Flower Sculptures in Clay

These flower sculptures were created by grade 3 students in paper clay. Students were given a large variety of fake fabric flowers to observe and chose one flower of their choice to reproduce in clay.  Each student began by rolling and cutting a clay tile approximately 10cm square. They then rolled and cut pieces for leaves and petals and attached them to the tile using the correct joining method (score, slip, stick, smooth).  We also researched the way flowers are made in icing for cake decoration and some students chose to use some of these techniques, particularly for roses. 

The completed clay work was so lovely that I decided against ceramic glazing as I felt students could achieve more subtle, realistic results with paint only. Painting also allowed for exploration with colour mixing and creating tone for a more realistic look.

Paper Plate Flower Collages

My inspiration for this project came from this post at 'Pink Stripey Socks'. They had used four paper plates cut into flower shapes of decreasing size and stapled together. I gave students two paper plates each and one small circle of thick paper for the smallest shape.

I began by asking grade one students to fold their plates in half and drawing a simple pattern of petals around the edge of the semi-circle. They then cut through both layers of the plate (which proved a little difficult for some tiny hands who needed assistance) and unfolded to reveal the whole circle. Once they had cut their three circles, we stapled them together and the children used bright coloured tempera paints to paint their flowers.

Once dry, they also used oil pastels to add more colour and detail and scrap pieces of coloured paper to add leaves and stamen to their flowers. 

They were all quite different and look fantastic displayed together!

 

More Chinese Scroll Paintings

 I recently revisited this project which I first completed with grade 4 students back in 2012.

The only change I made this time was that instead of using pastels for the blossoms I had students dip a paintbrush into red, pink and white paint and use the tip of their brush with the three colours on it to create the plum blossoms with a variegated effect.