Fabric Bowls

I will admit that sometimes I create projects for the students based on an overabundance of materials.

There are SO MANY bags of fabric scraps in my store rooms that have been donated to my school and I just don't have the heart to throw them away.

These Year 5 students were due for a textiles-based project and created these fabric bowls by cutting and pasting layers of fabric over plastic bowls. The process was the same as papier mache, only using strips of fabric, therefore, the more strips and layers of glue the students added, the stronger the completed bowl was.

Once totally dry the plastic bowl was popped out and the top edge of he bowl trimmed with scissors.

  

Clay Bird Vessels

These clay bird vessels were made by my grade 4 students recently, inspired by these bird vases from 'Be Creative Mary'. Students rolled a slab of clay and cut a basic bird shape. They then rolled a second slab and traced the first bird shape so they had two identical pieces. The pieces were joined at the head and the tail, leaving the middle section open and unjoined. 

The vessels were stuffed with newspaper for stability whilst texture and decoration were added to the bird using clay tools.

After firing, students added colour by rubbing oil pastels into the surface of the clay to pick up the texture and then painting with coloured inks and dyes. I later added a coat of spray varnish to each piece to seal it.