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.

Word Magnets

Clay word magnets can be inspirational and educational!
 Have students roll out a slab of clay that is about 3/8" thick.  Then use rubber alphabet and number stamps to create words on the slab of clay.  Use a clay knife to cut around the edge of the word or cut into a shape similar to the word (ie: C-L-O-U-D cut into a cloud shape).  Dry slowly and with a board weighted down on top of the pieces-they tend to curl on the edges and warp if they dry to fast. When they are dry, bisque fire the pieces. When glazing the letters, use a brush to fill the letters with color, then use a damp sponge to wipe away any excess glaze around the edges of the letter.  This will increase the contrast between the letters and the background so they are easy to read.  Glaze fire the pieces and when they are finished glue high strength magnets onto the back of the clay, some may need more that one magnet depending on the size.

!!! B CR8IV!!!

3-D Letters

These 3-D letters can be made using a computer printed font that you trace or by drawing your own design.  Start by rolling out a large slab of clay about 3/8th of an inch thick.  Then draw out the shape of your letter or lay down your paper template and trace it out.  Once you are happy with the letter, cut it out and repeat, so that you have 2 exact letters (one for the top and one for the bottom).  You can add texture to your slabs at this point by pressing into them with stamps, texture plates or tools, be careful not to warp the shape of your letters as you press into them.  Using your scrap pieces of clay cut out strips of clay that are all equal width, these will be used for the side walls of your letter.  I like to use a ruler and cut down both sides of the ruler to quickly cut out strips that are all equal .  The width of the strips will determine how deep your 3-D letter will be.  Once you have a few of the strips cut out, start scratching the edges of all of your pieces.  Then pick one letter that will be the bottom and attach the strips of clay to the scratched edges of the letter to build a wall that will go all the way around the letter.  Take your time to line up the curves and corners of your letter's shape.  Also use a finger to blend the corner and  make sure that the walls are attached securely.  Once you have gone around the entire shape scratch-to-attach the second letter on top of the walls.  If your clay is really wet, the top letter may sag into the bottom one, to solve this, just let your clay dry a little bit more to give it more strength and then the top piece will sit evenly across.  Take time to attach the seam on well, blending the clay with your fingers.  Once the letters are a dry enough to hold their shape you can clean up the seams with a damp sponge and adjust how they will sit or stand up.  Make sure to punch a small hole into the hollow space to keep your letter from exploding in the kiln.  You could make the hole on the back of the letter so that you can hang it on the wall or you can hide it on the bottom if your letter will be free standing.  This is a fun way to spell out a child's name on their bedroom wall or a teacher's name in their classroom.

!!!B CR8IV!!!