Pinch Pots and Tempra Paint

About a year and half ago I went to a art teacher convention. I had a great time learning new projects, meeting other art teachers and of course the free samples. I was in the show room looking at ceramic tools and different underglazes for clay projects. I ended up talking to this other art teacher and we both commented on the fact that paint for ceramics are always so expensive. She mentioned to me that she had some tempera cakes and used it to paint on the fired ceramic pieces. To give the paint a glossy look and bring out the color she said to add a glossy spray paint on top of the tempera. Well, I just tried it out in preparation for my summer clay camp and I had great results. This is the kind of stuff that I love. Finding a way to use materials in different ways and saving money is awesome!

2nd Grade - Print Houses

Students were to design a house and yard using line, pattern and texture.

Materials:

9x12 white paper
pencil
black pen
Scratch-Foam Printing Plates
Print-making ink
Brayers
Ink tray

1. I gave the students some images of different houses and architecture for the students to draw from and use as inspiration. Student started with pencil drawings of their design.

2. They taped their drawings to a piece of Scratch-Foam and traced over the pencil with black pen and pressed hard as they worked. Using black pen gives me a finished second, pen and ink project.


3. Students lifted the drawing off of the foam and retraced the lines directly on the foam with pen.

4. Inking! Below are some images of how I set up my materials to get ready to print. I have the ink tray and brayer on the right and a piece of paper on the left. Because I did not have enough printing materials for each students. One table was for printing the other was for students to finish their work or free draw and wait for their turn. I show each student how to roll the ink on evenly and not put too much ink on their foam.

A few student examples.