Saturday, April 13, 2013

Coil Pots...2nd Grade

This is the big clay project for 2nd grade this year...as stated in the MNPS Visual Arts Curriculum...ooh la la.

Anyway, I tried teaching this with two different approaches. With my pilot class, I tried getting them to make the whole thing in one class period...after set-up, demos, problem-solving...demos again...we really ran out of time. Some kids got it and theirs look great...but I wanted more success as a whole. So, I tried teaching them this in chunks. Day One we made coils, created the spiral base and that's it...and it took an hour!

So, I put their 'bases' in a ziploc bag and we'll build the coil walls next class.

Below is the pilot classes coil pots from one class period. We have a good variety of sizes...and we went ahead and glazed them while they were greenware.




I did find that rolling the clay into a "carrot" shape between your hands first starts a great coil. Before, I had them roll the clay into a ball, then roll into a coil and that just didn't make sense after a few tries. 







Dipping in Crystal Clear Glaze: 

So, I pulled this huge bucket out today of crystal clear glaze....I usually dip the clay for the kids, but they were curious about it so I just let them get in there and dip their own! Great idea for me, cause it saves me a lot of time...and it's fun for them. Win-win. 








Here's some coil pots from the last class I taught this project to. Of course, they got the best lesson since I had 'mastered' it by then. 



Glazed Pots!











2 comments:

  1. it can be pretty stressful trying to teach clay projects. can you share any tips about glazing in general, and also glazing right on the greenware? i notice you have some small paint palettes in the picture. are you watering down the glazes and pouring them into the palettes before class?

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  2. I haven't watered down the glazes..but that's an interesting idea. I just squeezed the glaze directly into those palettes and let the kids brush them on their greenware pots. I have tried it in the past on bisque fired pots and it seems to work the same, so I save the time and energy by glazing right on greenware. We write about glaze in our "Idea Books" before starting the process and I do a demo to show them how to glaze...I also get them to add two or three coats of glaze. I also tell them not to glaze the bottom, but I usually dip them in a crystal clear glaze anyways and fire them on little stilts so there isn't any fusing to the kiln shelves. I typically wipe the bottom with a damp sponge just in case before I fire them.

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