with your students.  I like to show them how to build parts and let their imagination take over....I also allow them to make their pig blue with yellow spots if they want too as another form of abstraction! 
 

!!!B CR8IV!!!