CHAPTER XIX: CLAY-WORKING FOR CHILDREN

One of the modern developments of clay-working is the use of it in elementary and high schools as a branch of manual training. In this, clay meets the most exacting needs of the work for it affords a perfect means of self-expression. Other arts interpose between the pupil and his material a series of tools or appliances, more or less elaborate, which constitute a barrier to the personal touch. Clay presents no such obstacles. The ten fingers are all the tools that are necessary at the beginning and, consequently, the personal equation in clay-working is remarkably high.

In the kindergarten the children take to clay work as little ducks to water and the interest is never lost. In this way, clay, instead of adding to the labors of a teacher already overburdened by a plethora of subjects, constitutes a real relief. The work is so interesting that it moves along of itself and all that is needed is intelligent direction.

It is, of course, necessary that anyone attempting to teach clay-working to children should have a knowledge of methods and principles. The essence of power, especially in teaching, is reserve, but there is great danger in expecting too much from small heads and hands. In the early exercises the skill of the teacher should even be employed to conceal her art. It is a mistake to place before elementary pupils work which is far beyond their reach. Let the teacher make before the class something which they themselves can do if they try and they will be encouraged to greater effort.

A small cylinder is a suitable beginning exercise for several reasons. The form is definite and the result may therefore be easily criticized by the children themselves, the size of the piece may be readily adapted to the small fingers and the simplicity of line enables the attention to be concentrated upon the manipulation of the clay.

This cylindrical form may be made more interesting by the addition of little feet or handles; by a simple line border incised along the upper edge; or by dividing the surface into well-spaced panels. The planning of the cylinder itself is a good exercise in rectangle proportion.

In order to enable the pupils to turn their work from side to side each one should be provided with a piece of paper or cardboard the size of the base of the pottery. The building is started upon this and, managed in such a way, the clay does not stick to the table.

When the idea of pottery building, either by coils or by pieces welded together, has been grasped, the children should be taught to think in the solid. There is almost always a difficulty in making children see that an outline drawing and a solid form may be alike in meaning. The teacher should draw upon the blackboard a simple jar in elevation, the plan, of course, will be a circle. The same thing is then made in clay by both teacher and children and the results are compared with the drawing. This will lead to the designing of the forms in outline by the children themselves. These designs should be made the exact size of the proposed pottery and if the outline be carefully cut out the line of the paper may be applied to the work as a template. By such means the children are led to produce accurate lines in the clay and control over the material is secured.

There is always a temptation, when the clay sags or loses shape, to diverge from the original idea and to allow the material to shape itself. This inevitably leads to slovenly work and should be resisted from the first. The paper template helps to correct such an impulse and the pupil presently finds that the clay can be successfully controlled if enough trouble be taken. There is much interest too in the cutting of pottery forms from folded paper. A number of these forms may be pinned on a screen and the children led to select the best in line and proportion. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the necessity for showing the children fine examples of pottery, both ancient and modern. The more primitive types, where the form and the decoration are so perfectly adapted to each other and to the material, are full of inspiration for the child potter as well as for the adult. When one is fortunate enough to be near a museum, many illustrations will be found, but good photographs or drawings are available for almost everyone. Constant comparison and the exercise of choice will lead to a development of taste, which must affect the child whether he later becomes a producer or a consumer.

A flower holder is a good problem. It is a solid piece of clay two or three inches in diameter and an inch thick. This may be round or square in form and may have simple modeled decoration added to it. Quarter inch holes are pierced at regular intervals, in fact, they themselves should form part of the design. For the older children a shallow bowl of good line with a flower holder to fit is an interesting problem. Other good problems, which may be made more or less difficult according to the grade in which they are given, are rose jars, bread and milk bowls, incense burners, cylindrical jars, square fern dishes, candlesticks and small lamp bases.

When working out decoration for pottery forms, it is well to have the children make their designs with the modeling tool upon the clay itself. If a piece of soft clay be rolled out flat upon the table it affords the best possible medium for making clay designs. The pupil is at once put in touch with the possibilities and limitations of the material. A drawing made upon paper may have to be entirely changed before it is suitable for use on clay. The soft surface can be smoothed over as often as necessary and a new sketch made until a design is approved for application to the pottery itself. In the chapter on decoration will be found suggestions for clay treatment.

The making of tiles affords an interesting application of the principles of design, but the instructions in the chapter on tile should be followed in order to insure a workman-like product. If it is possible to use plaster, the making of a decorated tile from which a mold can be made and other tiles pressed is a good problem. Animal forms lend themselves to the decoration of such tiles and are always interesting to children.

While these chapters are especially devoted to ceramics in the sense of burned and glazed pottery a few words upon modeling as related to school work may be added here. Imitative modeling from cast or copy with its development of animal and figure modeling, both from life and from memory, is valuable in the acquirement of the power of manipulation and control as well as in the cultivation of observation, imagination and memory. In the best regulated schools the work of the grades is often correlated in the study of some phase of human life. Facts are grouped around some epoch or event in history or some country or clime in geography. The children take up the clay while their minds are full of the current subject and nothing more natural than that they should illustrate the story by models.

Such work is to be thoroughly commended as truly educational, though it does not fall strictly within the field of pottery and a few suggestions may therefore be in order.

