Cool Clay Snowmen for a Hot Aussie Christmas!

Olivia D.W.

It may be hot and humid, and the summer storms are kicking in each afternoon, but it's only 5 weeks until Christmas, and it's lovely to dream! If we can't have a White Christmas and build real snowmen, then building them from clay has got to be the next best thing!

We've built our clay snowman sculptures using a basic pinch-pot base and added lovely scarves, hats of various descriptions, and of course long carroty noses.

Everyone must have been paying attention because all of the hats and noses stayed on! Loads of fun, and they turned out beautifully.

Clay Snowmen ....

Pottery - Our favourite lesson of the term! This week we've made clay snowmen. A bit early for Christmas, but by the time I get them dried, fired and back to the schools for painting it will be close to the end of term.

We started with a pinch pot base, then joined on a solid head and added coil scarf, hat and nose before using a skewer to add facial features.

The last step was the brain surgery, necessary to allow air into the solid head for even drying.

A great project for practising our score and slip joining.... it will be interesting to see how many come back from the firing with all the bits still in place :)

Not-So-Grumpy Cats - Fired and Finished!

These cute sculptures started out as Grumpy Cats, but nearly everyone took off the frown because they're so much nicer this way :)

Bisque fired and painted with acrylic house paint - we love the bright colours!!


Putting on the finishing touches....

Grumpy Cat Inspired Clay Sculptures

Our last clay project was a moulded slab bowl, and before that we made a snake coil pot, so it seemed time for a good-old non-functional sculpture. So following our oh-so-successful Grumpy Cat drawings last week (thanks again to Mary and Kathy), which the kids just loved! I decided to use Grumpy Cat to inspire our clay work this week.

We started with a block of clay shaped into a bullet form (I cut 18 blocks from a 12 kg block of red raku clay). From this we squeezed in the neck of our cats about a third of the way down and reshaped the body to smooth the transition from neck to body.

We then pulled clay up from the back of the cat's head, flattening it into a more cat-like shape, and used this clay to fashion two pointed ears.

After rolling 4 spheres of clay for the eyes and cheeks (and a very small ball for the nose), we used our thumbs to push eye sockets into the head of our cat. From there it was all about using the score-and-slip joining method to secure the eye balls into the eye sockets and the join the cheeks and nose to the cat's face.

We also used wooden skewers to push a point into each eye and whisker holes. This serves to not only delineate the eye and whiskers (we'll hot glue-gun in some wire whiskers after bisque firing), but also to allow air into the quite thick clay ball of the cat's head for more even drying (although red raku clay is pretty forgiving!)

Finally we attached a tail to curl around the cat's body, and after a bit of 'brain surgery' with a thick piece of dowel (to get air into our solid block of clay!) our cats are drying out before the bisque firing. More in a couple of weeks when we finish them off!!

Free-Form Pots

Lachlan F

For our pottery piece this term we made free-form pots.

We started with slabs of clay, which we decorated by pressing on leaves and string to create a surface pattern. We then prepared small balls of clay to create the feet, before moulding the slabs over our knees (a technique that has been around forever, and is always such fun!) We attached the feet to the base while the slabs where still draped over our knees. The resulting pots have a great oriental-style look.

After bisque firing we spray painted the pots with a base coat of indian red - a rich metallic red-brown colour that is the perfect base for the bright colours we dribbled by wiping our loaded brushes against the rim of the pot. I advised the kids to choose 2 colours - I love the mandarine orange and ocean blue combination  that Lachlan has selected in the example above. The dribbles run unpredictably, and seem to fit well with the free-form shape of our pots.

In the time we had at the end of the pot-painting session, we made these cute snake finger puppets :)
I photocopied the templates from Mr Printables - great for cutting skills practice and lots of fun for a half lesson fill-in!

Finished Snake Coil Pots

Kate P (Yr 5)

Our long-awaited 'Year of the Snake' coil pots are fired and ready for the finishing touches! To see how we made them go to  previous post 'Snake Coil Pots'.

We've finished them with water based house paint. The kids have a free hand in color choices and how they apply the paint. Most painted their entire pots, but some (including Kate whose pot is pictured here) decided to paint a pattern, while leaving much of the natural clay unpainted.

Year of the Snake Inspired Coil Pots

Clay - one of our favourite lessons each term!

I do love it, but I must say I'd enjoy it a whole lot more if I didn't have to lug 2 X 12kg blocks of clay (plus all the other paraphernalia) into each school, and then the finished pottery pieces (plus all the paraphernalia) back out to my car, then out of the car to store/dry in my garage, then back in/out of the car to a friend's kiln for firing, then back to the schools for painting..... Multiply it by 5 schools and it is a really exhausting couple of weeks!

