Layered Clay Projects

I had never done this before, but I will definitely try it out with my students now. The layers are made from adding one rolled out 'slice' of white clay and one of terracotta clay together. You then cut the clay through the middle and add the two halves together (you can repeat this process a few more times until you are happy with the amount of layers it has). Then leave your clay to dry for a little while (we left ours for around half an hour or so).

You then use a craft knife to slice thin layers of your clay.

These layers can be added to a huge range of different projects. They can be laid over a separate piece of clay and then be pressed into it using a rolling pin.

These are just a few ideas that we came up with...

Note: We used the same method for creating and drying our bowls as in the previous workshop and I have posted the photos for this process under the post titled "Clay Bowls'

This was my favourite! We rolled out clay - added long strips of layered clay over the top and then rolled them together with the rolling pin. This was then cut into a rectangle, wrapped around a cardboard tube and joined together (also a circular based was added to the bottom). The layered clay created a tree bark effect, so I added a face and ended up with my new tree-man pencil holder!

 Note: cover cardboard tube with newspaper and don't let it dry for too long or it will be difficult to remove the tube without damaging the clay.

This was a handy way of suspending a curved piece of clay that could then be made into a sushi plate.

and.....a great way to use up any leftover layered clay!

Pinch Pot Bottles and Dragons

Today I got to go to my second Clay Day run by the fabulous Ann Murray. It's so amazing to actually get time to learn and practice new things with other art teachers!

This was our first project, made by joining two simple pinch pots together. We made two of these and turned one into a bottle and the other into a dragon. Here are the pics....

 These bottles with their little clay stoppers could be fired and then glazed or left as bisque pieces and used for essential oils (love this idea!)

Here are some of the pieces made by the teachers attending the workshop.

 Next we made the dragons....definitely something for a very capable or older class (I found it a bit tricky to get all the shapes working right).