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....