Clay Facades

It's my favorite 4th grade project.  I think I anticipate it more than the kids- the houses.  I categorize this as a "Momma project"- those projects that Momma's going to keep, and 15 years later, when you come home with your wife/husband/kids, it'll still be on the mantle to greet you. They are "Facades"- front only, flat, and adorable as a wall hanging.  Some, no matter what, will always be so-so, but I get a lot of good results.  It is one of the few projects that I break out the glaze for.  I use "Mayco Stroke N Coats", which are similar if not the same to the ones used in the "paint your own pottery" places.  The colors are great, they are similar enough before firing to after firing that the kids can tell what they are using, and the clear coat is in the color mix already.  As long as the kids use 2-3 coats,  we get great results.  I have a small kiln, but if I am good about controlling the size, I can get a class of 20-25 in one glaze firing. I give each student a piece of paper about the size I want their houses to be, and they use a day to draw their house.  I have all sorts of reference pictures.  I run them through the copy machine before the next art day, and the kids cut them, and use them as stencils.  This cuts down on the square house/triangle roof/tilty chimney/combo that we see too often in the art room. So, with all that said, here are some of the many cool clay houses to come! 

Sometimes, you just are going to get an average result, no matter how you try to help.

Nice combo of textures and attached pieces- nice glaze too.

Recycling

Don't know why it took me until this year to come to this idea, but here it is.  I just completed 3 different printmaking projects, 2 of which were incised (drawn into Styrofoam trays).  So, once the kiddos ink away, I'm left with 120 or so styrofoam trays which can either be sent home (why?) or tossed (sad).  So, I kept em.  I knew that I had some glazing and painting coming up, and thought I could just used the trays one more time before they meet the trash can.  It works well, but the advice I'll give is that you may want to tell the kids not to scrape their paintbrush around on the tray (picking up residue from the ink).

I use Mayco Wonderglazes-they have the clear coat in them, and the colors really turn out well.

So curious

Bless this 4th grader's heart.  He is so meticulous, and while that is a good thing, on a clay day,  our projects tend to be one day doozies, that have to be done, since I may not see the student again for days.  But, this one was willing to risk it drying out, if I put it in a bag, and tried to remember to spray it- and, for the most part it worked out.  We lost a couple of the turrets. but most of it made it- he's been glazing for 2 days (2 hour long art session) and I am so curious to see how these bricks glaze.  Usually, my kiddos slap a coat of glaze on, and we call it good- but with the Mayco Stroke N Coat glazes, there is such a variety of color, that students like this have a great time with the paint job.  This year is the first year that any of the kids caught on that if they left the mortar unglazed, it would have a very realistic effect.  I loaded this up tonight, and will be so excited to see it tomorrow.