Non-Toxic Bath & Beauty- DIY Deodorant Clean living encompasses both eating clean foods and removing as many chemicals and irritants as possible. One step is removing aluminum containing products that are found in commercial antiperspirants and deodorants. There are studies that link commonly found ingredients to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and other tragic diagnosis. Dr. Mercola... View Post
creating polymer clay art + small business advice
I put together a booklet for the staff of the primary school I work in. They were wanting to learn about clay and some ideas of what they...
This expressive clay portrait lesson is a great way to get your students thinking creatively while learning the basics of working with clay.
This DIY All-Natural Detoxifying Deodorant not only stops odor naturally, but it also contains bentonite clay to draw impurities from the skin!
Later on this week, I will be doing an all-day art lesson with a Year 4 class. I have taught this class many times, they are a great bunc...
As most of you know, there are MANY different ways to fire kilns. Different shutoff cones, different speeds, different ways to load for different effects. Often the type of firing you can do is d…
Unleash your creativity with our DIY dragon eggs tutorial! This kid-friendly craft transforms beads and air-dry clay into fantasy-like treasures, perfect for any adventurer's collection.
Ladies. Gentlemen. Wall Art by Marcia Scott. 280mm x 6mm deep. Marcia has been painting most of her life, mainly in acrylics but has also worked in watercolours and oils. After studying art at school she has also attended many workshops with reputable artists and gone on to exhibit in numerous galleries and exhibitions throughout New Zealand and has won several awards over those years. Marcia loves using colour and is constantly looking for the challenge of developing new ideas with different mediums such as plywood tables, clay cups and bowls as well as wearable arts to name a few!
Drawing exercises worksheets are a valuable tool for both beginners and experienced artists to enhance their skills. These worksheets provide a structured approach to practice different drawing techniques and develop a solid foundation in art. Whether you are an aspiring artist wanting to improve your artistic abilities or an art teacher looking for engaging and educational resources for your students, these drawing exercises worksheets will guide you through various subjects and help you develop your skills in a fun and creative way. Start sharpening your artistic skills today with these effective and easy-to-use worksheets!
This is an West African printmaking project I did a few years ago with some Grade 6 students. from Pbs.org: http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Kids/cloth/cloth.htm Adinkra (ah-DEEN-krah) cloth is a hand-printed fabric made in Ghana. Developed by the Ashanti people, Adinkra cloths were traditionally made for royalty to wear at religious ceremonies. Through the years, people have also decorated the cloths to tell a story or to express their thoughts or feelings. Adinkra cloth is stamped and patterned with traditional Ashanti symbols. Each symbol has its own meaning. People in Ghana decorate the cloth by using a black dye made of bark. This dye is called Adinkera aduru, and it is what gives the cloth its name. Using the dye, they draw lines on the cloth to divide it into squares. Next, they carve symbols into calabash gourds, press the gourds into the dye, and stamp the symbols onto the fabric. Image Source Examples of adinkra symbols and their meanings. Carving a stamp from a gourd or calabash... A lovely collection of hand-carved gourd stamps Printing onto the large cloth (which is sometimes stiched together from strips of fabric). So for this project, instead of having students carve their stamps (which I have done before with knives and potatoes, but it's tricky (with the knives) and the potato doesn't seem to last long enough to finish the project), we drew our designs onto flat kitchen sponge cloths (from the Dollar Store). I believe fun foam sheets would also work well. I gave the students handouts of real symbols and their meanings for inspiration. Students came up with their own design and it had to symbolize something personal to them. Cut out the design and glue it onto a square of thick cardboard. Paint the sponge stamp with black tempera or acrylic paint and test it in a sketchbook or a scrap piece of paper. Students needed to figure out for themselves how much paint to apply and how best to apply pressure. Voila! A perfect stamp! For our good copies, students simply printed on large white paper. Of course, you could use real fabric. Ok, so students are stamping away, building up their design. I asked for a symmetrical design but alot of students went crazy with their own patterns.... Next time I teach this, I will insist the patterns are symmetrical and much closer together. I think, perhaps, some students got bored and just started randomly printing just to fill the paper....it can be a tedious and repetetive process. Next time, I need to teach this to a older grade or use a smaller sheet of paper. Once the printing was finished and dry, students added 'stitch' marks with oil pastels to create panels. Ta da!
As I was browsing through the seemingly endless stream of photos on my laptop, I noticed how over the years my needlefelted aliens have evol...
This is a perfect lesson to get you through the end-of-the-year or even a mid-year slump. 5th graders love the graffiti nature of Keith Haring.
Hand-thrown serving plate crafted exclusively for TOAST using clay collected from Ulmet hill near Horezu, Romania, where it’s been mindfully extracted for hundreds of years. Preserving ancient techniques passed down through generations, the artisans use colours from local ingredients and are supported by Casa de Folklore. After being shaped using a kick wheel, the intricate swirling pattern is created using a tool made from a cow horn and feather, along with brushes and wire-tipped sticks. Each piece is unique. ### Details Hand wash. Clay.Made in Romania.Each ceramic piece has been thrown or pressed and glazed by hand. Due to the handmade nature, there may be pleasing variations and irregularities in colour, size and shape.Approx. D 27.5cm x H 6cm.
By the time you kids grow to the age of 5 or 6 they will now start going to Kindergarten. My elder one is in that age range 5+ yrs and hence we have started learning science in a fun way with DIY experiments at home. You can find them here and we would want […]
creating polymer clay art + small business advice
After you've got your figure, create the base. Use foam core or cardboard, then stabilize the wire figure with newspaper. Tape the ne...
This “Feeling Sculpture” may be the most relaxing clay project you’ll ever do. My students loved it so much, they asked to do it again the next week! Ages 5-85 can all have fun with this project that could double as therapy. Credit for this awesome project goes to my daughter’s high school Ceramics teacher, Mr....
I left school at sixteen to go to art college and study ceramics. I fell head over heels in love with the medium of clay at school and the feeling has stayed with me throughout 6 years of ceramic e…
One of my favorite new lessons this year comes from kindergarten! As we explore the elements & principles of art, we created textured hearts on textured paper. I don't have many in-progress pictures of this; kindergarten moves faster than my camera. We started by using oil pastels on texture sheets to create a textured piece of paper. Then we used Crayola Model Magic to create the hearts. First we pressed them into the texture sheets, then used heart-shaped cookie cutters (yes, this is a literal "cookie cutter" lesson) to cut out the hearts. So this could be adapted to any shape, depends on what kind of cookie cutters you have. The kids were amazed and the results are gorgeous. Can't wait to do these again next year. And a bonus surprise: I was going to glue these to their papers when they dried, so I had the kids set their hearts on their papers to keep them together. The hearts stuck to the papers, so I didn't have to glue them! :D
If you run a community studio or your personal studio is high production, you probably have a lot of clay scraps to deal with. This article will describe the clay reclaim process we use at the very busy pottery studio where I worked as technician for 6 years.
Coral Sands and Cascades Plopping Mug
I am very excited about today’s collection of kids craft ideas – it is all about Air Dry Clay Projects for Kids (well for kids and big kids… ). We love using air dry clay, but find it is something that many people shy away from. Yet air dry clay is inexpensive (when not buying...
Last Sunday Art Clubbers and I had a fantastic and super intense class on how to create gorgeous 3-dimensional popup flower cards. We painted the paper, cut out flowers and assembled them. The cards can be folded and sent in an envelope!
My middle school art students loved making these polymer clay dragon eyes. Here is a how-to if you want to try this art lesson.
