Ice Cream Cones

Claes Oldenburg "Floor Burger"

The Pop Art style food sculptures of Claes Oldenburg inspired these fun ice cream cone wall sculptures. This is also a great project to discuss 3-D shapes with students.  Have students roll out a slab of clay that is about 3/8th of an inch thick.  I give students a paper template that will make a cone shape when wrapped up, this will also determine how large you want your ice cream cones to be (this one is about 15" tall).  Have students trace the template and cut it out, then wrap up the clay into a cone shape.  Scratch-to-attach the edges together well and let the cone rest wide part down while they add any cone texture they'd like with tools.

Next, using another piece of clay, students will make a sphere about the size of an orange, then make that sphere into a pinch pot by pushing their thumbs into the middle and squeezing around the sides.  This will make the ice cream scoop on top.  Its OK if the pinch pot has lumps or dents on it, it will make it look like a realistic scoop of ice cream.  Advanced students can make a double or triple scoop of ice cream, but be sure to put a hole between each of the scoops so that you are not trapping air (this will make the sculpture explode in the kiln!)

Scratch-to-attach the edges of the cone and the edges of the pinch pot so that they can attach them together.  HINT:  This part can be a little tricky especially if you are working fairly large.  Use some crumbled up newspaper stuffed inside the cone and pinch pot to help keep the shape while you blend the two together-it will burn out when you fire it in the kiln.  Have students take their time blending both parts together and make sure they are well attached.  The sculpture can be laying flat on the table now.  Have students choose the type of ice cream flavor they want and any extras like a cherry on top or sprinkles and scratch-to-attach them onto the ice cream.  When they are finished building, roll the sculptures over gently so that you can put a hole into the back of them, this will give you something to hang it by when you are finished and it will also prevent it from exploding in the kiln. Fire the pieces and then glaze them will the appropriate colors for the flavor of ice cream!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

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!!!

3-D Clay People

To begin this project I have students identify the names of basic 3-D shapes (sphere, cylinder, cube, pyramid, cone, rectangular prism & egg).   Then each student gets a small piece of clay to practice making all of these shapes using only their fingers and the flat surface of the table to make them.  Once everyone has practiced making each of these shapes we discuss how we can attach them together to create a person.  For example: a cone for a body, an egg for a head, cylinders for arms or legs, a cube to sit on to help them balance etc....  I give students more clay and allow them to make larger 3-D shapes and multiples of the shapes to start to build their sculpture.  Remember that all of the shapes need to be scratch-to-attached together or they will fall apart when the clay dries.  The shapes can also be given textures and patterns using tools to add details to your sculptures.  Challenge students to keep adding on parts using only these basic shapes. 

B CR8IV!

Backgammon Game Board

Making your own game board and pieces in clay can be really fun.  This student chose to make a backgammon board but you could make checkers, chess, monopoly etc.

To make these game boards, start by rolling out a flat slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and the size that you would like your game board to be.  Next scratch up the entire surface of the clay with a fork or scoring tool.  Now start cutting out the shapes for your board pieces from the extra scraps of clay.  Scratch the backs of your shapes with a tool and begin attaching them onto the surface.  If you have large empty area, you can cut small shapes and attach them to fill those areas as a design rather than a playing area of the board.  Be sure to keep the thickness of your clay even as you attach them onto the base piece. Once all the spaces have been filled with shapes, let the game dry on a flat surface.  Now you have to build the pieces for your game, depending on what game you've chosen, they may need to be unique for each player or all similar as in checkers and backgammon.  Next, bisque fire all the pieces and board, then have students glaze only the surface of each of the shapes and the outside edge of the board NOT the spaces in-between, the grout will not stick to a glazed surface.  They should also glaze the pieces keeping color in mind if they need two teams of color or all the same.  Once the glaze firing is finished, mix up some grout in any color you'd like according to the package's instructions.  Be careful about not adding too much water to your grout, a little goes a long way!  Spread out some newspaper and give out plastic gloves to students--this will be messy!  I give students a handful of the grout and let them start pushing it into all of the spaces, I usually have to help everyone out a little bit to make sure they've packed it in tight and filled all the spaces.  Then have them rub the grout off of the tops of all of their shapes using just their hands to start with or a wooden clay tool can be helpful, then use a dry paper towel to start to wipe the surfaces clean.  Once the grout has dried a bit, you can go over the surface with a damp sponge to get any residual grout off. Let the grout dry for 24 hours before using your game.

