LISTEN TO THE MUSIC

BURNISHED WHISTLES

CERAMICS I

clay

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the Ceramics I class crafting their whistles 

and trying so very hard to get them to whistle.

Senior Eunice Shim (standing left) was one of the first to get hers to whistle 

and was going around the room offering up her expertise.

She helped many of the kids understand the concept 

of air being blown thru a tunnel hitting a sharp ledge to split it 

thus creating the whistle sound.

She and senior Marjorie Balaoro (center end) where so good at this very difficult task

that they were able to make an ocarina,

a musical instrument that goes an entire octave.

We were all really impressed!

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK

BURNISHED WHISTLES

CERAMICS I

clay, sawdust fire& glue/water mixture & metallic rubbing compounds

Let's see what my clay peeps have been up to.

Making clay whistle.

Not an easy assignment,

 but they were up to it as you can see below.

Junior Gary Liu Jr. patiently trying to get his clay to whistle.

They had to burnish the pieces with smooth river rocks as well.

And after whistles came out of the sawdust fire they had a choice to either rub with 

the metallics or to use a glue/water mixture to bring out the natural markings from the firing.

All 3 senior boys here chose the metallic.

They are Tarun Desai, Andrew Chen & Jonathan Hsu

Metallic was put on by junior Manav Gandhi (far left) and senior Robert Dunn (far right), 

but junior Gary Liu (middle) used the glue sauce to seal the sawdust fired clay with.

Next we have the work of senior Jonathan Gong,

and juniors Jessica Andres and Annie Oh.

And lastly we have whistles by juniors Cathy Huang, Benjamin Barnett, and Nathan Lam.

I want you to look closely at Nathan's whistle,

note the 6 holes on either side of the whistle area?

He figured out how to play a full scale of notes by the hole placement 

for a whooping 25 extra credit points.

It was very difficult and required great patience with a lot of trial and error on his part.

But he did it!!!

This sawdust was one of the best firings of the year.

Note all the cool flashes of carbon as it marks the clay.

Credit for this goes to my lovely assistant Alyssa Olea (Whitney Ceramic Alumni 2012)

who comes in to load, fire and unload these beauties.

We use anything combustible for the firings.

Poor thing has to put her hands in horse and cow manure

so that we can reach the temps. we need to get to in the oil drum we recycled to fire in.

Keeps it interesting around here  

LOL

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK

BURNISHED CLAY WHISTLE

CERAMICS I

clay, metallic rubbing compounds & glue/water mixture

Probably one of the most challenging assignments of the year were these clay whistles.

Building the foundation was a snap,

just two pinch bowls scored together then paddled.

But it was the making the clay whistle that was a real beast.

Here you see the kids spending days trying to line up a minuscule flap of clay

 to the air chamber to get a bit of sound.

Trying over and over again are 

(top left) seniors Eduardo Jacinto, Elijah Ramos, and Arun Ramakrishnan.

And here we have senior Laarnie Barcelon and juniors Sitara Puliyanda and Erin Burnett concentrating on getting their whistles just right before they move on to burnishing them.

To burnish means to rub the leatherhard clay with a smooth stone or the back of a spoon

 to bring out the sheen on the clay's surface.

Some of the students finished burnished whistles on the greenware shelf waiting to be bisque fired.

And a up close look at those whistles.

 I love how shiny they look and how you can see the light reflecting off the surface.

Now onto a few of the finished ones.

Everyone's favorite and mine belongs to junior Sitara Puliyanda.

I think it's SO COOL how she rubbed the metallic compounds in shapes 

rather than spreading it evenly over the whole surface.

And also how she's blended the red metallic into the blackened area from the sawdust fire.

WOW!!!

I'm thinking pretty darn brilliant young lady  :)

She was also left with interesting linear marks from the pine needles

 we used in the sawdust firing.

(you can see those above)

For these next two,

I couldn't decide which photo I liked best,

 so I put them both up of junior Klyne Madayag

and senior Andrew Perley's whistles.

I really like the finish on both,

especially the coppery highlights that Kylne achieved.

I also feel that Andrew's shaping was super cool.

And finally we have these last two whistles

 which were created by senior Laarnie Barcelon(left) and Arun Ramakrishnan (right).

Arun's markings on the side front from the sawdust firing are so interesting,

and Laarnie's multiple angled sides makes hers really fun to hold in your hands. 

Thanks for hanging in there with this assignment young ones.

I know it was difficult.

But wasn't it so amazing when you had that aha moment when your clay whistled for the first time?

Yeap

One of your best Whitney memories made.  :)

Woo-Hoo, It Whistles!

BURNISHED WHISTLES

CERAMICS I

One of the most memorable moments in the life of a Whitney ceramics student is when they get their clay pot to whistle.  It's an awesome ah ha moment in their young lives.  :)

They have choices as to how they finish them off after they've been sawdust fired.  With a glue/water solution to bring out the richness of the carbon or by rubbing with metallic compounds to add a touch of color.

Senior Anne Allan was fortunate, the gods smiled on her whistle to leave beautiful markings.

