Clay Spoon Monsters

I finished my month long residency on Friday. It was a large school with 500 students and I completed 2 projects with each class.



This was one of the Grade 2 projects, spoon monsters.

I know I could use a spoon monster by my stove!

Here is some more student work.


I only have a few photos as I'm still doing my glaze firing.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, I used about 1 box per class (25 students)
- newspaper, I give each student 1/2 a page
- canvas placemats
- penny nails
- skewers
- little water cups
- glazes
- kiln

PROCEDURE:

For clay we work on top of canvas placemats.  Each child gets a penny nail for cutting, a skewer for scoring and adding detail, and a small cup of water.

I start off by giving each child a lump of clay approximately the same size.


I get them to roll it between their hands or around the table to form a nice round shape. They are about the size of a large naval orange.

The grade 2 students push their thumbs into the ball of clay and form a nice pinch pot.  I talk to them about what a good thickness should be. (width of their thumb).

I will go and check each one to make sure it's going to work before we move on to the next step.

Take your 1/2 page of newspaper, crumple into a loose ball and stuff inside the pot.


The newspaper helps the pot keep it's shape.  I remove these before firing.  Current school policy is to remove combustibles.  In the past I have just let these burn off during the bisque fire.

Take pot and turn onto it's side.  Give it a few thumps on the table.  This will flatten the side so it can stand up on it's side.

I tell the kids if it wobbles try again.

It should look something like this.

Flat on the bottom.

I give each child a smaller lump of clay and we start to add the features to our monsters.  We attach clay by using our "scratch, scratch, water, water" chant.

We use our skewer to score/scratch our clay and then dip our finger into the cup of water and add this to our scratches. I then tell the kids that the scratches have to KISS.  An easy way to get them to remember despite all the 'eww gross' comments.

I also tell them that 'short and stubby' is our friend. We don't want features that are to thin or tall on our monsters.

Finally we scratch our names onto the bottom of the monsters.  I drape the clay with plastic to equalize for a day or 2 and then allow it dry out for 1 - 2 weeks.



I then bisque fire, we glaze, and I do the second fire.

I had 3 grades completing clay projects during this residency.

Here are some of the penguins from Grade 1.  My full tutorial is here.

and here are a sampling of the owls from Grade 4.  My owl tutorial can be found here.

Awesome work by all classes!

Well I have to go prep for the start of another residency on Monday.  I have lots more student work and  new tutorials to add in the coming week.

Gail

Clay Snowman

Here is a new project I just finished with Kindergarten.

Here are some of the results.












MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, we fired ours in the kiln but you can also use air dry
- small cup of water
- rolling pin
- nail and wooden skewer
- piece of fabric or canvas to work on
- glaze, if using air dry use acrylic paint
- brown pipe cleaners
- glue

PROCEDURE:

Lay down your piece of fabric., it stops the clay from sticking to your work surface.

Pull off a piece of clay about the size of an orange.

Roll your clay out, about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut a small oval base with your nail.

Dip your finger in the water and smooth the edge.

Roll the first snowball for the large snowman.

Scratch the base where you want the snowball to go and the bottom of the snowball.  You can flatten it first by gently tapping it on the table.

Dip your finger in water and apply to the scratches.

Make a little indentation with your thumb in the first snowball.  This will give a place for the next snowball to sit.

Complete the first snowman.

Add a second smaller one.

Make some carrot noses.  You can add these with "scratch, scratch, water, water".  (my clay chant I teach the kids) Or you can pinch one out of the clay in the top ball.

Use the skewer to poke in the eyes.

Add some buttons and a smile.

Poke in holes for the arms.

Add some snowballs.  I had some snowflake and star cutters so we made a few imprints in the base.  Just push lightly as you don't want to go all the way thru the base.

Let the clay dry out.  For kiln firing about 2 weeks.

When dry glaze and fire again.

With air dry let the clay dry out at least a week.  Paint with acrylic paints.  Add a sealing coat of Duraclear.  Leave bottom of base (underneath) free of paint and sealer so it can continue to dry out if needed.

