Our Ceramic Pieces are DONE!

When you teach 585+ students every four days, you find strategies to do things quick & easy, yet keeping the creative integrity. When I teach ceramics, I usually finish the clay with acrylic paint.  Glaze would be nice, but it is expensive and a lot more work for me.  So... about 15 years ago, I started dipping my clay pieces in a mixture of white semi-gloss latex paint, (yes... wall paint) and water.  About a 50/50 mix.  This mixture does two things... brightens the clay to a bright white and primes the clay with a base coat making the clay very easy to paint for k-5th graders.  Young kids have a hard time covering clay with paint when it is not dipped, the clay absorbs the moisture so fast, they have a hard time moving the paint around.  Then you are left with unpainted spots and a very unfinished/low quality finished product.  Not if you dip and prime it first! The paint flows like the kids expect it to.  Results???? Beautiful!!! This is what my process looks like....

I cover the table with a canvas painter's cloth, mix my first batch in a gallon bucket, put on the big green rubber gloves and start dipping! I try to dip everything the day or morning before it is going to be painted.  It is nice to give it time to dry. Once I dip a class, I start lifting them off the canvas, making sure they are not sticking. If you do it once, they release fairly easily. If you forget, you are pulling them off a bit harder, but everything does release. Then, I re-stack them back in the boxes once dry.  Now they are ready for paint!

For painting clay, I use semi-gloss latex in colors.  I get a pint mixed every couple years, it is very affordable! I add water and mix until it is smooth, not sticky.  I use my oldest brushes, NEVER my good tempera brushes.  Also... I do check to see if any students have latex allergies. I keep non-latex gloves for them.  In 15 years, only 2 students and no issues. When students are finished, they wash their hands with the green scrubby pads for pots and pans.  They take off all the acrylic!

I cover the cups with plexiglass and often throw a towel over the top too.  

Here is how it looked this year...

Kindergarten Ornaments

First Grade Owls

Second Grade Luminaries

Third Grade Drape Bowls with Texture

Fourth Grade Slump Plates with Cookie Cutter Decorations

Fifth Grade Slump Soap Dishes with Stamp and Texture Patterns

I did glaze these this year.  Some special kidos in this grade level, I wanted to do something special for them!  

Clay Week 2015!!!

Fifth Grade Slump Bowls

Every year, right before the holiday break, I have a week of clay making for my students.  We discuss functional art and how ceramics has a HUGE impact on our lives.  I tell them, "we all come into contact with ceramics every single day... we all take a seat on a ceramic throne... the toilet!" It always gets them giggling. In fact, several parents have shared with me that their child could not wait to tell them that toilets were ceramic works of art! 

Here are some pictures of my very busy week.  Tomorrow is the last day.  Then a few days of firing and then the finishing of pieces.  I will post more on how I finish the pieces in a couple weeks.

Fifth Grade Made Long Plate/Bowls. The clay is slumped in styrofoam trays I bought online. $35.00 for 500 of these babies! They are for packaging lemons!  They are the perfect size!  We rolled the clay and used a bunch of clay stamps I made years ago for texturing. Some students used rubber stamps too. This is what it looked like...

Fourth Grade made Decorative Plates. These can be made as holiday plates, winter plates or all year round plates.  It was up to the individual! I have lots of cookie cutters, big and small.  Winter is a favorite theme...

Third Grade made Drape Textured Bowls.  We use the rubber texture mats and rubber stamps.  These are a favorite!  They love making something so functional! We slump them over the short plastic cocktail cups you get at the grocery store.  I cover them with paper towel so the clay does not stick.  Works just great!

Second Grade makes Luminaries!  We roll out clay, cut out some stars and roll the slab onto a pop can.  Then the stars we cut get glued on!  Super simple!

First Grade made Clay Owls...a simple one I have seen online, but have been making for over 20 years.  I have an old ceramics book from the 1960's that has this project in it.  An oldie but goodie!

After firing all 500+ clay projects, on to finishing! Stay tuned... :)