In the Art Room: First Grade Fish UPDATE!

First grade just finished up their clay fish sculptures and before they get placed in our art show display, I thought I'd share them with you. This was a fun project where we used speckled glaze (Jungle Gems by Mayco) and a metallic watercolor. Here's how these cuties were created:

I see my firsties for 30 minutes twice a week. On the first day, we created the base, complete with a starfish (Patrick!) and seaweed. After the kids left, I added a hole in the base and their names to the bottom. On the second day, we created our fish. I did the same thing to the fish...it was tricky writing their names on such a small surface, but I managed to get it done. 

 After the pieces dried for two weeks, I fired them in the kiln. I then dipped the bases in a gold watercolor to completely cover them. From there, the kids used metallic watercolor paints for the seaweed and starfish. Glaze was used on the fish. I encouraged the kids to use at least three coats of glaze for complete coverage. 

The speckled glaze really is the coolest. And the kids love the surprising change they see once their creations have come out of the kiln. 

After all of that fun was done, I had the pleasure of gluing the pieces together. I used chopsticks (I had a donation given to me) that I broke down to a smaller size. After gluing a couple of tall fish, I realized that they might be more inclined to tip over and break than the shorter ones. 

They are much more stable with the smaller sticks. And super cute, I might add. I want one for my home!

The kids had a lot of fun adding texture to their fish which really turned out beautifully with the glaze. 

By the way, when first adding the holes to the bottom of the fish and the base, make sure you wiggle the stick back and forth a bit. Clay shrinks as it's drying and the wiggle will keep the clay opening the right size for the stick. 

Our Pet Shop themed art show is next Tuesday night...I'm slowly getting the art room ready for the transformation. I can't wait to see these fun fish on display. I'll be sure to share!

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In the Art Room: First Grade Slab Fish and Under the Sea Sculptures

If you've been a-thinkin' that there's something fishy about this here blog post, you are correct, friend! My first grade friends just finished off these hilariously expressive fish and I just can't stop lookin' -n- laughin' at 'em. They have just as much silliness as the wee artists that created them. This was a fun 30 minute art class project that I know your kids would love to do so I just had to share it with y'all!

To start, every kid was given a grapefruit-ish sized piece of clay. I use cone 06 clay and I love it. I had a little selection of doilies, burlap an textured fabrics on each table for the kids to use as the "scales" of their fishy friend. 

The clay was then annihilated by the pounding fists of the first grade set. Our rule is pound it as flat as a cookie but no more. I also chat with them about how the clay should be level like a plain. There should be no peaks or valleys. Once it's smooth-ish, they peal it away from the fabric to reveal the texture underneath...

 Which always gets a multitude of Oooooh's and AAAAaaaah's. 

Once the fabric is pealed away, the clay is then cut into a circle shape. I had coffee lids for the kids to trace.

The excess clay trimmed off was then used for the whites of the fishes eyes. Two spheres were rolled and then flattened for this part. 

 In my art room, we use the terms "slip and score" but an old ratty toothbrush is used for the job of scoring. 

 Boom, two eyes. 

Smaller spheres for the pupils. AND just in case any of the clay is too thick, we used the back of our skewer stick to poke two pupils in the iris. 

 For the mouth, we rolled a coil.

 With both the eyes and mouth, we talked about expression. So, your fish could be surprised...

 Or fishy-mouthed...

 Or happy with a touch of possible constipation. It's up to you!

Next up, we pounded another piece of clay flat onto a texture. I love how this photo looks like my fish is eyeballing the clay as if it were a cookie. 

 Cut in half...

Now use one piece as the tail and the other as the fin!

Cut out a section for the top fin and, viola! Fishy is finished!

Once out of the kiln, these lil guys were given color with bright oil pastels. Then they were dipped into a bath of watery ink (although watery tempera would work as well)...

 And, ta-da! Seriously, aren't these little guys a total crack up?!

Since the kids didn't exactly experience sculpting with this slab clay project, I thought I'd introduce them to this art form another way. I picked up some pink insulation foam from the local hardware store that I scored and broke into pieces. 

This project was a great review of abstract, line names and sculpture. Each child had so much fun with their creation and I loved how fun and funky each turned out.

Each compliments it's fish so nicely. This is definitely a project I'll be doing again. Hope you will give it a go as well. Smell y'all later! 

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