!!!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!!!

Henna Hands

Henna is a natural dye that is used to decorate the body especially the hands for special occasions such as weddings in many Asian cultures. The designs are intricate patterns of shapes, flowers, spirals, waves and lines.  For this project, I show my students lots of examples or patterns and designs, we also practice a few on paper first.

You may want to cover your tables with newspaper to make clean up easier.  To make the hands, each student needs a latex glove (be sure to use thick gloves NOT the thin food service type), then mix up a small batch of plaster and pour it into the glove while the student holds it open. Once their glove it full, have them pinch it closed and hold it up until the plaster hardens (about 10 min).  The stiller they can be holding the plaster, the less chances of fingers breaking off once its dry, I have my students tell jokes or riddles while they wait.   HINT: You may need to mix up multiple batches depending on the size of your class, try not to mix up to much at one time or it will harden before you get to pour it into the glove.  If you have never worked with plaster before, I recommend trying it out on your own before attempting with a class--it's a very manageable classroom material if you know what to expect!

When the plaster hardens you can lay the gloves down on the table and carefully cut the glove off with scissors.  You should have a perfect hand shape which may stand up if the bottom is flat enough ( you can sand it flat if its not!).  I let these dry completely over night.  To clean up any plaster disasters, let it harden and then break it up with a scraper and hammer, through the hardened chunks away.  If you want to get it out of the bucket you mixed it in, let it harden and then flex the plastic bucket to pop it off the sides.  DO NOT LET PLASTER GO DOWN THE SINK!!  I set up a 5 gallon bucket of water for students to wash their hands and any tools in, then just dump that water outside.

Once the plaster is set, use watercolor paints to paint the entire surface of the hands, the plaster will absorb the paint quickly.  You can use this as a time to tie in a color theory lesson explaining the differences between warm colors and cool colors or just give them primary colors and have them experiment mixing.  Once the paint is dry, give students a selection of fine and ultra-fine sharpie markers to start their henna patterns with.  I encourage students to do at least 10 different patterns and to cover the whole surface.  They can use the patterns they drew earlier as references on their final pieces.

HINT: If you have broken fingers, they can be fixed!  Take a small drill bit and drill about 1/2" into the finger that is broken and also into where it connects.  Cut an inch long (or shorter) dowel of wood, such as a shish kabob skewer, dip the ends into glue and fit it into the drilled holes.  You can also add a little bit of glue to the plaster surfaces, push the broken pieces together gently and let dry!  

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Long Bugs

 Well, we started off this week with Baby Bugs and we've moved onto our Long Bugs!  You'll need a rolling pin or large dowel for each student to support your bug as it dries for this project.  If you want to make this an art & literacy project, you could tie this to Eric Carle's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for fun with your students.

To begin, give each student a rolling pin or dowel and a baseball size piece of clay.  Break off a small piece of clay and roll it into a coil that is about 3-4" long, drape it over the dowel- this will make one pair of legs.  Continue rolling out coils and draping them over the dowel to make 8, 10 or 20 legs for your Long Bug.  Scratch the tops of all the pairs of legs and put to the side while we make the body.  Take a larger piece of clay and roll it out to a thick coil, about as thick as a hot dog and as long as you want your bug to be.  Scratch the bottom of the larger coil and lay it on top of the scratched parts of the legs.  Use your fingers to blend the body to the legs well.  Shape one end to be the head and the other to be the tail.  You can add on eyes, a mouth, a snout, spikes and antennae (I used high temperature wire or Nichrome wire for my antennae). Textures and designs can be added on now as well.  When you've finished building your Long Bug, let it dry on the dowel.  Once it's dry, carefully slide the dowel out and your bug should stand on its own.  Bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire your bugs.  Find your critter a good place to hide in the garden!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

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!!!

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!!!

