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

Mini Santa

It's that time of year again......I am knee deep in preparations for Christmas Craft Day. 

420 kids doing 12 crafts on one spectacular day.

I have some new crafts this year that I will be posting on the blog.

First up this mini Santa.  He is only 15 cm or 6 inches high.  Made with easy to find items from the Dollar store.







Let's get started:





MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- red solo shooter cups
- Styrofoam head, around 4cm or 1.5"
- flesh coloured acrylic paint, or you could mix your own with brown, pink and white
- black sticky craft foam
- snow fabric from Dollar store
- red fleece fabric
- white and red (or pink) pompom, 10mm or .39"
- 2 googly eyes
- scrap of black paper and gold glitter paper
- white fun fur
- tacky glue
- plastic knife

PROCEDURE:

The body of the Santa is this red shot glass I got at the Dollar store.  Still very affordable.

I also bought snow fabric and I cut it into strips about 15 cm or 6 " long and fairly skinny (1.5 cm or .5").

Glue along rim of cup.

I then add the belt.  From a sheet of black sticky back craft foam I cut a slender strip the short way.  I cut that strip in half, peel away backing and stick to cup just below that line on the cup.

Now I also bought these Styrofoam heads.

For craft day we paint these ahead of time.  Easiest way is to stick them on a skewer paint and then stick skewer into a Styrofoam block to dry.

With 420 I will do this over several days.

When the head is dry slice a little off the bottom to make it flat.  I just use a plastic knife.

Put glue on top of shot glass and then stick flat end of head into the glue.

Now add some hair (it also helps us glue on the hat).

I take that same snow fabric and pull it a bit to make a clump.  Put some glue on top of head and press hair in place.

You then can glue on the googly eyes and pompom nose.

For the beard I use some white fun fur.  You want the short kind, just a bit fuzzy.  If you can't find any you could use white fleece fabric.

I cut an oval and then glue into place.

Now it's time to add a hat.  The hat starts as a triangle of red fleece fabric.

The bottom is about 13 cm or 5 " long and the sides are 10 cm or 4".  If you curve the sides a bit it makes a better hat.

For school I pre glue the hat with a glue gun so it's ready to be attached to the head.

Put some glue inside the hat rim....

and then place on the hair.  The hair helps it stay in place.


Add the white pompom to the top of the hat.

Almost finished just have to add the belt buckle.

Cut a small square from some gold glitter paper.

Cut a tiny square from some scrap black paper and glue into center of glitter paper.

Glue the buckle on to the belt and your mini Santa is done.

These can decorate your tree or sit on the mantle.  You could even use them as place settings for your Christmas dining table.


Hope you make a few and I can't wait to see the hundreds of them being made on Craft day.



Gail