Cool Clay Creatures

Project: 
Students get to use their imagination for this project that uses a clay pinch pots to make fun creatures! 

To begin, we started by looking at finished clay creature examples. We then created a sketch of what we would like our clay creature to look like. I decided to make mine look like an axolotl as a gift for my son who is VERY into this specific aquatic species at the moment. 

After sketching ideas, we were given a piece of clay. And now the fun begins!

• Wedging: The first step is wedging the clay to get rid of air bubbles. To do this you kneading the clay with your hands and finish by creating a smooth ball. 
• Pinch pot: We then started to make the clay into a pinch pot. This will be the base of the monster. To make a pinch pot you use gentle pinching motions to thin out the walls, working in circles around the sides at the same rate. 
• Smooth: After the pot was the correct size and shape, we used a few drops of water and our hands to smooth out the cracks.  
• Additives: We then made additives like eyes, tails, horns etc. To get these to stick to the pinch pot
  body, we used hatching. This involves making cross hatching on the additive and the body, along with a little water, and then pressing the clay pieces together.  
  
• Subtractives: We also used the clay carving tools to do a subtractive method, this could be for carving out scales, adding details to face etc. 

My axolotl monster had a wide mouth, with wide set eyes, gills and a tail. I used the subtractive method to carve out his tongue and add details to the body and tail. I finished the sculpture by painting it shades of pink. 

Extension: 
This could be used as a fun science extension activity when learning about sea creatures. Students could research something that lives in the ocean and then create a sculpture that includes specific features and characteristics they learned about during their research project. They could then use display their clay creature when doing a presentation for the class.