Falling for Clay

Although it's already almost the end of the school year, I am just now getting around to posting about our amazing Fall themed clay projects!  It feels like yesterday that the first chilly breezes were bringing in the Fall weather.  After living in sunny Phoenix for the past three years, I was looking forward to unpacking my scarves and sweaters and warming up some spiced cider!  Since it was time for 2nd and 5th graders to learn about clay building, I thought what better than pumpkins and colorful leaves to welcome in the Fall season!

2nd graders created their pumpkins by making two small pinch pots and attaching them together to make a hollow sphere. Students were already familiar with pinch pot construction from a project they made in 1st grade.  We reviewed how to attach two pieces of wet clay together by first scoring (scratching lines into both sides of clay) and slipping (adding water to the rough scored areas).  A hole was poked in the bottom of the spheres to allow for air to escape during firing.  We then made a stem by coiling the clay, and a leaf by using slab construction (flattening out the clay like a pancake) and then cutting out a leaf shape.  The pumpkins were fired and then glazed.  The glaze was purchased thanks to a grant from the Grandville Education Foundation!  As a final touch, students added a vine by curling a pipe cleaner and gluing it to the top of the pumpkin.

Here are the amazing results!

5th graders made Fall leaves using a clay slab technique.  They first rolled out their clay to about a quarter of an inch thick.  Then, they set a large plastic leaf onto their clay and traced around it.  By pressing the fake leaf into the soft clay, the veins of the leaf were imprinted onto the clay for a realistic effect. Finally they flipped over their leaves and laid them face down onto a smal wad of newspaper.  This curved the leaf and gave it a more organic appearance rather then just a flat look.

Here's a pic of the leaves in the kiln before they were fired.

Once the leaves were fired, students chose two speckled glazes for the front and edges of their leaves.  Thanks to a grant from the Grandville Education Foundation we were able to purchase beautiful Colorburst glazes that worked perfectly for the Fall leaves.

Here's how they turned out!

As you can see, both the 2nd and 5th graders had gorgeous results with their Fall clay projects.  Stay tuned to see how the 3rd and 4th graders do with their Winter themed clay projects!

Thanks again for joining me here at The Art Spot, see you next time.

-Miss O'Donnell