Since I had so many students from my first session of summer school sign up for my second 2 week session (yay!!) I decided to keep the same format, but change up the projects. So again our first project was a pinch pot. This time we created monsters. I first saw (and was inspired!) by the ceramic monsters on Patty's website Deep Space Sparkle. Here's the link to her post; http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2012/06/28/pinch-pot-monsters/
Sorry for the picture quality!!! I took these with my cell phone in a hurry before the kids came to pick up their projects!!
This was a quick and fun 1 day project. All the monsters were vastly different, which to me shows that this was a successful project. Each student was able to work individually and creatively!
Love this one! His eyes are on his tongue.
For this project students had a lot of freedom in the finishes they choose for their monster. They could underglaze, overglaze, do both, or simply paint with acrylics. For the underglazes we used Amaco's Velvet underglazes- which were a little pricy, but totally worth the cost! I am very, very impressed with this product.
My favorite thing about them is that you can underglaze the green ware and then bisque fire with the underglaze on (projects can TOUCH in the bisque- this product does not melt!) It was a fast way to add color to our monsters.
These projects show the underglazes nicely...
A lot of my students chose to take their piece one step further by adding glaze, many simply dipped their monsters in clear glaze- which really brought out the colors of the underglaze creating rich, vibrant pieces.
Others added new colors of glaze which created cool, fun finishes.
Favorite monster- hands down! This little guy has a blue underglaze and then used a green speckled overglaze creating that awesome, rich skin color. (He reminds me of the character in Little Big Planet- the video game- what do you think?)
Here's my monster!! I had so much fun making one right along with the kids!!
These are great! I like to use underglaze on greenware and bisque fire as well...but what typeof glaze did you dip into? Did you have to fire again or was it another type of glaze?
ReplyDeleteThanks Patty! We dipped them into Amaco's clear transparent glaze and then did a fast glaze firing. I love the deep, shiny-ness of them!
DeleteLove the glaze tips. 'I had no idea pieces with underglaze don't stick together if fired. I wonder if my Duncan underglaze would do that. I have never used dipping glaze. Do you have to wipe the pot bottoms after dipping? Do you dip multiple times?
ReplyDeleteHi Rina! I didn't know that either until I tried it! Such a time saver (and space saver in the kiln!) now that I know! We poured the glaze into a 1 gallon ice cream bucket and I did the dipping for the kids. I dipped the pieces upside down so that the bottoms did not go into the glaze. I wiped any drips with a sponge. Just one dip did the job! :) I know some underglazes that have a shiny finish do flux in the kiln so I would keep that in mind. I'm not sure if your Duncan glazes are matte or shiny finish. Mine were matte.
ReplyDeleteThose are so stinkin' adorable!
ReplyDeleteI am loving your blog and am happy to be your newest follower. I would love for you to hop over and visit me when you get the chance. =)
Heather
Heather's Heart
These are great. What age were the kids?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Drena
Thanks Drena! The kids were 2nd grade thru 5th grade. My summer school ceramics class had a big age range- but it worked great!
ReplyDelete