LET'S LIGHT OUR FIRES

SLAB CANDLE HOLDERS & BEESWAX CANDLES

CERAMICS I

clay, sawdust firing, beeswax, metallic rubbing compounds & embellishments

For many years now the beginners in clay have done this candle holder assignment 

as a lead in to more difficult slab constructions.

They learn new embossing techniques and how to roll beeswax candles 

which they love.

Some also choose to add beads and rafia to their candles to spruce them up.  

After the bisque firing we sawdust fire them for an earthy look.  

Some of the students then choose to rub them with metallic compounds to add color.

They take them home the day they leave for their two week winter break.

I buy the beeswax in kits from Magic Cabin.

It's a bit pricey but so worth the fun and smiles it produces.

The kids love picking their colors to make tapers with.

And they also love having a finished product to take home for a gift.

LIGHT OUR FIRES

SAWDUST CANDLESTICKS WITH BEESWAX CANDLES

CERAMICS I

clay, sawdust firing, metallic rubbing compounds, beeswax 

Students,

just know that I am currently running 3 months behind on my posts.

Like on these candlesticks.

You all made them in November and finished them in December and I'm just getting them up.

So with that said,

here we go.

Here is the fabulous group shot of them all with their self-evals underneath.

Self-evaluations are mandated by the State of California as part of the Arts Framework 

for students to learn to objectively evaluate and judge their own pieces.

At the end of each assignment,

 on the left side of their evals.,

I have the kids list out all the requirements with the points possible they could have earned.

On the right side they make two columns,

one for themselves and one for me.

Then they write in their column what point values they think they deserve for each requirement.

They give me both their project and their self-evals.,

 and I then write in my column what I think they deserve.

Most of the time they are right on and I agree with them,

or they are a bit too hard on themselves,

so in my column I will give them a higher point value.

Every so often one person might not take this part seriously 

and will give themselves a perfect score.

Once they get to know me,

 they will find that I can always find something wrong with a piece,

so that they can grow as artists.

So usually they only try that one time,

because I blast them for not taking the process seriously,

 and the next time they usually give me honesty.

But occasionally,

there will be a student or two that do earn perfect scores.

And I love when that happens!!

And sometimes,

 they go so above and beyond minimum requirements & they earn some extra credit points.

I always take the time to write at least on positive comment and/or a helpful criticism.

I had an alumni return after 20 years to visit 

and she told me she kept every single self eval. I ever wrote her

 because of my honest heartfelt comments to her.

Ahhhh

:)

This assignment was a prelude to working with slabs dimensionally.

They also learned some new surface design techniques with included embossing items into the clay like laces, feathers, burlap/fabric, cardboard shapes, leaves, flowers etc.

That had to happen on two sides of their candlestick.

On the other two sides they were asked to try out their new bisqued stamps & cylinders

they made that had just came out of the kiln.

The results were so lovely as you will see.

The ones above and below were done by sophomore Olivia Kruger and junior Sarah Oh.

Both girls added sculptural elements which I loved

and inspired me to add to next years requirements.

So thanks you two!

These next beauties were made by junior Vincent Nguyen 

& seniors Vinaini Jayasinghe and Lauren Kennedy.

In all of these pieces,

notice the cool ways the students choose to end the tops of their sticks,

and the delicate application of the rubbing compounds.

These next 3 stunning pieces were created by Olivia (her extra one),

and the other two by junior Simran Doshi.

Love those little balls Simi has added to the one on the right 

not only around the lip but around the bottom to balance her stick.

They look like little feet.

So sweet.

A  close up.

And aren't these pretty?

Also notice how complimentary the beeswax color choices go with their rubbings.

These three were done by seniors Reehan Ahmad and Sahil Doshi,

and junior Samuel Kim.

And I can't end without showing one of my favorites which was done by senior Lauren Kennedy.  .

I'm crazy about those wings.

They remind me a bit of Native American Totems.

Just fabulous design Lauren! 

Let's Light Them Up!

SLAB CANDLEHOLDERS W/ BEESWAX CANDLES

CERAMICS I

clay, metallic rubbing compounds, beeswax, raffia & misc. embellishments

Making these slab candlestick holders is a prelude to the more difficult slab boxes

 that are coming up in 3rd Quarter.

