1.Modeling clay (half pack per student) 2.Roller (by clay area) 3.Plastic knife (to cut out a shape) 4.Plastic straw (to make a hole) 5.Rubber design presses (in bin) 6.Acrylic paint in small quantities 7.Paint brush 8.Modge Podge (to cover once paint dried – docents don’t need to put out just pull from supply in island) 9.Black plastic hook 10.String Set up & Material List: Art Press Docent Clean up List: Make sure names are on back of modeling clay (use sharpie) Place completed in the blue trays and leave along back of room to dry. Wipe down tables, refill any items and return to bins as you found them – thanks for doing this and leading the lesson!

Lesson 8 – TK Clay Art Press Keychain

Today’s Lesson Today is a ceramic art lesson you are going to create your own art press keychain. Skill Development: An opportunity to use a new material clay, build texture and create a three-dimensional form.

Forming (i.e. shaping) Firing (baking in a kiln) Glazing/decorating (coating the object with a glaze, or applying to it various decorative techniques) Refiring (rebaking) to harden the glaze. What is Ceramic Art? Known as an important art ‘ceramics” refers to items made from clay bodies and fired in a kiln (or oven) to obtain the finished art form. It requires a 4 step creative process of:

Pottery is our oldest handicraft. Fired clay is one of the few materials on earth that does not change with time, and clay has always been an abundant resource. The earliest function of clay was to line baskets as a way to waterproof them. Baskets were often used to carry water to crops, and the clay lining prevented leakage. Why is clay so important? Eventually, early men and women discovered that they could harden the molded pottery in hot ashes and make sturdy containers.

Venus of Dolni Vestonice The Czech prehistoric sculpture (Vestonicka Venuse) is one of the earliest examples of fired clay sculptures in the world (c. 28,000– 24,000 BC).

Chinese Pottery Chinese Pottery belonging to the era of Neolithic Art. Ever since the Stone Age, China has led the world in ceramic art and design. Its porcelain remains the finest ever made.

Greek Red-Figure Style Pottery. Greek potters produced a wide range of ancient pottery in all shapes and sizes. They decorated it with abstract, historical and mythological designs. The most important styles included: geometric, black- figure, red-figure and white ground.

Let’s get started.. Supplies Needed : ½ pack of modeling clay Roller Rubber design presses Plastic knife Plastic straw (hole) Acrylic paints Paint brush

Start with clay - minimum of half a packet each (various colors available) To get started, have students start kneading it between their fingers to get it nice and soft and warm. After it’s nice and soft, have students mold it into the shape they’d like it (circle, rectangle etc.) and smooth out the edges. And don’t worry, little finger prints in there gives it some character! Process to make Art Press keychain:

Next, students should press their selected design(s) into the clay to make the design of their choice. Use the rubber stamps, they work great or anything else with texture. Have students make a hole at the top and poke a straw through. You may want to rotate the straw around to get a nice smooth and even opening, expanding it larger if needed Add some paint to give the imprint some dimension. Use acrylic paints (not too much so you lose the design)

Once you have wiped enough paint away and have it just how students want it, let it dry. Put name on bottom of piece (sharpie), then paint a thin–medium coat of Modge Podge and leave to dry (docents you may prefer to do this versus students) Once dried Docents please attach key chain string and black plastic clip.

LESSON PLAN ADAPTED FROM DICKBLICK.COM By Tara Button March 2016