Kiln gods

Potters are supersitious when it comes to firing our kilns.  We create kiln gods to place on top of our kilns while firing to watch over our load and bring us good luck in our firings. My youngest son made the little Yoda-like god on the left many years ago. I love the ears!

Show Preppin'

I've been hard at work prepping for two upcoming shows.




Sgraffito Plates and Platters

Teacher Appreciation Ceramic Project

"Thank you for helping us grow!"

This past year, my youngest child had a great teacher.  It was her first year teaching, which had me feeling a little apprehensive at first.  She was replacing a wonderful teacher who retired unexpectedly, so she had BIG shoes to fill.  Fortunately, for us all, she was wonderful!  I was so impressed with how well she managed teaching a new curriculum and even more so, how she really taught the kids so much beyond the information in their textbooks.  She has great maturity and insight for someone so young and new to teaching.

At the end of the year, I was reminded of this when I compiled a photo book for her and had the kids answer a few questions about their year with her.  Among all the funny, sweet and thoughtful answers, there were a few that really stuck with me. 

When asked "What is the most important thing you learned in Mrs. Lockin’s class?", one child responded, "I learned from her that when you have a problem with someone you should go directly to that person to talk about it, and not talk about it to everyone else first. I learned it’s better if you are nervous to talk to the person to take a friend along with you for support. She taught me it’s better to talk a problem out with someone than to just talk to everyone else and get madder and madder." 

Wow.

As a parent, hearing a child say something like that speaks volumes.  She wasn't the only student saying things like that, either.  These days there is so often an over-emphasis on test scores, common core state standards, etc...  It was just so refreshing to hear what these kids in her class had to say.  They had learned some life lessons - some that people my age haven't even learned yet.  Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of answers like "Multiplying fractions, double digit division, etc..."  Clearly there was a lot of learning going on in her classroom - on all levels. 

So all that being said, I was extra motivated to coordinate something special for this teacher in appreciation for all that she did for our kids this year.  While she was at a year end teacher appreciation lunch, we secretly made leaves for a tree out of clay.  We cut the leaves out with a leaf shaped cookie cutter.  Then the kids carved their names into one leaf and decortated extra leaves with leaf patterns.  The kids used a dull pencil to carve into the clay.

The leaves were cut out of clay using a leaf shaped cookie cutter. 

We bought a "memory box" type of frame at Aaron Brothers and had one of the other mom's in the class paint the tree trunk.   The leaves were attached with E6000 adhesive, along with a "plaque" with the teacher's name, class detail, school and year. 

It was a fun and relatively easy project that the kids enjoyed doing.  I think she was very touched when it was given to her in appreciation for all she did during the school year. 

Mother's Day Gift Pendants - Classroom Project

This week I spent the day with a long time friend, Joanne.  We had a wonderful time enjoying the sunshine and each other's company.  She said she was willing to help me out with anything I had going on with Shoot the Moon, so I took her up on it.  She jumped right in and helped me make up some samples to use for a Mother's Day project for a 4th grade class. 

Porcelain pendanat samples before bisque firing.

 

It was such fun to sit, visit and get creative with our little clay pendants.  We rolled porcelain clay to about 1/2" thickness and the used tools and metal cookie cutters to cut our our shapes.  The textures were created using various materials:  rubber stamps, tools, shells, etc...  I even used the bottom of my daughters Converse shoe to create the basket weave imprint on the flower on the upper left.

I have various hole cutting tools, but I've found straws really work the best for these kinds of projects.  I like them because they always leave the best holes in wet clay - you get a really clean edge on both the front and the back, which I don't always get with a metal tool.  It's particularly important to have a smooth clean edge on the back of these, since they might be laying against skin when they are worn as a pendant.

Completed pendant with black cord and silver bead

Teacher Tip:  Normally, I have kids write their names and the year on the bottoms or backs of pieces for identification and nostalgic purposes.  Usually I have the kids use dull pencil or the wood end of a small paintbrush to "write" their name with in the clay when it's soft.  Since I'm trying to avoid creating a potentially scratchy texture on the back of these pendants, I think we'll be using a Mayco glaze pencil for their names.  The trick will be to keep track of what each child's piece looks like until it's through the bisque firing and they can put their name on it.  I'm planning on putting their name on a small piece of tape and taking a quick photograph to identify each piece. I typically use my phone to capture quick images of things like this. Here is an example of this.

I've made the mistake before of thinking the kids will recognize their pieces a week later.  Sometimes they don't - especially when some of them look similar. 

These will be a gift that will have a "life" - which is one of the things I really love about making clay projects with kids.  Mom's will keep these pendants and hopefully wear them for a long time. 

4th Grade Finished Mother's Day Gifts

 If you read this and try the project out, I'd love to see comments and/or a photo!

Update:  I've heard for many of the mom's that received these pendants and they LOVE them.  It really was a simple project that had great results.