Naughty and Nice Clay Gremlins (Version 1)

Back to school after a wonderful 2 week spring break! Halloween is just around the corner, and although this isn't an event traditionally celebrated in Australia, I'm finding more and more of my kids are joining in the fun! I don't usually 'do' Halloween projects, but it does provide an opportunity to delve into fun fantasy projects - so this week we're creating Clay Gremlins :)

Maybe it's the 3D aspect, or maybe they just love getting their hands dirty - either way my kids LOVE working with clay - it's one of the standout favourite lessons each term!

We're using a basic pinch-pot construction method for our gremlins, and concentrating on adding impishly naughty facial features .... we'll add legs later with ribbon and beads (inspired by Janet Burns' birds I found on Flickr via Pinterest).

First we take a ball of clay and pinch it out to create the pinch-pot body of our gremlin. The final thickness of the clay should be about the thickness of our little fingers (I circulate around the younger students here to make sure they haven't pinched their pots too thin), and then crumble some newspaper into a ball and place it inside the pot. This provides some support so that we don't push it out of shape when we're adding the features. Overturn the pot and tap onto the table to create an even rim.

Use thumbs to make a slight indent where you want the eyes to be. Roll small balls of clay and attach into the sockets using score and slip method. I have a small container of water on each table so that children can add a couple of drops to the scored surface, creating the slip that joins the pieces together. Wriggle the pieces together with gentle pressure until you feel it grip. Use a skewer to push a hole for the pupil. This also pushes clay from the eye into the body of the clay, further strengthening the bond. In a similar way, join any other features you want - ears, nose etc. Use the facial features to give your gremlin personality, concentrating on the eyes and the mouth.

The children then bring their gremlins to me to be named, and to skewer holes to add the legs after firing.
I always insist that I add the children's initials, for a couple of reasons:
1. If they score their initials too small or shallowly, I won't be able to read them later.
2. If they score too deeply, they further risk the integrity of the piece.
3. All the children's work (from 5 different schools) has to be taken to my car, stored in my garage to dry, taken to my friend's kiln, stacked, fired, unloaded, and transported back to the schools. If I am to have any hope of getting them back to their original owners, I have to be sure that they are legibly named and numbered (1 through 5, 1 being Monday group, 2 for Tuesday etc).

The final step is to make beads for the feet. Roll 2 balls of clay about the size of a 10c piece. Flatten slightly and skewer a hole through the center. These will attach to ribbon legs and hang over the edge of a shelf or table when the sculpture is complete.

The kids have all done a magnificent job - we have a marvelous array of naughty and nice gremlins.
With tomorrow's group I'm going to experiment with a different method of creating the body.
I'll post the results in a couple of weeks when we've painted them and added the finishing touches!

# An additional note: In the following lessons I made some changes to the construction of our gremlins - look here to  see improved Gremlins Version 2!

# To see our finished Gremlins go here....