Art Hearts

These simple and fun clay art hearts make the perfect gift for Valentine's Day.  Start with a sphere of clay about the size of a ping pong ball. Pinch the bottom of it into a point and push the middle of the top down with your fingers.  Then use your fingertips to smooth out the shape of the heart.  To make each heart unique, I add on wings, banners, polka dots etc... You can also use rubber stamps to add words, and tools for texture and design on your hearts.  When you are finished making your hearts, use a tool to poke a hole in the bottom of the heart. HINT: Remember that clay shrinks when it's fired, so make the hole a little larger than you think that you need.  Once you have bisque fired, glazed and then fired your hearts, use a two part epoxy to glue in your wooden or metal dowel.  These hearts look great in a bouquet so you can share your love CR8IVLY!! 

Jenni Ward's Art Hearts are available for purchase.

Heart Boxes

A fun Valentine's gift and easy to make!  Start by rolling out a slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and cut out two identical hearts, one will be the lid and one will be the bottom.  HINT: I let my younger students use cookie cutters.  Next cut a strip of clay that will become the wall of the box, I used a ruler and cut down both sides to create a strip of clay that is even and about 1.5 inches thick.  Then scratch to attach the edge of one of the hearts and one edge of the strip of clay and attach them together.  Use a tool or your finger along the inside of the box to smooth out the connection.   Now decorate your heart box using tools, stamps and textures.  If you add any parts on, be sure to scratch to attach them on well.  These are great to fill with candy and give to the one you love on Valentine's Day!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Wire Trees

These copper wire trees are simple and beautiful. Start with at least 15 strands of wire (or more!) all the same length (at least 6" long), this will be the height of your tree.  Bundle all the wires together and twist tightly in the middle to create the trunk.  Little hands may need help with this part, you can also use pliers to help twist.  Next we'll build the roots, so decide which end is the bottom of your tree and divide up the 15 strands into groups of 3 or 4 wires.  Twist each of those groups a little bit and then divide them into groups of 1 or 2 strands.  The single strands can be left alone and the double strands can be twisted a little more.  Then separate them into single strands so that it appears your roots are thicker towards the trunk and thinner towards the tips.  The same process is repeated for the branches.  Bend the branches and roots to simulate natural tree shapes and to balance the tree on its roots.  You could also find a small stone to wrap the roots around and anchor the base of it.
Next I used small seed beads on the tips of the branches and bent the end of the single wire strands to hold the beads in place.  The beads could be a lesson in color theory using on warm or cool color beads.  Or you could have students pick out colored beads for the birth stone of each family member and make these family trees.  Or use pink and white beads for cherry blossom trees.  Or celebrate Arbor Day with these wire bonsai trees!  So many options....

!!B CR8IV!!

Day of the Dead Shadowbox

Inspired by the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, this year my students made nichos or shadowboxes with clay skeletons.  This was done in a two day workshop.  I show students lots of examples of day of the dead folk art and we discuss the events of the holiday.  On the first day, we made our clay bones, all of the parts are hand built separately except for the spine and ribs which are scratched-to-attached together.  Some students added hats to their skulls and some added guitars or dresses to add to the festive skeletons.We also painted the box on the first day with acrylic paints.  I used cardboard boxes but you can use any interesting box or container you find.  Cigar boxes, wood packing boxes or even small drawers will work great.  Once the bones have been fired in the kiln and the paint on the box is dry, you are ready to decorate.  Each student will need a good tacky glue to use to glue the bones in position to the back of the box.  They other elements can be added using found objects or other materials.  I used glitter paper, rickrack ribbon, cut copper foil, beads, found plastic pieces & cut fabrics.  You could also use sharpie markers to decorate on top of the painted box or right on the clay bones.  Wall paper or wrapping papers with festive colors or flowers would be a great addition too.  As students finished their nichos I punched two holes in the top of the box and pulled a ribbon though tying knots on the ends so that they could hang their shadowboxes on the wall for decoration.  There are so many colorful and creative options for this project, so enjoy and B CR8IV!!