THE TOOLS
MATERIALS:
- Clay (it can be air dry, paper clay, kiln fire clay or make your own clay)!
- Clay tools or wooden popsicle sticks /pencil/kid kitchen tools
- Paintbrushes, I like a few different sizes to play with
- Art paint of any kind, it can be tempera, gouache or acrylic!
- Watercup + Rag (Not pictured) to clean brushes
- Parchment Paper/Wax paper or paint palette
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THEME: Ceramics
ART LINGO: Slip and Score, Rolling out clay and attaching pieces
APPROX TIME: 1 HOUR
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: BEGINNER-ADVANCED
Ceramics is my JAM!!!! I am in love with this art medium! It’s just the right amount of hands on, mess and magic for my creative self! I love the unexpected that comes with clay, how easy it is to shape it into something new and the anticipation of how it will look after coming out of the kiln. Each ceramic piece is its own work of art and no two pieces are ever then same! I practice both wheel throwing and hand building and I can’t decide which one I love more. For this project I used kiln fired clay but I have also taught this with paper clay,, DIY clay and air dry clay. Use whatever you have!
This is a wonderful project for any beginning artist or a reminder for those who want to brush up on their basic ceramics skills!
You ready to get creative? Go get your materials and Let’s jump in!
STEPS
Step 1:
For my project I created 4 creative creatures so I needed enough clay for the heads, the bodies and the tails/ears/noses. Open up your clay bag and roll out 4 body balls and 4 head balls; you will want the body balls to be slightly bigger then the head balls. NOTE: the clay balls should fit in the palm of your hand and be as big as a bouncy ball. (See photo 1)
*I am using an old piece of canvas to work on to minimize mess, you could also use a placemat or a piece of cardboard
Step 2:
I was inspired by the wooden peg animals and people I see all over Pinterest so I shaped my clay bodies to be longer then wider and to be smaller towards the top. Gently roll out your clay bodies and head shapes until you love the look of them. You don’t want to press too hard when rolling, I like to leave my palm open and my fingertips slightly up as I roll as to not put too much pressure (otherwise you will get a coil=snake shape). (See Photo 2)
Step 3:
Once you have your body shape and head shape you want to get a nice flat surface to work with as we attach our head to our body. Go ahead and gently tap the top part of your body shape and the bottom part of your head shape, this will make it super easy when we connect the two to really stick together! You can also tap the bottom of your body to get a flat surface so your clay figure can stand up on their own! (See photo 3)
Step 4:
Here comes a fun part! You will want to grab a pencil or a scoring needle (A ceramic tool if you ordered a clay tool set) A pencil works just as great as a scoring needle thou so don’t worry if you don’t have one. In order for our clay creatures head and body to attach we need to help it out! We want to make a criss cross grid on the top of our body shape and the bottom of our head shape (the two parts that will connect). A fun rule of thumb I teach my kiddos when attaching clay pieces is ‘whatever you do to one side you do to the other’. The criss cross doesn’t have to be perfect, it can be any number of lines, you just want to create some nice lines that the water/slip can get into to get a nice stick. (See photo 4)
Step 5:
When all of your 4 bodies and 4 heads have criss cross lines on them, go ahead and dip your finger into some water and gently pat the criss cross sections (See Photo 5). The trick is you want enough water that it will create a sticky goop but not enough that it makes your pieces soggy, start with just a little water on your fingertip and go from there.
Next up, you want to start attaching your heads to the bodies, you know you made a good sticky connection when a little bit of the clay goop seeps out the sides when you connect the head to the body (you can wipe off any excess)
Step 6:
It’s time to make all the fun features of our clay creatures! Grab some extra clay and start playing with making ears, noses, tails and more. I like to roll each of my clay shapes into balls to start and then start shaping. I am making a bunny, a bird, a unicorn and a bear, I line my shapes up next to each creature so I know I made the right size and shape for each one. (See Photo 6)
Step 7:
Using the same techniques for attaching as we did in Step 4 & 5, go ahead and attach your noses/ears/tails. Remember ‘whatever you do to one side you do to the other’ and don’t forget your criss cross lines and water to make it stick!
Once you have all your noses/ears/tails on take a moment and smooth out your creature, you can use a brush dipped in water or your fingers. I like my ceramic pieces to be a little imperfect, to show it was made by hand so don’t worry if you can’t get it super smooth! Sometimes the wobbly shapes or uneven texture makes it that much more special, it’s one of a kind!!! (See photo 7)
Let your pieces air dry or oven bake them per the instructions on your box or our clay sheet. I ended up using kiln fire clay (That is just what I had) so I went ahead and fired mine in a low fired kiln!!
Step 8:
Once your pieces are air dried or baked (or fired in my case). Use any art paint you have on hand (Acrylic, gouache, tempura…watercolor (?????….It may look really neat!) to paint your creatures. I like to build up layers and get more detail with each layer, take your time and have fun here! Does your creature have fur? What does fur look like? Do they have long billowy rainbow feathers? How creative can you make your creative creature!!??!!! (See Photo 8)
Allow your clay pieces to dry completely before playing with them and remember they are ceramic so they are way more fragile then plastic toys…if they break don’t worry you could always make a whole new creature….now you know how!!!
Until next time, stay creative!!
xx Mrs. K!
