Clay Pendants

Donor's Choose Grant:

Our Inspiration from Ms. Tiedemann's Class, New Jersey

Over Spring Break I saw a post on social media from my art teacher friend, Ms. Tiedemann in New Jersey. Her students made wonderful and meaningful pendants with a mix of clay and beads. I was so inspired that I wrote a Donor's Choose Grant (see it here) to purchase the supplies. I was completed and ready to start the next week!

We already had a bunch of left over clay to use up from the 5th grade mask project, tons of bright shiny glazes, but very few beads, cords, and clasps. That was what our grant funded.

Process:

A sphere of clay was flattened, pressed in pattern, then added holes. We bisque fired it in the kiln.

We used a wooden stylus to handle the clay

We covered both sides with two coats of glaze

We each painted wooden beads with acrylic paint to add to our design

Before the glaze firing the color looks chalky and dull.

Each piece had to sit on a stilt so it wouldn't stick to the kiln shelf as it fired at 2000ºF degrees

 Each clay pendant began with a long length of cord from the top hole. We added beads with large openings to the string on what we called "top beads". 
The "down beads" had small holes so we strung them using wire.

The grant purchase was for a variety of metallic and acrylic beads. They were so amazing!

Each student worked in a tray that had their name in it so they could collect and keep beads until they were ready to string them

Finding matches for a symmetrical pattern was like a treasure hunt checking from table to table

Finished Student Pendants:

View each of the fourth grade pendant on the Artsonia exhibit here.