Circle of Friends

For these very sweet Circle of Friends sculptures, I have students choose 4 - 6 people that are special to them to include in their sculpture.  We talk about what symbolism is and how to choose a symbol that would represent the person they are including.  

Start by rolling out a large slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and cut out the base piece for the sculpture.  Any shape is fine, it just needs to be big enough to fit all of the friends.  Next use gingerbread men cookie cutters or cut your own people shapes out, one for each person in the circle.  Then decorate each person with their symbol or give them their features, like hair clothes etc. Scratch-to-attach the feet and hands of each of your people shapes, then scratch approximately where they will go on the base piece and start assembling them. Its a little tricky to get all of the friends to stand up together at first, so I have students use a cup in the center of their circle so that the clay can lean on it until its dry enough to support itself.  You can also decorate the base piece with textures, patterns or symbols too.  Let them dry, bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire.

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Terracotta Warriors

This project is a great way to tie art and history together, if you are studying China or Asian cultures in your classroom, you can create an army of terracotta warriors with your class.  The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta (a type of clay) sculptures depicting the armies of the first Emperor of China. The purpose of these warriors was to protect the emperor in his afterlife and to make sure that he had people to rule over.  There are over 8000  life-size warriors, horses and chariots that make up the collection.  It had been buried until  farmers accidentally found them in 1974 while digging a well in a remote area of the Shaanxi Province.  


Once you have discussed the amazing magnitude of the terracotta army with your students and shown lots of pictures, each student can easily create their own warrior. You can use terracotta clay for this project if you want (it contains a lot of iron and hence it stains everything easily!) but I used a low fire white earthenware clay and stained the surface of the clay afterward to get the rich red tones.  Start by giving your students a piece of clay that is about the size and shape of a hot dog bun.  With a knife, cut the bottom third of the clay down the middle.  This will create two separate legs.  Then cut from where the armpit would be on an angle towards the outer edge of the block of clay to create each arm.  Next squeeze the clay to create a neck and round out the head with your hands.  This should give students a basic human form.  They can change the position of their warrior if they want to by bending the limbs to make it kneeling or sitting.  Next have them use tools and their fingers to create the details and features. Remember that if they add any clay on, they'll need to scratch-to-attach.  Use lots of references to look at the details in the uniforms of the warriors.  Once they are dry, you can bisque fire them and then I painted mine with a red iron oxide wash to give them their terracotta color. If you've used terracotta clay, you won't need to color them.  To make the wash use 2 parts red iron oxide to one part gerstley borate (all available at ceramic supply stores) and mix with water to a thin consistency.  Paint on the wash and then use a damp sponge to wipe the surface off lightly.  Glaze fire the pieces and you can assemble your terracotta army ready for battle!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Masking Tape People

I created this project when I accidentally ordered too many rolls of masking tape and I didn't know what to do with all of it. I had more than enough for each student to have their own roll, so the masking tape people came to be!  You will need a roll of masking tape, 9 pipe cleaners, a stack of newspaper and scissors for each student in your class to do this project.  This will also happen over the course of several sessions depending on how much detail is added to your projects.  I created my examples ahead of time so that students could see how much detail could be created with just newspaper and tape, it keeps them inspired to push for more details on their own projects.

This is also a simple anatomy project for students, the pipe cleaners are the bones, the newspaper is the muscle and the tape is the skin.  To start making the bone structure, you need 9 pipe cleaner wires (color doesn't matter here).  Loop the first one into a circle for a head that is about 1 1/2" wide, twist the pipe cleaner to itself so that you have a lollipop looking form.  Then bend the pipe cleaner over the loop the opposite direction so that it looks like a basketball and twist the ends together so that becomes the neck.  Take the next pipe cleaner and twist it to the neck of the first one.  Now make the shoulders from the second one by bending it out to one shoulder and then all the way back to the second shoulder and then back to the neck again (basically the shape of a hanger) then twist to connect the end.  Connect the third pipe cleaner to the middle of the shoulders by twisting it around on the end and let it be straight down for a spine then make hip bones the same way we made the shoulders.  Add the forth pipe cleaner for the arm by looping it through the shoulder and folding it in half, then give it a twist at the elbow and wrist joint.  Do the same with the fifth pipe cleaner for the other arm.  Now loop the sixth pipe cleaner through the hip joint and fold it into thirds to make the thigh bones, twist the ends to make it stay.  Do the same for the seventh one to make the other thigh.  The eighth pipe cleaner gets looped through the bottom of the thigh, at the knee and folded in half, give it a twist at the ankle and bend forward to create the foot.  Do the same with the ninth pipe cleaner for the other shin bone and foot.  Check out the photo above if you get confused on this.

Now you need to start tearing and crumbling up newspaper into pieces to start building your muscles. You'll need the tape to hold the newspaper in place so I like to have students tear off (or cut with scissors) a whole bunch of pieces of tape and stick them to the edge of the table so that they can grab them with one hand easily when they need them.  Start with a ball of newspaper that you can fit into the basketball shape of the skull and then tape around to hold it in place.  Then crumble up and large puffy triangle shape to fill out the torso and tape that into place.  Sometimes its good to take strips of newspaper and twist them and wrap them around the legs and arm muscles.  Have students really think about where the bigger muscles are and what shape they are, then use the newspaper to build that shape.  You can continue adding on newspaper muscles until you are satisfied with your person's build.  Remember that the tape will stiffen the overall form, so position your body they way that you'd like to as you continue to tape.  Make sure that all of the surfaces are covered with the tape. Then you can create details like clothes, hair and accessories out of the newspaper and tape.  The newspaper lady at the top has a skirt, shirt, jacket, shoes, a hat, a bag with a book, wallet and water bottle in it and she's reading the paper.  The skydiver has pants, a shirt, helmet, goggles and of course a parachute. If you'd like to make your person standing, you can take bamboo skewers and push them through the newspaper up into the legs leaving just a tiny bit poking out of the bottom of the feet.  Then find a wooden base (sand and paint the base) and drill two holes the size of the skewer where the feet will be positioned put a little wood glue in there and stick in the end of the skewers.  You can also add support by staple gunning the feet to the wooden base and taping over the staples so they don't show.  Masking tape people should be painted with at least a coat or two of clear spray paint to keep the glue on the tape from drying out and peeling off, but you can also give students acrylics and paint them completely with color.