Both seniors Jocelyn Kim and Megan Yeu chose to add a bit of color for a very appealing look.

Then junior Erin Hsiao and Neha Jain went all out with their color for two very striking pieces.

And seniors Derrick Lin, Darren Fang and junior William Lin were blessed with lovely markings on their clay.  

Great job all of you on a very challenging assignment!

Raintree Montessori School

In Lawrence, Kansas, art teacher Cindy Sears found our blog and was inspired by the burnished primitive whistles my Ceramics I kids were making.  She sent me a lovely note, and asked if Id share the process with her so she could teach it to her 3rd thru 5th graders seen here.

So I sent her the rubric with a couple of sample whistles and off she went with the project.  Recently she sent me pix of the results and let me tell you, they were just as wonderful as what my high school kids where producing.  

Marvelous job to all!!

I was able to download 3 of the pix she sent, so here they are.  What I really like that she had the kids do at the end was to apply clear shoe wax then buff.  I really like the shine it brings to the pieces.  I'm going to have to try that next school year.  Thanks for the tip Cindy  :)  And thank you and the administration at Raintree for allowing me to showcase your school and your sweet students.  

Burnished Whistles - Student Work

I think these are some of the most lovely whistles to date that my beginning clay kids have produced.  Interesting, enclosed pinch/paddle forms, and some really smooth burnishing.  Then bisque & sawdust fired and rubbed with metallic compounds.  Simple but beautiful.

These top two were made by senior Kristen Palma and junior Justyn Ll.  You never know how your work will come out of the sawdust, and these two girls got real lucky with the gorgeous markings left behind.

These next two works were done by seniors Binny Singh and Andre' Martin.  Binny choose a gold metallic while Andre' picked the copper for stunning effects.

And below we have seniors David Lee, Mehar Maju and junior Shamara Mustafa, all with completely different looks, each unique and wonderful.  

PLUS THEY WHISTLE!!!!!!!!! 

One More Burnished Whistle

This fun clay whistle got turned in a bit late so it wasn't posted with the rest earlier in the year, but it's such a noteworthy piece that I wanted to share it because of the way senior Alfredo Perez finished it off. He used my metallic rubbing compounds to achieve this bumble bee design. It was worth the wait Freddy :)

Burnished Whistles - Student Work

Finally some clay pieces. These whistles (yes they actually whistle) were done by my beginning ceramics kids, and I think they turned out really well. They were built with 2 pinch pots scored and paddled together. Then the students were shown how to make them whistle, a very difficult task. Most were able to do it but I always have a few who can't get it to work. After the pieces were almost dried out I gave the kids smooth river rocks and they rubbed and rubbed until the clay had a high scheen. This is called burnishing. It can also be done with the back side of a spoon. The pieces were bisque fired and then loaded into a sawdust fire for their final finish. This finish leaves the clay with white, black and grey markings, a very natural, earthy look. You can see some of that in the piece above done by junior Tiffany Liu.

And above in the far right piece by junior Hanna Woo. Also in Tiffany's and the other pieces shown (except for Hanna's), the kids had the option of rubbing the sawdust finish with creamy, metallic compounds. Tiffany choose a very subtle rubbing in golds, blues and purples, while above top, senior Kevin Pascual did a heavy coating of greens, golds and oranges. Top left whistle belongs to senior John Balagtas with the light coating of gold.

These next pieces above were really exciting, and all so very different. I loved them, and was so happy to see the kids really push themselves into the unknown. Top middle belongs to senior Priyanka Kotak, left is senior David Hwang and right is senior Jesus Calderon. Great job guys!!!

Burnished Whistles - Student Work

These closed pinch forms were so challenging because the kids had to make their pieces whistle. I think all of them were able to do it after much coaching from me as well as each other. But sadly there are always a few who can't make it happen. There are so many new techniques learned in this assignment, it's about working in a non-objective subject matter, putting 2 pinch bowls together and then paddling out a pleasing form, as well as getting it to whistle. As the clay become leather hard and bone dry, the kids rub the forms with a stone or spoon until they have a high gloss finish which is the burnishing process. Then they are bisqued and put into a sawdust firing where the carbon gets into the clay surface and leaves cool markings. After coming out of this firing they wash off the ashes and rub the surface with metallic compounds, creating highly interesting surfaces. See the close-up below that was made by senior Esther Lee. The 3 above were made by seniors Vanessa Mansilla, Nicholas Fernando and Eugene Kim, all graduates of 2010.

Burnishing Whistles - Ceramics I

There are so many things that I love about teaching here at Whitney, and here is an example of one of my favorite things. How good the students are to each other, how supportive and respectful they are with one another. Here senior Christopher Lu is letting senior Nicholas Fernando know how good his burnished whistle is looking. Chris didn't know I took this shot by the way, I had to be really sneaky :) Extra Credit for 7th graders and Beginning 2-D Art only: on a yellow piece of paper cut into the shape of a banana put your name and period on front side and on back tell me what your favorite food is. You never know, I might bring it in as a treat one day.