We studied ancient China. Again. We had already done Chinese brush painting and origami earlier this year. I had to think of something else . . . . So I asked my students if they had any ideas. One of them told me that her aunt had a kiln. And I know her aunt.
Ming pottery? Sorta. This is how we did it.
The day that I went home with the flu, Hannah Scott Nolt (my student's aunt and an amazing artist/teacher) brought me a really heavy box of clay. She told me that when she fired it in her kiln, it would turn white. I trusted her. She explained how to make a "pinch pot," gave me instructions and a bottle of blue paint, and wished me well. I made one myself first before presenting the project to the students, and then we got to work.
After letting them dry overnight, we painted blue designs on them. The bottle suggested three coats of paint, so that is what most of us did. Then Hannah glazed and fired them for us. It was so much fun to get them back.
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The inside of this bowl is translated cereal.
While we were making the bowls, one of the students quipped, "We'll probably never use these."
"Oh, yes, you will," I answered. Then I brought cereal and milk to school, and we ate out of them before the students got to take them home.
