7th Grade Ceramic MUGS!!

It is in the Seventh Grade year at Patapsco that students really work with ceramics. I tried something different this semester. I started all of the art students in second quarter off with the assignment to make a hand built, slab constructed mug. Whenever I teach clay, most people seem to be really interested in making something functional. A mug is the perfect starter challenge for understanding how to make a vertical, hollow form.

I feel like we are really lucky because this year, my art supervisors worked out a relationship with Baltimore Clayworks. That means that I was able to purchase AMAZING clay directly from a local source for the students to use. After talking with the folks at clayworks, I decided on a stoneware (gray body, fires to almost white) with a little bit of very fine grog in it. Grog is a silt that can be very fine or coarse, almost like little pebbles. It adds some strength to the clay so that getting it vertical is a little easier! I also love that we are supporting a local art source!

As promised, the clay was like butter! It just makes SUCH a difference to work with quality materials! (I was so excited!!) Students learned to roll slabs of even thickness using rolling pins and wood slats. I provided a paper template of a circle and rectangle to get them started with proportion. Students cut out the templates, placed them on top of the slabs and cut the clay shapes out. Even though everyone started with the same templates you can see how individualized each mug became once the students really started to work with the clay.

We learned to score (scratch) the clay and blend it properly so that joined pieces would not separate when they air dried. You have to remember that as water evaporates from clay, it shrinks (think of a dry, cracked river bed!) If the clay isn’t joined together really well, the pieces will pop apart. I asked the students to think of a zipper on a sweatshirt. The little metal teeth on each side hook into each other and cannot be pulled apart. This is basically what happens when you score two pieces of clay and join them together! Students also learned a variety of techniques for making handles. We let our mugs air dry upside down. If we had let them dry right side up, gravity might have caused the handles to sag.

There are so many terms for the various consistencies that clay can be. Very wet clay is called fat. Half-dry clay is called leather hard (this is an excellent stage for carving designs into the clay with metal tools.) Totally air-dried clay is called green ware. Fired, unglazed clay is called bisque ware and glazed and fired clay is sometimes called glaze ware.

I teach the students about the kiln (the oven where the clay is fired), how it functions and what is really happening when the clay is being “baked” or fired. Different clay bodies fire at different temperatures. Greenware clay goes through an initial firing called a “bisque fire“. This takes absolutely all of the moisture out of the clay and cures it. Even if you have a piece of completely air dry clay, you can soak it in water and “re-claim” it, that is, turn it back into fat, workable clay!! Once clay is bisque fired however, this is no longer an option.

After clay has been fired once, it is ready to be glazed. I offer the students the option of using gloss glazes or underglazes. Gloss glazes already have the glossy “stuff” in them, as the name suggests. Underglazes require a clear transparent glass coat on top of them. Of course, all of our glazes are lead free and food-safe!   One of the first things students realize with glazes is that in the jars, they look NOTHING like they are going to look after they are fired.  For example, a lovely, dark glossy blue will look like a pale, chalky lavender color in the jar.  Students must apply 3 coats of glaze with a brush if they expect to get an opaque glossy finish.

Firing clay is like magic.  You never quite know how your glazes will really turn out.  Everyone gets quite excited the day the glaze ware comes out of the kiln.  I was so proud of the students’ first attempts.  Many of them tested out their new creations at the water fountain!  It can make one feel really proud just to make an original, functional ceramic piece.  I believe there is great value in the experience of creating a one of a kind functional AND beautiful hand-made object in today’s dollar-store world.

I hope you enjoy the slide show of the 7th grade work