Easy_Clay_Projects

Kinder through Sixth Grade
Pinch Pots ~ Coasters ~ Pumpkins ~ Leaf Bowls

Guppies ~ Frogs ~ Dinosaurs ~ Plaques
Vol 18
Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 1

©DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2011
Ceramic Projects: The Basics
Building things with clay is one of the Supplies
most rewarding creative experiences for
children and adults alike. It was only six • White Art Clay (low or mid-range clay
years ago that I was introduced to this body. This is what it says in the description
part in the catalog. Basically, it’s the gray
medium. I loved it immediately, and so stuff.) I use Laguna Clay (link below).
did my students. But ceramics has a bad Here’s another good source for clay:
rap: messy, expensive, temperamental, http://www.dickblick.com/products/a
not to mention that kiln! maco-no-25-white-art-clay/
Hopefully, I can alleviate your fears and • Under-glaze I have
get you and your students creating clay always used Laguna
projects. Believe me, if I can make Low-Fire, Lead-Free
ceramics work in the classroom, you can glaze. You can paint
directly onto wet clay
too! or after the 1st firing.
http://www.lagunaclay.com/classroom/gui
de.php
The colors are rich and vibrant. You still
need to use a glaze on top of this color to
make the piece shiny, but more on that
later. You might already have low-fire
under-glaze in your art room, if so, use it.
Any brand should be fine, but if you are
unsure, do a test on the actual clay that you
will be working with.
• Glaze This is the shiny stuff that goes on
top of the under-glaze. It is applied bisque
or after the first firing. Glaze is really
glass.
• Clay tools Nothing fancy here; old credit
Set-up for classroom (above) Tools (below) cards or plastic knives, old markers for
rolling, popsicle sticks, etc.
• You’ll need to buy wire cutters, tile
cutters, needle tools.
• Set-Up Clay doesn’t stick to fabric as
easily as paper and the water is better
absorbed. If you don’t have any fabric, use
paper. No big deal. Canvas is the best
option.

Clay
Working with the clay is a tactile experience.
Depending on your project, kids can squeeze
and manipulate the clay a little or a lot. For
the younger artists, my advice is to choose
projects that have a high forgiveness rate. By
that I mean the kids can do no wrong. Pinch
Pots, Brain Bowls and Guppies are perfect
projects.
Rules:
• Any part of clay project bigger than
two thumbs wide, needs to have an
air hole. Use a pencil to poke
through the bottom of a dinosaur or
snowman or frog. Poke a pencil through the bottom of any project
that is more than 2 fingers wide.
• Clay needs to be wedged. What
you ask? Basically, when you
remove the clay from the plastic
wrapping, give it a few pounds on
the floor. This removes air pockets
and mooshes the clay together. Try
to keep the rectangular shape.
Wedging is important and that’s
why cutting off chunks of clay to
make pinch pots or bowls is a great To wedge a flat piece of clay, place between two
project when you don’t have a lot rulers or even pencils and roll out. The rulers
prevent you from rolling too thin. Roll in both
of time. The children basically directions to release all air bubbles.
wedge the clay for you.
• Clay can be kept moist by dipping

your finger into water and
smoothing out any cracked
surfaces. I call the wrinkled clay
elephant skin.

Painting
Underglaze
Under-glaze is clay that has a color tint
added. This is what creates the color on your
clay project. Before I go into all the details
about under-glaze, note that you do not have
to use under-glaze.
If you chose, you can fire the greenware (soft
clay) to a bisque (kiln dried clay) and then
paint with acrylic paints. I don’t think this
looks as cool, but it sure does save a lot of
time.
Back to under-glaze… I pour small quantities of under-glaze into small

When I get my box of under-glaze from my condiment cups (with lids) and place in muffin-style
favorite supplier, the first thing I do is label paint palettes (so they won’t tip over). If by chance,
all the colors onto the lids and make a the under-glaze dries up, just add water to
sample tile. If you’ve worked with under- reconstitute it.
glazes before, you know that the color in the
jar can look different than the fired/glazed
end result. So that’s what I do: make an end
result. Here’s how:
On any piece of clay bisque tile (store bought
or home-made), paint a coat of under-glaze
over the surface. Add a second coat to 1/3 of
the tile and another coat to the last 1/3.
Either cover the whole tile with glaze or half.
You want the children to see what the color
looks with one coat or three and with glaze
and without.
Some under-glaze does not require glaze. This

“Colorbusrt Glaze” is expensive but you just
need one coat and one firing. Love that! There
are probably more of these glazes on the market,
so just read the product information.

