Simple Clay Rose Hearts

So, if you read my blog, it is no surprise that I am going to do a project with hearts for Valentine's Day. If you look on the labels on the right side of my blog you can find other "hearts
 blog posts! We also did a clay rose project for Mother's Day last year you check out under "roses" on the label bar to your right! It is definitely my favorite shape! I have been playing around with some ideas and today I figured out a very easy way to make a rose to adorn a heart shaped slab. I have posted clay roses before but this technique is much EASIER for making tiny roses. My daughter who just turned 4 made this today! 

Begin with a coil and pinch the top of the coil from one end to the next. When you pinch the top of the coil, let the clay squeeze out and form a little ripple at the top. 

Slip, score, and use a little extra slip to attach the rose since you cannot press the top or you'll squish it! We used a paintbrush to apply the slip

 You can use a letter stamp to write a sweet note in the middle or personalize it

My daughter was addicted to making roses, and ended up spending 2 1/2 hours making roses and clay hearts!

 She used some old jewelry to stamp the wings, and some stamps for texture in the middle. I added holes at the top for ribbon.
I can't wait to get out all my red and pink and white glazes for these!!

Happy Memorial Day! and Summer Shades Last week of School Project (updated)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  It was a bit windy here, but we were blown away at how much fun we had on the beach!  I love three day weekends because then you get to have a four day week!! It's like the gift that keeps on giving! 

Today we are making Summer Shades with a picture in the lens that tells a story about what we will be doing over summer break! The kids have been very creative with this today and I love being able to wear my example when the kids enter the room! 

Friday we began painting our rose sculptures. We had to paint with acrylic since there is not enough time left for glaze. I was very pleased with how the Sargent Art acrylic Glitter Glaze looks on the roses! We also put Mod Podge on them to make them extra shiny! 

A student made this for me today! It totally made me cry. So simple, so beautiful.  It is going in a frame in my house. It makes this all worth it to know that I have inspired someone. Thank you, Emmy!

My kids made peacocks this weekend with all their cousins! There is nothing more fun than shaving cream play in the summer time!

If you have not done this before, go to the store and get some food coloring or liquid watercolors and try it. The way the paint looks on the shaving cream is SO COOL!!!

Clay Roses for Mother's Day

We made these roses with clay, but it could be done with Fimo or Sculpey, or any other kind of air dry clay in time for Mother's Day if you don't have a kiln! The kids LOVED this lesson and they turned out beautiful! I am going to draw out the steps for the bull dog draw along in my next post, thank you for your comments!

roll

                                                                             Squish

                                          make a caterpillar looking line descending from large to small circles

                                           start your roll with the smallest circle first

                                        keep the top very loose and pinch the bottom as you roll

                                                                            Add leaves

                                 many of my students made two in our 55 minute class period

                                              this student made a quincienera

                                   some kids didn't want to do Mother's Day sculptures, so they made creatures!

                                And this is my artist friend, Dali!! The student who made him is letting me keep it!