Clay Landscapes

Prior to Christmas I did these clay landscape plaques with Grade 5.

They had to choose one of the six geographical regions of Canada.

I was quite impressed with their work.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay
- fabric placemat
- nail, wooden skewer, small cup of water
- rolling pin
- reference photos if needed
- ceramic glaze
- kiln

PROCEDURE:

Roll out your clay to a good sized rectangle, 8x10 or so.

My slab is about a pinky finger thickness.

Before I cut the plaque out I figure out the shape.


I draw into the clay with my finger.  I usually draw it with less pressure but I wanted you to see it here.

If you don't like it just erase it with a swipe of some water on your finger.

Using the nail cut your shape out and lift away the excess.

I tell the kids to make sure they push the nail down to the fabric, "you should feel the fabric on the end of the nail".

Before I forget I make the hole for hanging with the head of the nail pushed all the way thru.

Now it's time to start our design.  I have reference photos for the kids of the 6 geographical regions.  They pick one and create their scene.

With the leftover clay from the slab they begin cutting pieces out for the landscape.  We want to stay flat like a cookie for these pieces.

I don't use slip in my art classes, I move around too much from school to school.
I use the good old "scratch, scratch, water, water".  I teach the kids that chant before we start.  To 'glue' our clay pieces together we first make surface scratches in the base where our pieces are to go.  I use my finger dipped in water to rub water over these scratches.

I then repeat the process on the back of my landscape pieces.

I then tell the kids the scratches have to kiss. They usually groan at this idea but it gets the point across and clay gets attached correctly.

If you have extra scratches in your base just erase them with a swipe of water from your finger.

Continue to add pieces to your landscape keeping them flat so your plaque doesn't get too thick.



"Scratch, scratch, water, water"

You can some texture marks to enhance your landscape.

Scratch your name into the back of the plaque, have a partner hold it while you do this.

The landscapes then get put away to dry out for 1 to 2 weeks.  I utilize the library for this, placing them on newspaper on top of the bookshelves.



When fully dry, do the cheek test: place clay piece on your cheek if it is cold it is not dry.  I find in Calgary it usually is always a bit cold even when dry but it won't feel damp.

When the clay is dry do a bisque fire in the kiln.

After the landscapes have cooled you can glaze.










Fire again in the kiln.

That's it.







Love this prairie one.

Great flower details.

Although not a geographical region the students were allowed to do Calgary.
This student took her time and made a terrific cityscape.




See you next time.

Gail

Modern Clay Nativity

This year Grade 6 did a modern clay nativity.  I'm still firing them but my sample is done so I can show you.


The original inspiration was a picture on Pinterest that was unglazed and with no instructions so this my adapted version for school.

It comes in 3 pieces that nest together.  That way you can put Mary and Joseph out early and then add baby Jesus on Christmas Day.













MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, I have a kiln at school so I use a low fire buffstone.  You could try this with an air dry clay just make sure to seal it with a good sealer to help protect it.
- fabric mat, nail, skewer, rolling pin, little cup of water
- small star cookie cutters
- ceramic glaze in brown, yellow, blue, and pink or tan

PROCEDURE:

Each student gets a fabric mat for their desk.

They also get a nail and a wooden skewer.  They work in groups of 4-5 and share a large rolling pin and a star cutter.

Every 2 students share a little cup of water.

I give each student some clay.  They roll a slab about 1 inch thick.

With their finger they gently trace out a triangle shape.  Round the sides of the triangle. No taller than the size of their hand.

Using the nail the cut out this shape.  Here you can see the thickness of the clay.  I use the width of my finger as a guide.

Now I fold the sides in a bit for a nice curve and then I tap the bottom on the fabric.

I'm making the base wider and flat.

If I turn it over you can see the base has become wider and by tapping I get that nice flat bottom for stability.

I spent a little time smoothing the clay so I don't have any creases on the inside of my Joseph body from where it goes from thin to thick at the bottom.

Now I make his head.  Roll a small ball out of clay.  Tap on the bottom to flatten it.  I make an indentation at the top of Joseph's body where the head will attach.  The students and I review the "scratch, scratch, water,water" chant for attaching 2 pieces of clay together.  Surface scratches with the skewer on the 2 parts that go together.

....and then a brush of water using our finger over the scratches.  Then the scratches have "to kiss".

When I explain it this way the kids always understand.




Attach Joseph's head.

On the back of Joseph we added a star or 2-3 cut from clay with our little cookie cutters.

