Ceramic Wall Pocket Craft For Kids
My 12 year old son and I are getting in some very precious "mommy and me" time by spending an evening once a week at a local ceramics studio, and i have lots of fun things to share! Not to mention a big realization that my little stint with ceramics about four years ago that wasn't all that satisfying, wasn't because ceramics really isn't for me as I had concluded, but because the clay that we were given to work with wasn't for me! At this studio the clay fires white and I can therefore use clear bright colors, or black and white, and I'm loving it! (Plus maybe because I'm doing this really to spend time with my son, the pressure is off to make something fantastic, and so now I've made some stuff that i just love. And so it goes.)
Enough about me, isn't this ceramic wall pocket just the cutest? It all started with my suggestion that my son take a piece of rolled out clay and fold it like origami somehow. Truthfully I really didn't know what I was talking about exactly, but this is the result, and it is just as cute as can be, and most importantly he is planning on proudly hanging it in his room!
You'll Need:
- clay, air drying or clay that needs to be fired in a kiln
- paint if using air drying clay, glaze if using kiln fired clay
- a variety of cookie cutters and stencils
- mounting hooks and heavy duty glue
How To:
- Roll out slab of clay so that it is roughly 1/4" thick.
- Cut a square or rectangle that is the desired width.
- Apply patterns to the top with stencils, and maybe give the top some shape by cutting off some of the clay as my son did to highlight the mushroom shape.
- Fold the two bottom corners up to the middle so that their sides make a seam in the center. Work with the clay to hide this seam (with kiln fired clay we first score and then paint with slip any areas that are to be joined) and then stick bunched up newspaper into the pocket to help hold the shape while it dries.
- Make clay shapes to adhere to front of pocket, in this case a leaf, a mushroom and a bird, and adhere as necessary depending on type of clay used.
- Set aside to dry (have it fired, in our case) and then paint with fun colors.
- Glue hooks on the back with gorilla glue or something like E6000, and hang.
Really so much fun, and I just realized one could make something very similar with leather as well, now that would be fabulous too! Stay tuned for more fun projects from the ceramic studio, just need the time to photograph them!
