Friday, May 16, 2014

4th grade Clay Suns

These clay suns were inspired by the art of Mexico. Students made the  sun by following a few simple steps - I gave them a large sphere of clay and they pressed it into a slab about 1/2" thick. They drew a simple sun on a piece of paper and cut it out (the paper had a pre-drawn circle so all the kids had to do was pick a simple style for the sunrays and sketch them around the perimeter of that circle). Then they laid their tracer on the clay and used it to cut out the sun. On day two, I demonstrated a few techniques on how to create the face, keeping in mind that the sun could be showing any emotion, but made the rule that the eyes and nose had to be built. The mouth could be cut out, built or a combination of both. Facial features were formed by rolling and pinching small pieces of clay and attaching to the sun with clay processing techniques (score & slip). On the final day, students added up to five colors of glaze.
**I made sure to poke a hole near the top (with a straw) so that the suns could be hung at home**





2 comments:

  1. Did you use glazes or underglazes? These looking really terrific.

    Kim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kim,
      We used Mayco Stroke & Coat Glazes. Thanks for your compliment!

      Delete

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