The modeling of animals or people for the sand table is full of interest for the younger children. Such stories as "The Three Bears," "Chicken Little" and "The Little Red Hen" immediately suggest themselves. For children of about the fourth grade "Alice in Wonderland" offers a most fascinating array of models. "The White Rabbit," "The Duchess," "The Mock Turtle," "The Mad Hatter," grotesques of all sorts, seem a natural outcome of this illustration work and the wise teacher will see the possibility for developing the imagination in the modeling of mythical creatures, such as dragons and gnomes, and in the personification of the elements. There is also an unlimited fund of material in the tales of knighthood and of fairyland.

With the older children, simple principles of design and composition should be suggested. A paper weight is an interesting problem demanding the adaptation of form to space.

Many of these things may be modeled in clay, dried and painted with water color or one of the patent modeling clays which set like cement may be used. If no supports have been left in the model it may be fired when thoroughly dry.

Some of the best projects for sand table work involving modeling are Eskimo Life, Indian Life, Farm Life, The Circus, and Fairy Tales. Generally a suggestion is all that is necessary to call forth the most original conceptions and once started the children will soon far outstrip the teacher.

INDEX

A

Alhambra Vase, 16 Armenian Bole, 15

B

Ball-Clay, Tennessee, 40 Bases for Glaze, 143 Berlin Porcelain, 28 Bisilicate Glaze, 145, 146 Black Surfaced Ware, 13 Blistering of Glazes, 166 Building, Clay for, 69 Building, Faults in, 72 Building, Methods of, 70, 71 Built Pottery, 10, 68 Burning Tiles, 139

C

Case for Mold-making, 58 Casting, 129 Casting, Slip for, 129 Castor Ware, 13 Children, Pottery for, 194 Chinese Porcelain, 23 Clay, Colored, 36 Clay, Crude, 9, 37 Clay, Decoration in, 173 Clay, for Building, 69 Clay, for Tiles, 134 Clay, Preparation of, 37 Colored Glazes, 24, 143, 163 Colors, Underglaze, 25, 143, 177 Combustion, 186, 187 Cones, Pyrometric, 182 Copenhagen Porcelain, 27 Crawling of Glazes, 166 Crazing of Glazes, 165 Cups and Saucers, 124

D

Decoration, 173 Decoration of Tiles, 137 Defects of Glazes, 164 Devitrification, 152

E

Earthenware, Mixture for, 40 Engobe Ware, Oriental, 15

F

Famille Rose, 24, 26 Famille Verte, 24, 26 Feet for Vases, 105 Firing the Kiln, 179 Fitness in Design, 3, 4, 7 Flowing of Glazes, 145, 166 Form and Weight, 7 Fritt for Glaze, 158 Fritting Furnace, 159

G

Glaze, Bases for, 148 Glaze, Bisilicate, 144, 145 Glaze, Calculation of, 150 Glaze, Fritt for, 158 Glaze, Pinholes in, 167 Glaze, Porcelain, 191 Glaze, Recipes, 160 Glaze, Stoneware, 191, 192 Glazes, Blistering of, 166 Glazes, Clear, 141, 161 Glazes, Colored, 143, 163, 192 Glazes, Crawling of, 166 Glazes, Crazing of, 165 Glazes, Defects of, 164 Glazes, Flowing of, 145, 166 Glazes, Grinding, 151, 155 Glazes, Ingredients for, 142, 143 Glazes, Matt, 152, 191 Glazes, Nature of, 141 Glazing, 140 Glazing Tiles, 137, 138 Grès de Flandres, 21 Gum Tragacanth, 156

H

Hard Porcelain, 23, 189 High-temperature Wares, 188

I

Ingredients for Glazes, 142, 143

J

Jars for Storing Clay, 41

K

Kiln, Firing the, 179 Kiln, Portable, 180 Kilns, 179

L

Lawns, Silk, 41 Large Pieces, 107

M

Matt Glazes, 152 Methods of Making Tiles, 135, 136 Molds for Plates, 62, 63 Molds for Vases, 52

O

Oriental Engobe Ware, 15 Ox-blood Red, 24, 26 Oxidizing Fire, 187 Oxygen Ratio, 145

P

Pâte-sur-pâte, 14, 175 Pieces, Large, 107 Pinholes in Glaze, 167 Plaster-of-Paris, 45 Plaster Dishes, 46, 47 Plaster Head for Wheel, 65, 78 Plaster, Setting of, 45 Porcelain, Berlin, 28 Porcelain, Copenhagen, 27 Porcelain Glaze, 191 Porcelain, Hard, 23, 189 Porcelain, Mixture for, 40 Porcelain, Sevres, 25 Potter's Wheel, 74 Pottery, Built, 9, 68 Pottery, for Children, 194 Pottery, White-coated, 14, 168 Props and Bats for Kiln, 182 Pyrometric Cones, 182

R

Recipes for Glazes, 160 Reducing Fire, 187

S

Salt-glazing, 21 Saucers, Cups and, 124 Shivering of Glazes, 165 Size, Mold-makers', 44 Slip, 38, 39, 129 Slip for Casting, 129 Slip-painting, 175 Stoneware, 21, 188, 190 Stoneware Glaze, 191

T

Tennessee Ball-clay, 40 Tiles, 133 Tiles, Burning of, 139 Tiles, Clay for, 134 Tiles, Decoration of, 137 Tiles, Glazing, 137, 138 Throwing, 77 Tin Enamel, 164 Tragacanth, Gum, 156 Turning Tools, 100

U

Underglaze Colors, 143, 177

V

Vase Forms, Turning, 49-52 Vases, Feet for, 105 Vases, Molds for, 52

W

Weight and Form, 7 White-coated Pottery, 14, 168

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