Peacocks

For this project we build the body of the peacocks the same way we have built our fish sculptures.  Using 2 pinch pots that are scratched together and smoothed over to make a hollow egg shape.  The neck is a rolled out snake or coil of clay with one end thicker to attach to the chest of the bird, use your fingers to pinch the thinner end into a pointy beak and use tools to create the nostrils, mouth and eye details.  Wings are also scratched onto the the sides of the body, then texture is applied to give the bird a feathery look.  The tail and head feathers are done using high temperature wire in different gauges.  The high temperature wire (sometimes called kanthal wire) can be put into the clay when it is wet and fired in the clay.  I used a thicker gauge on the tail feathers and a very thin gauge for the head feathers.  The head feathers have small spheres of clay added on to the tips of the wire, while the tail feather wires are left empty.  The pieces are fired and glazed and fired again.  For the final step, I offered my students a selection of beads to put onto their tailfeather wires, we discussed using patterns and also using warm colors or cool colors depending on what they had choosen to glaze their birds.  The final top bead got a drop of glue in it to keep them all from sliding off the wire.  Once the glue dries the peacocks are ready.  

!B CR8IV!   

Mother's Day Picture Frames

I've been making these Mother's Day gifts with my students in the studio this week.  Its very sweet to see each students' work differ based on what they think their moms will like on their frame.

I have students roll out a slab of clay about 12" square-ish and about 3/8th's of an inch thick.  Then they cut the outside shape of their frame, which can be any shape they desire.  Next have them cut the whole for the picture which also can be any shape.  Now they are ready to decorate their frame.  I encourage students to push in textures and designs with tools as well as add on pieces.  In this example the mermaids hair, sea weed and the seashells are added on which give dimension & texture to the frame.  Some students added on flowers, their mom's name or animals their mom likes.  Make sure that all the parts you add on are scratched to attached on well.  Rubber stamps are also a great way to push in texture or spell out words with ABC stamps.  When you are finished designing the frame, use a tool to push two holes through the top of the frame so that it can be hung on the wall.  Once the pieces have been bisque fired, glazed and fired again, add a ribbon or twine to hang the frame by and tape a picture of the student in the back.  You can also have students wrap them up and make a card to go with their gift, so they're all ready to give out on Mother's Day!

!!!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!!!

Foam Carved Animals

The cute animals are made from floral foam --the stuff florists stick in the bottom of arrangements to make the flower stems stay in place.  Its a great material for students to practice the art of carving with a very soft material.  I have to warn you though, this is not an easy project and there have been a few tears shed over lost legs and ears etc...so be prepared!  Before I start this project, I let my students know the drawback to this material is how much the very fine dust sticks to your hands and if you touch your face with your hands after you've started carving, it can be really painful to get in the eyes, so make sure students wash their hands thoroughly before they scratch an itch!  I also like to prep students for this project by showing them a lot of Michelangelo's carvings and we talk about the process of carving (taking away vs adding on).

I find that I have the best results on this project when I do it with my students; step by step.  Everyone should start with one block of floral foam that is about 4" x 4" x 2", yours maybe larger or smaller depending on the brand you buy.  And a few clay tools are helpful, a knife, pointy tool and a few sizes of carving tools.  (Make sure you wash your tools before using them in clay again!) These drawings may help students visualize what parts they need to remove in each step.  Step one removes the foam to create the basic head and body shape, rounding out the back end and removing under the neck and front of the legs.  Step two removes the foam so that you have front and back legs, students will also need to carve between each pair of legs to create 4 individual legs.  HINT: Remind students that its better to carve away a little bit at a time, rather than one big chunk because you can easily break off a leg unintentionally here.  Step three removes the back of the back legs to shape a tail and it also shapes the snout, head, ears and neck.  This is a generic shape that may need to change depending on what animal you are making.  I find that once my students get to this point, they feel comfortable with adding in the details like noses, eyes, toes etc on their own carving intuition. I have my students paint them with acrylic paints and these are glued onto driftwood bases.  You could also add wire to create hair and longer tails, like we did here to create some lion manes.  HINT: If you do break a part off while carving, have the students keep their parts and just glue them on later with a strong craft glue.   Dick Blick Art Supplies has a great similar lesson plan to create Inuit Bears if you're looking to tie this project in with your curriculum.

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Chicken & Egg

 

Which came first, the chicken or the egg??

This is a two part multimedia project that can be applied to any egg laying animal if you're looking to accompany a curriculum based idea (I've had students make platypus' with this project too!)

