Clay Coil Pots

Recently, artists in 3rd grade made coil pots using clay. Clay comes from the Earth and is made up of different minerals. For thousands of years, people have been using clay to make pottery, making the clay into cups, bowls and vases to use. We learned that clay goes through many stages to become a finished, glazed coil pot and the first stage is wet clay. 

To begin, students used rolling pins to flatten the clay and used a yogurt cup to trace around and make the bottom of the coil pot. Then we took smaller pieces of clay and rolled them under our palms, forming coils or snake-like shapes. Students worked hard to create even coils that would reach all the way around their pot’s base. 

We learned how to score, or scratch up, the clay and apply slip, which is a mixture of clay and water and acts as a glue, to attach our coils together. It is important to “scratch and attach” everything, because while it is wet, clay sticks together easily, but eventually it dries and can come apart. 

Students built coil pots using up to 6 layers of coils. The coil pots dried out for a week until they became bone dry and were fired in the kiln. The kiln is an oven for the clay to get heated and become hard. The following class, students glazed their coil pots. Six color stations were set up around the room and students used the colors they wanted to use at that station. 

Students had to carry their coil pots to the different stations very carefully! We painted 2-3 layers of glaze, so that the colors would come out bright. Students had to make sure to cover all the white spots, which was more challenging because of the texture of the fired clay. We also had to be patient to build the layers of glaze.

Some students chose to use solid colors and other students created patterns such as stripes or polka dots on the inside or outside of their coil pots. Students also had to make sure not to get glaze on the bottom of their coil pots, so that they would not stick to the kiln shelf during firing! 

We got our coil pots back after they had been fired again, to melt the glaze onto our pot and make it shiny. Students noticed that the colors had gotten brighter! Below are some examples of our finished coil pots:

Aysha, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Ben, 3rd Grade (Stone)

Brixton, 3rd Grade (Stone)

Edmond, 3rd Grade (Stone)

Gavin, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Sam, 3rd Grade (Stone)

Siobhan, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Valentina, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Lory, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Brenda, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Gustavo, 3rd Grade (Donato)

Edwin, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Emily, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Hunter, 3rd Grade (Lutz)

Raffi, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Sophia S., 3rd Grade (Lutz)

5th Grade Clay Projects

Recently 5th grade artists made an independent clay project. We discussed what we knew about clay, how it clay comes from the Earth and is made up of different minerals. We learned that clay goes through many stages to become a ceramic object, starting with wet clay, drying out in the air to become bone dry, then getting fired in the kiln the first time to become bisque. 

Our options were a pinch pot figure, such as an animal or flower; a coil pot; or a slab box. We sketched out our project idea and the following class, students got clay and got started. For pinch pot figures, students started with a pinch pot. First we put our thumb in the middle of the ball of clay. We pressed down to form a hole and then used our fingers to pinch the sides. We turned our clay as we pinched so that the sides of our pot would be even and in a circular shape. Then this could be transformed into a flower, adding petals on the sides, or turned over and use to form the body of an animal, like a cat. 

Another option was a coil pot, which begins with a circular bottom and rolling the clay into coils around the sides to form the walls of the pot. Students made sure to score and slip the coils. 

The third option was a slab box, which involved the most measuring and scoring all the pieces. To make the slab box, students rolled out the clay to create flat pieces or slabs and cut them using a template to form the bottom and sides of the box. They assembled the sides by scoring the base and each side and using slip to attach everything together and smooth all the edges. Some students created a lid for their coil pot or slab box, and added details, such as shapes or letters, on the outside. 

Projects were left to dry for a week and then put in the kiln, which is an oven for the clay to get heated and become hard. Students got to take a look at the kiln in small groups, to better understand what it looks like and what it does. Students got their clay projects back after they had been bisque fired in the kiln. The clay projects had turned white and had gotten a little smaller. 

Then we used glaze to add color. Different color stations were set up and students went to different stations to use the colors they wanted. Each color needs 3 coats, or layers, of glaze to show up true to color.

We made sure to dab and pat our brush around to get all the areas and cover all the white spots, since the clay has a texture and is not always smooth or easy to paint. We got our projects back after they had been fired again, to melt the glaze and make it shiny. 

Camila, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Adam, 5th grade (Twomey)

Eden, 5th grade (Bellis)

Zuhi, 5th grade (Twomey)

Koji, 5th grade (Twomey)

Kaleigh, 5th grade (Psychoghios)

Sandra, 5th grade (Bellis)

Rohan, 5th grade (Bellis)

Jack K., 5th grade (Twomey)

Bianca, 5th grade (Twomey)

Emma, 5th grade (Bellis)

Anita, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Betzaida, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Arsen, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Coil Pots

Recently, artists in 3rd and 4th grade made coil pots using clay. First, we learned that clay comes from the Earth and is made up of different minerals. For thousands of years, people have been using clay to make pottery, making the clay into cups, bowls and vases to use. We also learned that clay goes through many stages to become a finished, glazed coil pot and the first stage is wet clay. 

To begin, students used rolling pins to flatten the clay and used a yogurt cup to trace around and make the bottom of the coil pot. Then we took smaller pieces of clay and rolled them under our palms, forming coils or snake-like shapes. Students worked hard to create even coils that would reach all the way around their pot’s base. We learned how to score, or scratch up, the clay and apply slip, which is a mixture of clay and water and acts as a glue, to attach our coils together. It is important to “scratch and attach” everything, because while it is wet, clay sticks together easily, but eventually it dries and can come apart. 

3rd graders built coil pots using 6 layers of coils. 4th grade classes got another day to add decorative details to their coil pot, including spirals, handles, shapes and letters. The coil pots dried out for a week until they became bone dry and were fired in the kiln. The kiln is an oven for the clay to get heated and become hard. 

The following class, students painted glaze onto their coil pots. Six color stations were set up around the room and students used the colors they wanted to use at that station. Students had to carry their coil pots to the different stations very carefully. 

We painted 2-3 layers of glaze, so that the colors would come out bright. Students had to make sure to cover all the white spots, which was more challenging because of the texture of the fired clay. Some students chose to paint the glaze as solid colors and other students created patterns such as stripes or polka dots. 

We got our coil pots back after they had been fired again, to melt the glaze onto our pot and make it shiny. Students noticed that the colors had gotten brighter. Below are some examples of our finished coil pots from 3rd and 4th grades:

Chloe, 4th grade (Dubuque)

Elena, 4th grade (Mattson Graves)

Emma, 3rd grade (Fletcher)

Mateo, 4th grade (Doherty)

Shahd, 4th grade (Doherty)

Sidney, 4th grade (Doherty)

Nikolas, 4th grade (Dubuque)

Tamsin, 4th grade (Cikacz)

Cameron, 4th grade (Dubuque)