Thursday, April 21, 2011

Clay Chimes and Hanging Garden Sculptures

This month Currier students are building clay bells for the garden.

We made up a lot these...pinch pots and beads.  
To stay organized, we dried and fired the beads right in the pinch pots.

Paint your pots and add a final coat of clear gloss to weather proof.

We string our beads and pots onto a cord so they don't get mixed up while they dry or in between coats, and add a masking tape label with our name.   

Arrange your beads and bells.  Secure each addition in place with an overhand knot.
Hang and enjoy.
Helpful Hint:  Little kids can mold their pots in silicone cupcake forms (just like clay cupcakes).

6 comments:

  1. These are the kind of projects that make me wish I had a kiln!

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  2. I wish you had a kiln too, Phyl, because then you'd be sharing a ton of great clay plans with us.
    But just think of all the paper mache tips we'd be missing if you did.

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  3. These look great! We've just added raised garden beds to our inside courtyard at school - wouldn't these be another great addition...

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  4. That's so cool Nancy. The chimes would be a great addition. What are you going to plant in your garden?

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  5. I love these! What a great idea!
    I'm curious, though - why did you decide to paint rather than glaze them?
    Wonderful activity - I've never tried beads...
    Cristy in WY

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  6. Good question Cristy.
    It's a long story, but in a nutshell--I'm still working some kinks out of the project. I haven't glazed and fired beads before, and didn't want to encounter a giant failure with the kids work.
    I'll be doing a test fire on 18 gauge high temp Nichochrome wire this week. and I'll post the results because I strongly agree that glazing is really the way to go.

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