Exploratory Ceramic Whistles

Here is a look inside our kiln, as I'm unloading. Each time I unload the kiln it's like a little surprise for me! How will the piece have turned out? Will they all be successful?

It makes me very happy to see a kiln with no broken pieces laying on the ground. That means we had no explosions or breakage! Woop!

Each of these piece has been carved out to be a whistle. Students could make an animal, insect or fantasy animal. Above we have a lovely Pegasuses.

Here we have a walrus, look at those great fat wrinkles!

This chubby raccoon balances nicely on his back feet!

And be quiet for this sleeping kitten.

To create these student had to pay close attention to details, shapes, forms and textures. To create something in 3 dimensions requires a shift in the brain from thinking one side to all 360 degrees. There are so many good ones I have more!

Exploratory 6 Clay Whistle

It's hard to get picture of these wonderful animals when your elbow deep in clay.

Sorry for the long delay! Our students are making WHISTLES from clay! And they are amazing!

Look at the texture and detail on this one!

This student made a pegasus!

And we have a sleeping kitty cat!

And a bear in progress!

Working in 3D is much harder then 2D. STudents have new elements they have to consider, such as: texture (how it feels), space, 360 degree of detail! 

Hopefully- (if I get my hands out of the clay!) we'll get more pictures up!

Czaplicki A2 B4 The kiln is Fixed! Our animals are glazed!

Here are some examples of the FINISHED whistles. 

They have all been fired twice. Once to bisque fire- or turn the clay into hardended clay.

It's starting to look like a zoo in here! Czaplicki Exploratory

Czaplicki A2 Clay Animal Whistle

These are two examples of my 6th grade sculpture projects. Look at the AWESOME texture on this Grizzly Bear! We transformed a simple half circle shape into these AMAZING animals. Next we will turn them into working whistles.

I love seeing the students use these higher level thinking skills to figure out how to make a lump of clay look and feel like an animal. The students are feeling very successful with this project. Ask them about their whistle!

Czaplicki A2 Clay Whistle

Our crafts explortatory class is using clay to sculpt a whistle. Right now we've built the base shape and are adding on details. Duck Dynasty seems to have influenced our choice in animals. Two duck sculptures in one class!

Below you can see a bear start to take shape!

There is a hard jump in the mind to go from 2D to 3D. We have to start thinking about working all the way around the piece. The students problem solve how to make their whistle shape turn into an actual animal!