Make sure to "scratch,scratch,water,water".

Now it's time to make Mary.  Roll a ball about the size of a small mandarin orange.

Pinch a pot using your thumbs.

Pinch about 2 inches from one side of your pot in and tap the other end on the mat to create a flat bottom.

Check size to that of your Joseph so it will nest in nicely.

Roll a small head and attach to the pinched end.

It should look something like this now.

Roll a small ball about ping pong size.

Pinch a cradle and then add small head and body for baby Jesus.

The pieces should all nest together but for drying leave them apart.

Set aside to dry for about  1-2 weeks depending on how dry and warm your location is.

When the clay has dried out, put the piece on your cheek to test.

I find here in Calgary it always feels a bit cold but it should not feel damp or clammy.




Bisque fire in the kiln.

Now it's time for glazing.  I have about a million of these little plastic containers with lids holding my glaze in multiplies of 8-10.

The may eventually dry out (over the summer)  but I just add more of the same colour and a touch water and reconstitute them.

Have the students glaze their pieces using 2-3 coats of colour.


Before glazing I brush some wax resist on the bottom of all 3 pieces.  This prevents the glaze from staying there so we don't get any stuck on pieces on our kiln shelves.

Some of the Joseph's have hair some don't but we stayed away from adding faces.

When the glaze is dry you can fire them again.

That's it.

I can see this becoming a very popular project for my Oct and Nov residencies!


Gail

Clay Crest

Last month Grade 4 constructed the Alberta provincial crest out of clay.

The students did a terrific job and they were quite proud of them.  Great tie in with social studies.




Now you could adapt this to fit whatever province you are in.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 1 box of low fire clay, buffstone or white for each class
- fabric mats, optional (if you work a lot with clay this are handy to have)
- rolling pin
- wooden skewer, penny nail
- small cup of water
- reference photos of the crest
- glazes or acrylic paint depending on what finish you want

PROCEDURE:

I pre roll all the slabs for the class.
Cut a 1inch thick slice off the clay block, place on your fabric mat and roll to about 3/4's of an inch even thickness.

I will place these on a garbage bag that I have cut open, (down 1 side and across the bottom. I usually have mine on a cart as I'm moving from room to room.  I can get 6 or 8 on the top of the cart.  I then fold over the end of the garbage bag to cover the slabs and put another layer on top.

I will pre roll all I need for a morning or afternoon and the plastic garbage bag keeps the clay soft.

In the classroom each student gets a mat, a wooden skewer, a nail, and they share a small cup of water (every 2 kids).

We look at our reference material, I draw out the shape of the crest on the board and then I get them to first trace the shape using their finger onto the slab.

I like to check them before they cut to ensure the size is large enough and that the shape is good.
If they need to trace it out again just rub a little water on the surface to smooth out the 1st attempt.

Using the nail cut out the shape.

I get them to dip their finger in water and smooth the edges.

Using the skewer we lightly divide our shape into 3 sections.

I stress lightly as we don't want to cut our shape, it's just a line on the surface of the clay.



I asked them to make the middle section the largest as we have a lot to fit in there.

We start at the top of the design and work our way down.

For the cross we cut a long strip. I remind them that we use the nail for cutting and the stick for scratching.

By now they are very used to my 'scratch, scratch, water, water' chant but we say out loud a few times to remind everyone.

To attach the strip we make surface scratches (scoring) both on the crest and the strip. (scratch, scratch)

We then dip our finger in the water and rub a little on the scratches. (water,water)

I tell the kids you then get the scratches to kiss and that is how we glue one piece of clay to another.

The kiss analogy works great, they never forget it.


Cut 2 little strips for the rest of the cross.

Continue working through the sections using the 'scratch, scratch, water, water' method to add your pieces.

With the mountains you can make it all in one piece or indvidual ones.

For the wheat stalks I showed them 2 methods.

- cut a strip and scratch on the kernels or
- form each kernel seperately and add or
do both.


When finished we gently turned over in our hands ( a partner can help) and scratch our name and year onto the bottom.

Set clay crests aside somewhere on paper towels to dry out undisturbed.
I tend to use the tops of the bookcases in the library.
Depending on your climate the clay will dry out in 1-2 weeks.  To check hold it up to your cheek. I find clay is always a bit cold even when dry but if it feels damp give it more time.

Do the bisque fire when dry.  You can then paint using clay glazes (I love Mayco Stroke and Coat) or acrylic paint.

If you choose glaze it will need to be fired a second time.


Great job Grade 4!


Gail