CHILDREN’S CLASSES
To Parents: although I absolutely emphasise the fun and creative aspects of clay and encourage gentle movements and co-operative behaviour, there are potentially dangerous materials and equipment in my workshop. These are kept away from easy access but please make sure your child understands that all instructions must be followed: there may be times when I might be more involved with one child than another and I must know that no harm will come to anyone while I am not observing them! Please be aware that I would like to photograph ongoing work in the class for this website and my Facebook Scapa Studios page: these will NOT include images of individual children, however if you object to this please let me know.
Each lesson lasts 1 hour forty five minutes which includes time for clearing up!
Lesson One: Making
I demonstrate how to use the wheel then you make a wee bowl on it
We cut out flat clay with stencils.and use stamps to decorate it. These will be for hanging up
or for turning into fridge magnets. They are left to dry until I can fire them in the kiln. ( Bake in a special oven).
Lesson Two: Decorating
We can now decorate your work from last week which has been in the kiln so is now permanently hard. .
We use coloured slips ( liquid clay).and special ceramic paints When you come back next week I will have fired it again after adding a nice shiny transparent glaze which will make your colours glow.
Lesson Three: Forming
This time we use a special textured clay which helps bits to be joined together and is great
for making animals, figures, buildings or even some pretend food! You can make one bigger one piece or a few smaller ones.
Lesson Four: Glazing
You get to use real ceramic glaze to decorate your piece from last week.
We'll also start a new piece by using a mold and a clay gun to make clay coils.
Lesson Five::Going Wild!
Now you can customise your coiled piece by adding whatever takes your fancy!
We can also "go wild" by making something for the garden- a bird bath or tunnel for creatures that like to hide.
Lesson Six : And Calm!
The last two pieces will have been fired, so now we'll use acrylic colours to provide a third type of covering for your work..Because this doesn't need firing again, you can now take your final finished pieces home.