Glaze…the “shiny” stuff
Applying the glaze…
I like to use dipping glaze. Duncan has a great

product (this is a good link:
http://www.ceramicsuppliesnow.com/techniq
ue_info.php?technique_id=10&swidth=1920)
Basically, after the project is kiln fired, you can

make the piece shiny by dipping or brushing on
a coat of clear glaze.
Most of my students worry that their project
will be purple but after a quick explanation,
they understand that the color is only
temporary.
The dipping glaze is easy to use. Simply grab

hold of the bottom of the project (in this case, a
pumpkin) and dip into the glaze. Let it drip for
a few moments and don’t double-dip.
The glaze dries fairly quickly (5 -10 minutes).

Then you can put in the kiln for a second firing.
If you don’t have dipping glaze, you can use a
brush-on glaze. Any of Laguna glazes are great.
Brush even strokes and apply just one coat.
Important:
Make sure that NO GLAZE gets on bottom of
the piece. The glaze turns to glass in the kiln so
if the glaze touches the kiln shelf, well, you best
get out your chisel.
If the glaze gets on the bottom (which it will)
wipe it off with a sponge and you’re good to go.

Firing
Kilns are scary.
Too many knobs, strange
descriptions, holes, kiln setters
and settings.
Very scary, indeed.
But it needn’t be.
There are digitally controlled
kilns like this one to the right
and manually controlled ones.
I have a manually controlled
kiln and let me just say, it took
a few tests runs and some
mistakes to get on friendly
terms with this guy.
My advice? Read the manual.
If your kiln is so old that the
manual is long gone, search
the internet. That’s where I
found mine.
Here is the most important
thing you need to know: 05
and 5 are very different. The
scale in which temperatures
are based is explained in your
kiln manual. READ IT. Trust
me. I learned the hard way.
Here are two things that are

really helpful to know:
• You can stack
greenware on top of one
another in the kiln. The
clay doesn’t stick
together so you can pile
in a bigger load. Be
careful though, the
pieces are extremely
fragile at this stage.
• Do not stack or let
glazed pieces touch.
They will stick. During the second firing (glaze)
make sure no two pieces touch one
another.

The Projects!
Pinch Pots…………………………8
Coasters …………………………..9
Ceramic Leaf Bowls……………..10
Ceramic Pumpkins……………….11
Guppies…………………………...13
Frogs……………………………...14
Dinosaurs…………………………16
Extra Clay Projects

(Turtles, Brain Bowls, Birds and Owls) ……....18
Clay turtles bisque fired and painted with acrylic

paint. You can brush on an acrylic glaze if you want
a shiny result.
How to make a Pinch Pot
Decorative Coasters
Leaf Bowls
How to Make a Ceramic Pumpkin
Part I
How to Make a Ceramic Pumpkin
Part II
How to Make Ceramic Guppies
How to Make a Ceramic Frog
Part I
Ceramic Frogs
Part II
How to Make a Clay Dinosaur
Part I
How to Make a Clay Dinosaur
Part II
Extra Clay Projects

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Kinder through Sixth Grade

Pinch Pots ~ Coasters ~ Pumpkins ~ Leaf Bowls

Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 1

Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 2

• Clay can be kept moist by dipping

Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 3

Back to under-glaze… I pour small quantities of under-glaze into small

Some under-glaze does not require glaze. This

Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 4

I like to use dipping glaze. Duncan has a great

Basically, after the project is kiln fired, you can

The dipping glaze is easy to use. Simply grab

The glaze dries fairly quickly (5 -10 minutes).

Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 5

Here are two things that are

Deep Space Sparkle/Easy Ceramic Projects XVIII www.deepspacesparkle.com 6

Ceramic Leaf Bowls……………..10

Extra Clay Projects

Clay turtles bisque fired and painted with acrylic

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