The Egg:
You'll need a round balloon, newspaper, flour and water (to make paper mache) for each student.  This can be messy, so just be prepared, cover your tables, and stay calm! Start by blowing up your balloon, I recommend not to full capacity though- they tend to pop if stretched to thin. Then take a piece of masking tape and tape the tail of the balloon to the table your working at, this helps keep it from rolling away on you.  Prep your paper mache area by having a small container to put your mixture in and have all of your newspaper ripped up into strips and ready to go once your hands get all sticky.  Lots of people have very fancy paper mache recipes and techniques, here's a good one if you want to try: RECIPE but I just go with plain ol' flour and water mixed really really well to the consistency of pancake batter.  Once mixed, give each student some in their personal containers.  Dip a strip of newspaper into the paper mache mix, make sure its covered and then wipe off all the excess (I like to pinch it between my first two fingers and slide them down the stripe to pull off any excess), sometimes the paper will get too wet too quickly and it will rip, just put it to the side and try with another one.  It's always good to demo all of this for your students before you start to avoid the emotional melt downs!  Then layer the newspaper strips around your balloon until you have an even cover over the whole surface.  Let them dry completely, (about 24 hours) and repeat the whole process again and then again!  Now that you have a dry and strong egg, cut the egg in half to give it a cracked edge, I did this part for my students using a knife and scissors.  Once cracked open, you should be able to pull out the balloon remnants.  I gave my students  acrylic paints to decorate their eggs, inside and out.  You may want to spray the eggs with a coat of white spray paint to give them a base layer, as the newspaper print will show through on the lighter colored paints. Let the eggs dry while you move onto building the chickens!  HINT: Alternatively, you can do this whole process with plaster gauze instead of paper mache which is simpler, stronger and less messy--but way more expensive a material than flour, water and newspaper.

The Chicken:  These chickens (or whatever egg laying creature you've decided to make!) 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 creates the body of your chicken.  Now make one smaller pinch pot and turn it upside down onto the top of your body to create the head.  Scratch-to-attach it on and blend it in well to the shoulders of the chicken.  

Now using some extra clay, create your comb, eyes, beak, wings and legs. For the legs, roll out two coils of clay that are about the same size and thickness, scratch the end of each coil and scratch the body where you want to attach them on, blend them in well with your fingers.  You can push bend the ends up to create feet and then use a knife to cut some toes. The comb can be made by attaching a small coil of clay to the top of the head and then squeezing it thinner; mohawk style.  The beak is a small triangle and the eyes are two spheres with a smaller dot pushed into them. The wings can be two coils of clay that are equal in size and then flattened or two equal slabs of clay in the shape of wings, then scratch-to-attach them on.  Before letting your chicken dry, take a long pointy tool and make a hole from the bottom of the chicken up into the head to allow the trapped air to escape while its firing, if you forget this step--your chicken may blow up in the kiln! : (
Dry, bisque fire, glaze and then glaze fire your chicken.  Display your chicken and egg together!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Dog Pound

I find that my own dogs offer lots of inspiration for this project!  These cute puppies are simple to make and I encourage my students to build at least 3 completely different dogs to create their dog pound.  I use rolling pins to help support the legs of the dogs until they dry, but you could also use cardboard paper towel rolls or newspaper too, just make sure you have one for each student.

Start by rolling out a coil of clay that is about as thick as a Sharpie marker.  Cut two pieces from this coil that are equal size and about 4 " long.  Drape these pieces over the rolling pin to create two arches for the legs of your dog.  If you want your dogs to have shorter or longer legs, just adjust the length of the coils.  Next, roll out a slightly thicker coil of clay for the body.  Roll one end of that coil thinner for the tail and cut the coil for the length of body that you want.  Scratch-to-attach the body onto the top of the legs and blend them together with your finger.  To make the head of your dog, roll out a small sphere and pinch one end pointier for the snout so the overall shape is more like an egg on its side.  Scratch-to-attach the head onto the body and blend it in.  Remember that you don't have to have the head facing straight on, maybe he's watching a ball fly by him!  Next cut the mouth open with a knife, you can add teeth or a tongue or a bone in its mouth if you want.  Scratch-to-attach on the ears, eyes and nose.  Then you're ready for details, like toes, furry texture or adding accessories (collar, toys or a food bowl).  Let your dogs dry on their support structure and carefully slide them off when they are dry enough to support their own weight.  Dry them completely, bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire.

!!B CR8IV!!