Finally glue in some brown pipe cleaners for the stick arms.  Fold the ends over so they don't poke anyone.


That's it.



See you next time.

Gail

Father's Day Clay

This is a work in progress.  Kindergarten did clay today and although I don't have one all glazed and fired to show you I thought I'd give you a peek.

When done it will be a change/key/cell phone dish for Dad.
















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay
- fabric placemat
- a penny nail
- wooden skewer
- little cup of water
- rolling pin
- 'D' and 'A' rubber stamps
- small chinet plate
- kiln

PROCEDURE:

Cut a slab off your clay block.  Using a rolling pin roll a slab about 1/2 inch thick.

Take your chinet plate and turn it upside down onto the clay slab.  Cut around it with the nail.

You want to use a heavy paper plate not foam as we will be putting the clay back into the plate to help hold the shape while the plate is drying out.

Remove the excess clay from around the circle you cut.  Use some of it to cut a circle for the head.  With Kindergarten we used round cookie cutters that I had.

Attach to your dish by "scratch, scratch, water, water".  Little surface scratches on the surfaces to be stuck together, rub some water with your finger over the scratches.  The scratches then have to 'kiss'.  (that always makes it easy for the kids to remember how it works)

Start adding the features.  Eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc.

Add DAD with the rubber stamps.

With the extra clay roll a long snake and attach around the rim of the plate.

Place back in the paper plate to dry.

Drape for at least 24 hrs under plastic and then let dry out fully for 1-2 weeks. (depends a lot on the humidity in your area)

Remove paper plate and then bisque fire in the kiln.  Glaze or paint as you wish.

It was great to see all the Dads.

There is still time to do this project.  I will update you on the finished plates.




See you soon.

Animal Pinch Pots

I start a new residency tomorrow but I thought I would show you one of my last clay projects, animal pinch pots with Grade 3.



Sorry for some of the photo quality but the school lighting is always a challenge.

Each child chose their favourite animal. Some had their pots up on legs, some had the pot on it's side having a large mouth.  It was great to see all the different versions.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, air dry if you do not have access to a kiln
- nail (for cutting), wooden skewer(for scratching and details), small cup of water
- cloth placemat or paper towel
- coloured glaze if using a kiln, acrylic paint if using air dry
- reference photos of animals if needed

PROCEDURE:

Take a lump of clay about the size of an orange.  You will be working on your cloth placemat or paper towel.

Using your thumbs push into the centre of the lump.  Start to form a pot.

Push down on the bottom to help spread the pot out.  Continue to form a nice shape.  You don't want it to be thicker than an inch on the sides or bottom.

You also don't want it to be too thin.

Dip your finger into the water and rub along the rim on your pot.  Make a nice edge.

Smooth the sides as well.

For this pot I'm adding a head to the front.

I take some more clay and form a nice head shape.  I keep it flat like a cookie so that my pot does not get too thick and then won't dry out.

To 'glue' clay to clay I make little scratches on the 2 surfaces.

Dip your finger in water and add some to the scratches.

Attach head.  Using the wooden skewer and add detail to the face.

Add some newspaper to the pot to help it keep it's shape when drying.

Add arms and legs.  Remember to 'scratch, scratch, water, water'.





In my pot I made my arms and legs flat and attached up against the pot.  If you are adding legs to hold up the pot make sure they are short and stubby.  No giraffes here.

To make a long tail you can roll a snake.

I then added it flat to the pot.

A short stubby tail could stick out but no long tails as they would just break off, better to attach to the side of the pot.

When you have finished sculpting, set pot aside to dry.  Drape with garbage bags or plastic tablecloths for 2 days to equalize.  Uncover and then let clay fully dry out, about 11-12 days.




Here is some of the clay at my last residency drying out.  When the clay has dried do a bisque fire.

When the clay has been fired and cooled you can glaze.  Finish with a glaze fire.

With air dry you'll skip the firing and paint with acrylic paint when the clay is dry.

That's it.






I have lots of new projects coming up that I'm doing at my next school so I hope to post them all shortly.