But I can't complain when the kids obviously love it so much :)

This term we've made simple coil pots, sealing the coils on the inside as we go, and leaving them visible on the outside to represent a coiled snake. We wound the end of the last coil up to form the snake's head. Some of the kids went further and wound the last coil around the body of their pot so that their snakes are wrapping themselves around the pot.

This was a great activity for my after-school classes, which are multi-age (Prep to year 7 in each class.) Even though some of the littlies  had trouble building the sides of their pots symmetrically, and some of their coils droop a little bit, this actually enhanced the 'snakiness' of their finished pots. At the same time, there was lots of opportunity for the older students to explore some really interesting ideas. They are ALL beautiful, and I can't wait to see them after firing and finishing!

More Clay Gremlins

Clay Gremlins - Thursday Group

The last of our 'Naughty and Nice' Clay Gremlins.
Check my previous posts to see how we made them and how we finished them.

Naughty & Nice Gremlins - Friday Group

Finshed Clay Gremlins

Clay Gremlins - Monday Group

Our clay Gremlins are finished.....
To see how they were created, go to my previous post 'Naughty & Nice Gremlins.'

'Nice' Gremlin, spray painted bright copper.

After kiln firing to bisque, I spray painted them with Bright Copper metallic spray paint, and attached their clay feet to their ribbon legs. Students have a free hand in painting their Gremlins using house paint - they may paint the whole sculpture, or simply add highlights and patterns to the copper base as they choose. I do suggest that they might like to add pattern to the feet, to make them 'belong' to the sculpture as a whole.

Clay Gremlins - Tuesday Group

Clay Gremlins - Wednesday Group

 Our finished Gremlins are magnificently scary!

Naughty & Nice Clay Gremlins (Version 2)

Bronte B (Year 3)

I decided to try a different version of the Gremlins, using the wonderful pinch-pot monsters from Art Lessons for Kids as inspiration.

Before we began we spent some time discussing our gremlins.... Gremlins are creatures (according to the movie) that are cute and cuddly during daylight hours.... but after midnight they transform into creatures that do all sorts of unexpected things! We decided that, like people, they probably all have very different personalities, and as artists (because they are fantasy creatures and not real!) we get to decide what the personality of our own gremlin will be. 

Some kids have decided to make naughty gremlins that creep into the kitchen and eat all the left-over cake and ice-cream while everyone is asleep! Some of the older students (who have seen the movie and were quite eager to share until I intervened) are making their gremlins a little bit darker! Lots of kids have decided to make nice gremlins, who happily sit on their bookshelves during the day, but at night, when their owners are asleep, do all sorts of helpful things like completing unfinished homework!

The kids have so many ideas they want to share, and I love it when the discussion starts to piggy-back, with one idea sparking 3 or 4 others ... to me, this is creativity in action, not in isolation, but in lively discussion! But eventually I have to cut it short or we won't have any time left to actually make our gremlins!!

This time, after completing our pinch-pots, we flip them onto their sides, flattening and twisting until we are happy with the mouth shape. We then add eyes and other features using the score and slip method as in Naughty & Nice Gremlins (Version 1).

We're still going to add ribbon legs to our Gremlins with clay bead feet to dangle over the side of a desktop or bookcase shelf (because we really like this idea) but with this version I will use a hot glue gun to attach the ribbon legs to the underside of the gremlin body.

I'll post the finished works when they have been bisque fired and painted in a couple of weeks :)
# To see our finished Gremlins go here ....

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....

Pottery Hippos

Joe C (Year 5)

Kristen C (Year 7)

Mackenzie W (Year 2)

Aanya C (Year 3)

Bella G (Year 6)

Bonnie J (Year 4)

Caela NN (Prep)

Demi B (Year 2)

Lily L (Year 2)

Lucy S (Year 3)

James A (Year 6)

Riley K (Year 1)

Ziva G (Prep)

Macy E (Year 3)

Zara B (Year 4)

This week we’ve painted our pottery Hippo sculptures. We made them a couple of weeks ago by joining two pinch pots for the body, then added legs and head (and in some cases hats, bow ties etc!) using score and slip method. After bisque firing we use water-based house paint to finish and decorate. I find house paint has a good coverage and is (relatively) water-resistant on pottery, so it wears well. Pottery is always the standout favorite lesson each term!

Clay Funky Fish

Kyla R (Year 4)

Matilda B (Year 2)

Jessica F (Year 6)

Charliz C (Year 2)

Jay P-O (Year 2)

Kyla R (Year 4)

Mayah K (Year 5)

Molly B (Prep)

Sage B (Year 2)

April K (Year 5)

Sophie T-F (Prep)

Thanks Kerri Welty on Artsonia for your inspiration for this lesson. We cut the fish from a slab of clay using a template, then added texture, fins and bulbous eyes. Finally we used skewers to pierce holes in the fins and tail for later decoration. After bisque firing we painted them with house paint (it has better coverage and stays on better than acrylic) and added wire (coiled around a pencil) and bead decorations. Very funky!