Textured Turtles

These turtles are a great lesson in texture and pattern.  Start by rolling out a long snake or coil of clay, about 15-18 inches long and about as thick as a pencil.  Scratch the entire length of the coil and then wrap it up into a spiral shape blending in the end piece.  You can smooth out the spiral design or leave it there, this piece will be the turtle shell.  Next roll out another snake of clay the same thickness but only about 6-8 inches long.  Cut this snake of clay up into 6 pieces; 4 for the legs, 1 for the head and 1 for the tail.  You can shape them with your hands as needed.  Scratch the ends of each of your pieces and the belly of the turtle shell and attach them on.  HINT:  Make sure to overlap the pieces when you attach them on to have a larger surface area of attaching, so don't attach them edge to edge, they'll be more likely to break off when you move them in and out of the kiln.  You can now add on a face to your turtle and start to decorate the back of the shell with a pattern using tools. This is a perfect ocean week lesson! You'll need to dry, bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire all the pieces for them to be finished.  

Gargoyle Masks

Creating these masks are fun for students and a great lesson of the historical use of gargoyles in architecture.  I show students lots of examples of gargoyle sculptures and start the project by having them choose an emotion for their gargoyle.  This usually helps to dictate the shape, structure and features that their mask will have.

Start with a large slab of clay and cut out the general shape of the face, this could be round, oval, square; whatever the students chooses.  Then use some crumbled up newspaper to create a "pillow" and lay your slab of clay on top of the pillow, rounding the clay around the edges of the pillow.  This will help give the mask a more 3-D quality to it.  Next I have students push in features like the eye sockets, mouth and the hollows of the cheeks using their fingers and tools to get some general features started.  Then I have them add on the eyes, nose, horns, ears, warts, teeth, fangs--whatever they can think of and scratch-to-attach them onto the face. They can blend the features as needed, add texture and shape the mask to get the desired emotion to show through.  When students are finished building, I put a high temperature wire loop into the back of the mask so that when they are finished, they can be easily hung on the wall. Let the clay dry on the newspaper and  when dry pull out the newspaper carefully, bisque fire, then glaze ( I liked using a stony grey color on mine, but that's up to you!) and fire again.  You can display all of your students masks on the wall and have some Gothic looking architecture in your classroom!

!!! B CR8IV!!!

Textured Pods

This is a great classroom challenge project for working with texture.  You can also make this as small or as large of a challenge as is appropriate for your classroom.  This can also be done over the course of a few sessions if needed too.  First I discuss texture with my class; what it is and how it can be created by pushing into clay and by adding onto clay or a combination of both techniques.  We look at shells, pine cones, stones etc...  We also doodle with a little bit of clay to think of different ways we can add on texture or what objects we can use to push into the clay to create unique textures.

Then the challenge:
Create 5 hollow pod forms (two pinch pots scratched-to-attached together) that are all a different shape.
Push in two unique textures on 2 of the forms.
Add on two unique textures on 2 of the forms.
Use a combination of push in and add on for the last form.
HINT: Adjust the numbers on this to fit your students level

Next create a tray or bowl (this could be a simple slab or a large pinch pot) to hold all of your textured pods but don't scratch-to-attach them to the container.  Be sure to poke a hole into the hollow space of each of your pods so that they don't explode in the kiln and then let all of your parts dry well and bisque fire them.  When glazing allow your students to paint the entire surface of each form and the surface of the container for them.  When they are in the glaze firing the pods will fuse to the container you have made to hold them and will create an interesting piece of abstract art.  Be inspired by natures forms, textures and colors for this project.

!!!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!!!

Many Hands Bowl

Hand bowls are a fun and easy way for students to work with slabs. You'll need a small bowl for each student and have them line it with a piece of newspaper to keep the clay from sticking.  Then start by rolling out a large slab of clay that is about 3/8ths of an inch thick and have students trace their hand 3-4 times.  HINT: You can add texture to your clay at this point if you want or keep the clay smooth.  Cut out the hands and smooth out the edges.  Lay the first hand into the bowl letting the fingers rest on the edges, then scratch the bottom of the hand.  Lay the next hand in the bowl scratching and attaching where it overlaps with the first hand and adjusting the fingers position as desired.   Continue with the rest of the hands until the bowl is formed.  You can add the students name and age in the bottom on the hand bowl if desired with rubber ABC stamps. Let the hands dry in the bowl and when dry, CAREFULLY remove from the bowl to bisque fire.  Then glaze making sure to cover all the edges of the hands then glaze fire.

!!! B CR8IV!!!