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Tiki Heads

These fun tiki heads are a perfect lesson in symmetry for students. I show my students lots of examples of symmetry in art and nature before we start this project.  I also have them sketch out a plan on paper of what shapes they will use to create their clay tiki head.

Start by rolling out a 3/8ths of an inch slab of clay and cut out a rectangle that is about 5" x 10".  Wrap the rectangle up into a cylinder and scratch-to-attach the edges together.  Trace the bottom of the cylinder onto another slab of clay and scratch-to-attach the circle onto the bottom of the cylinder. Now its time to start building the tiki face.

Take your scrap flat pieces of clay and roll them out a little thinner with a rolling pin.  Use a knife to cut out each of the shapes that you need to build the face and scratch-to-attach them onto the cylinder.  I challenged my students to choose at least 6 completely different shapes and to use at least 15 pieces to build their tiki faces.  I also challenged them to create two unique faces, one on each side of the cylinder.  You can adjust the challenge for your students ability and age level.  Dry your pieces, bisque fire them and then glaze.  You can also challenge students to use at least 10 different colors on their pieces if you'd like to get some super rainbow tiki heads! Once they are fired you can also put plants in your tiki heads to make them grow hair!

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Wizards

Wizards with a crystal ball (aka: marble!) are super fun for students to create and are a lesson in using cones as a 3-D shape. To start, roll out a slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and then use a paper template to cut out the shape of a large cone.  Wrap the clay up into a cone and scratch-to-attach the edges together.  Next roll out a coil of clay that you can scratch-to-attach near the top of the cone, this will become the brim of the hat.  Once the coil is well attached, pinch the edges with your fingers to thin it out and shape it.  Then roll out two coils of clay that are also cone shaped to create the arms, scratch-to-attach them on so that the hands are facing out in front.  Cutting out two ovals and attaching them to the bottom of the cone make feet poking out from under the wizard's robe.  I created two spheres for eyes and a small cone for the nose that were all scratched-to-attached on.  For the hair, beard and mustache, I used a garlic press to create "spaghetti hair", it's fun to make, but a little tricky to attach, make sure students take their time with this part.  Encourage students to turn their sculptures around and look at them from all sides, adding details or decoration as desired.  Bisque fire your wizards, glaze them and fire them again.  Once finished, you can glue the crystal ball into their hands.

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Self Portrait Busts

These cute self-portrait busts are a great way for students to learn about basic human face proportions.  Take time to show them the proportions on a paper drawing or paired up with a partner that they can stare at.  I usually divide this project up into two sessions.  Students will start with building the base shapes and then add on the details of their faces.  You can also offer mirrors to your students for help with the details in Part II.

PART I

Start by giving students a piece of clay the size of a grapefruit plus a little bit of extra clay.  Cut that piece in half and then cut one of those pieces in half, they should have 3 pieces (two small ones of equal size and 1 larger one).  Make spheres out of each of the pieces and form them into pinch pots.  The larger pinch pot will be for the shoulders, squeeze it so its a little bit oval shaped and then place it upside down on the table. HINT: Its helpful to stuff a little bit of newspaper into the shoulders to help it keep its shape.  Scratch-to-attach the two smaller ones together to create a hollow sphere, this will be the head shape- it may look more like a potato, so have students take their time to shape it and make it more egg shaped.  Use a little bit of extra clay to roll out a snake of clay that is about as thick as your finger and wrap it into a cylinder shape, this will be used for the neck.  

To attach all three of the parts together, (shoulders, neck and head) position them where you think that they will look best to make your bust, then scratch-to-attach all of the connection spots well.  I like to attach the neck onto the shoulder and blend the coil of clay into the shoulders, then place the head onto the shoulders and blend those two together well.  Next use a tool to poke through from under the shoulders, through the neck and into the hollow space in the head, so that they don't explode in the kiln.  You can also write students names on the inside of the shoulders while you have them flipped over.  If you've used newspaper here, just pull it out to make the hole and then replace it.  This is usually where I will stop the first session, so if you need to stop here too, wrap up all of your students work in plastic until your next session.  

PART II

Now have students use a pointy tool or a pencil to lightly draw onto the clay the center line of the face, the eye line, the nose line and the mouth line.  This should help students give placement for all of the features.  Using a small amount of extra clay, shape each of the features in clay using tools and their hands.  Make sure that each part is scratched-to-attached on well.  HINT: A great way to make eyes that are the same size is to make one the size you like and then trace it onto another piece of clay.  HINT: A great way to make ears the same size is to make a flat pancake of clay and cut it in half, each half is an ear.  Hair can be added onto the head in flat pieces, coils or texturing the clay, depending on the style and type of hair they are trying to create. Once all the features are attached, erase the lines with a finger or smoothing tool. Have students think about clothing or other items they might want to add on to the shoulders (like a parrot or a pocket!).  Encourage students to turn their sculptures around and look at them from all sides before letting them dry.  

!!!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!!!