My Token of Love by Mary Erickson Ph.D. and Arizona art teacher, Allison Lee

Before you make your token of love, care and respect, choose one of these forms: a cylindrical container, a box or picture frame. Think about the person you are making the gift for and what she or he would prefer.

You will be constructing your gift from clay slabs. Begin by rolling clay into even, quarter-inch thick slabs. Sketch your gift so you can plan how many slabs of the size and shape you will need.

This student used her plans to guide her in creating her slabs. Now she is adding texture with a pin-tool.

To keep clay “plastic” (soft) between classes, moisten it by adding water with a spray bottle or wet sponge. Placing your work on a piece of cloth and storing it in a tightly closed plastic bag, helps keeps it damp.

This student is adding texture to the surfaces of her box before she assembles the slabs.

Clay should be “leather hard” (stiff and dry) before you assemble the pieces. The seams might come apart when the clay dries, if they are not carefully attached.

“Score” (cut lines in the surface) where slabs will be attached so they do not come apart when the piece is “bone dry” (completely dried). Add “slip” (watered down clay) to the seams before pressing them gently together.

This student is using a variety of clay tools to refine the form of her container before adding texture.

This student is scoring the edge of a piece of clay with a pin tool. He will also score the spot where he intends to attach the piece. His slip is ready so he can apply it to where the pieces attach.

Would you like to make a lid for your container?

Set your gift out in the air to dry. Your teacher will fire it in the kiln. After the first firing, you will apply the glaze. When your teacher fires it again the glaze is transformed and your gift is complete.

Students made these frames for their mothers. The frame on the left shows some things the student’s mother enjoys like bacon, flowers and hot air balloons. The student that created the frame on the right says her mother “loves neat designs and intricate textures, so the birds are perfect.”

Another student wrote: “I made this frame for my brother because when we fight or have a disagreement, we forget how much we really care for each other..... I used the textures of car wheels and road markings to make it more decorative and to tie in the theme (road trip).”

The texture of the gift on the left includes both marks pressed into the clay and attached clay pieces. The center gift is flared at the top and has a lip. The gift on the right has a lid.

This student used the shapes of a motor to texture his gift for his father.

Students made a rich variety of attached and impressed textures on the surfaces of these boxes.

This student says “My Tokens of Love project is constructed for my horsemanship teacher. I really appreciate her for allowing me to ride and show her horses.”

For whom would you like to make a token of love, care and respect? How can you use texture to enrich the surface of your gift to better express how you feel? Special thanks to the 7 th and 8 th grade students at Chandler Arizona Prep in Oakland, OR.