Saturday, November 3, 2007

March of the Penguins: Ceramic Lesson


Forty little penguins, in various shades of black, yellow and sometimes, blue, marched across the art studio this past month, completing Mr. Fenelon's and Mrs. Mancuso's art rotation for this school year.
With a wad of clay in their hands, each student received a paper printed with various sized circles indicating the size in which to roll out small balls. The feet, wings and head were approximately the same size, with the body taking up most of the clay. The kids used the pinch pot method of creating a hollow form to make the body and then attached the head. They used tools to scrape and shape a tiny beak. Some kids said the heck with that and just painted one on later. Wings were created by flattening one of the clay balls and cutting it in half. Some kids shaped their wings while others just pressed it on as is.
After the penguin was dried an fired, the kids painted their penguins using a reduced color palette of black, grey, blue, yellow and orange.
We used a dipping glaze for the final step.
How cute are theses?

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