Showing posts with label sculptures or pottery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sculptures or pottery. Show all posts

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Chiva Bus Parade

Chivas come from Columbia, South America.
        These fifth grade students studied the brightly colored buses, Chivas, of Latin America. This transportation is unique to the culture of people who live south of our Mexican boarders. Students shaped clay into basic bus shapes and then attached animals, ladders, and people to the outside of their buses before painting them in bright, bold acrylic paints.

These artisan rustic buses are adapted to rural transport.
Chivas must carry passengers, luggage, and sometimes even domestic animals over mountainous terrain.

These buses are built tough and can plow through
 just about anything, including mud!

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Shape a Draped Ghost for All Hallows Eve!

A draped, pinch-pot ghost.
       This simple clay project is made with four sculpture methods: rolling a slab, pinching a pot, scoring a surface and draping a pot. All four are required methods for primary school sculpture standards. 
       Make sure to leave a large enough opening in the ghost's back for a tiny battery operated light. You would need to make the same project with high-fire clay in order to safely burn a candle in the figure.

 Supply List:
  • newspaper
  • acrylic white paint
  • small soft brush
  • shallow dish of water
  • air dry clay or paper clay
  • acrylic varnish
  • tiny lights or battery operated votive candle
  • flower cookie cutter
  • paper bowl
  • plastic fork for scoring
  • plastic butter knife for cutting into the clay
Step-by-Step Directions:
  1. Shape this Halloween ghost first by rolling a ball between the palms of your hands.
  2. Now insert your thumb and position your five other fingers outside the surface of the ball.
  3. Pinch and turn the ball clockwise. Soon the clay will open up to shape a small pinch pot. Set aside.
  4. Roll out more clay and use a flower shaped cookie cutter to make the base of the ghostly figure. This base should be 1/2 inch thick or more.
  5. Score the bottom of the pinch pot and drizzle a little water in these scores to help them attach to the flower base.
  6. Now position your pinch pot over the flower shaped base. Pinch and pull the ghost's walls to fit the flower cut base. (see below)
  7. Cut a mouth hole and two eye holes into the front of the ghost's head.
  8. Cut a large hole into the backside of the ghost's body so that you may insert twinkle lights or a battery operated votive inside the ghostly figure after it dries.
  9. Smooth the holes of the face and the rippled walls of the ghost's sheet with a bit of water on your finger tips.
  10. Let the ghost dry.
  11. Paint the ghost with white paint.
  12. Varnish the draped ghost figure with clear acrylic.
Use a large flower shaped cookie cutter to press a base shape for your ghost.
Placing the ghost into a paper bowl allows the student to move the project around without damaging it.

Shape a pinch pot acorn

Finished pinch pot acorn made with paper clay.
       Shape a few small acorns for fall this year. Bring in some real examples for your little students to examine before beginning the craft.

Supply List:
  • newspaper
  • acrylic or watercolor paints
  • small soft brush
  • shallow dish of water
  • air dry clay or paper clay
  • scoring tool - plastic fork
  • acrylic varnish
  • nail or screw for making marks into the acorn cap
Step-by-Step Directions:
  1. Shape the nut part of the acorn first by rolling a ball between the palms of your hands.
  2. Now insert your thumb and position your five other fingers outside the surface of the ball.
  3. Pinch and turn the ball clockwise. Soon the clay will open up to shape a small pot.
  4. Pinch the solid, outside end of the pot into a tiny peak.
  5. Next, shape the acorn's cap be the same process. 
  6. Use the nail or screw to press a printed surface into the cap.
  7. Score the outside edges of both the nut and the cap.
  8. Trickle a little water into the score lines.
  9. Press the cap and nut scored edges together gently. 
  10. Students may wish to dip their fingers into water and smooth the surface of their acorns a bit before finishing.
  11. Let the acorn dry completely before applying paint. This will most likely take a day at the very least. 
  12. Choose several browns and greens to alternate in thin washes of color over the surface of your pinch pot acorn.
  13. Varnish and let dry.
Shape the pinch pot into an acorn by adding a pinched end.
Make sure you shape the cap to a smaller size and add a little stem too.
Print the acorns cap with a nail or screw.

Shape a coiled snake to hold your crayons!

Craft a Coil Snake.
       This simple sculpture would be a good "warm up" project prior to crafting a more complicated lesson like a coil pot. 
       Young children can learn how to roll basic coils with the palms of their hands. Give them a mat, newspaper, or an old piece of cardboard to roll out the clay for this cute little assignment. Let them play with the coils for a while and encourage them to repeat the process over and over before finally finishing the snake pencil holder. They may need to wet their hands while working with the clay to prevent their coil from cracking and drying out.
       Their snake coil should be about 3/4 inch thick at it's widest point. Children may also score the surfaces to add texture or print. Make sure that one of the snake's ends is rounded and fat enough for a head and that the other end tapers off gradually. It doesn't really matter where the head or tail ends up in the end. Each one of these little reptiles is adorable when children are allowed to give them unique knots and twists.

Supply List:
  • newspaper
  • acrylic or watercolor paints
  • red embroidery floss
  • white glue
  • air dry clay or paper clay
  • small paint brush
  • acrylic varnish 
  • printing or scoring tools like a plastic fork
  • shallow dish with water
Step-by-Step Directions:
  1. Roll out a very long coil of clay.
  2. Lift and form the coil into a tall container.
  3. Leave enough space between the simple stacked coil for pencils, crayons, markers etc...
  4. Poke a small hole with the tip of a pencil where the mouth of the snake should be.
  5. Let the snake dry overnight or longer.
  6. Paint the snake with a strip, spots, or any other patterns you like.
  7. Glue a long strand of red embroidery floss coming from the snake's mouth, (hole) to mimic it's tongue.
  8. Give your snake eyes with the tip of your paint brush too.
  9. Seal the snake with a thin coat of clear varnish.
The shape of a coil snake pencil holder.
A friendly snake clutches a child's crayons.