Also required in this assignment is the use of found objects embedded in the clay's surface

like feathers, fabrics, laces, leaves, yarns, cardboard shapes, etc. on 2 sides of the holder.

On the other 2 sides,

 the students are required to use their bisqued stamps and cylinder stamps they made in 1st Quarter.

And then because they take these home right before Xmas break, 

I buy them a beautiful variety of beeswax and teach them to make tapers.

This year they went crazy wonderful with the embellishments as you will see. 

This first gorgeous work was created by junior Eryn  Burnett.

I forgot to mention that my assistant Alyssa Olea loads them into our sawdust fire

for that charcoal flavor.

Then the kids rub them with metallic compounds to bring up the surface designs.

These next three had so much fabulous color rubbed into their surfaces.

From the left we have seniors Eduardo Jacinto & Elijah Ramos,

and junior Jaime Kim.

a close up

These next beauties belong to junior Klyne Madayag, senior Nikita Govind,

 and 8th grader Claire Chung.

a close up

And lastly we have these 3 lovelies by 8th grader Lindsey Chang, 

and juniors Juliene Porciuncula & Sitara Puliyanda.

one more close up

"Light My Fire"

SLAB CANDLESTICKS W/ BEESWAX CANDLES

CERAMICS I

These clay candlesticks are a prelude to making a larger slab box which the kids are currently working on as I post this.  For the surface design these use their clay stamps and cylinder rolls they make earlier in the year on two sides.  Then on the other two they embed/emboss leaves, flowers, cardboard shapes, textural yarns, wire gird, doilies, etc.  The pieces are sawdust fired then a choice between rubbing metallic compounds or simply coating it with a glue water solution. 

 Two days before we leave for our holiday break, I buy them boxes full of beautifully pigmented beeswax and I show them how to make candles, my holiday gift to them.

This first one is junior Nicolas Tudor's candle atop my demo. candlestick that Nick finished off when we couldn't find his stick, and below we have works from juniors Erin Hsiao and Tiffany Chu.  

Really pretty ladies! 

One of my favorites was junior Yasmeen Pardo's.  She pushed metal staples into the side corners for a really cool look.

These next two beauties belong to junior Ju Eun Lee and senior Anne Allan.  The kids had the choice whether to make a cylinder or a taper candle.  They could also embellish them with beads and findings.

Here we have Nick's again in between seniors Jocelyn Kim's and Priya Shah.  Notice how differently they've all chosen to finish them off.

And lastly there is the lovely leaf stamped one next to the fun, scary skull piece by junior Stephanie Kim.  I'll get back to you on who created the leaf one.

Clay Candlestick Holder - My Work

This was just sent across the pond to Australia as a gift to a fellow artist for her generosity.  It was made during a demo. I was giving on clay candlestick holders (a prelude to slab boxes).  We make these just before the Xmas break, and as a present to all the students, I buy them beeswax to make their own candles with.  To finish them off I sawdust fire and the kids rub them with metallic compounds, then we embellish with raffia.

Who Knew That Saying Good-Bye Could Be So Nice?

My new blog friend, Jenclair, at Bayou Quilts recently sent me the most lovely encrusted embroidered art piece that she made after I inquired if they were for sale.  I told her I wanted to show one to my crafts students since they all do stitchery now and could appreciate such fine workmanship.  Instead she told me she'd just send me one since I expressed an interest.  Wow, I was floored, really???  The piece probably has at least 50 hours or more of stitching in it.   I will post the piece tomorrow so you can see it, and also what I'm making to showcase it in.

Such overwhelming generosity, I felt I wanted to give something special back to her.  So last week when the weather was cooler here, I sent her a clay slab candlestick holder I had made as a demo this year for my beginning clay kids, plus the candle I demoed for them.  The candle is made from beeswax and I was scared it would melt in transit.  But as you can see here it didn't and Jenclair posted these pix yesterday on her blog to show off my work.   I love how her camera was able to focus in close on the colorful metallics I rubbed over the embossed clay.

So if you haven't had a chance to check out Jenclair's blog, click on the link and enjoy her site.  She is a fiber artist, an eco-dyer, a gardener extraordinaire and a loving grandmother.  Plus she does work and art for the Alzheimer's Organization which is very near and dear to my heart.  Jenclair is a very special woman!

Slab Candlesticks w/ Beeswax Candles

To see how behind I am on keeping my posting up to date is to know that this was a December assignment. So what's that?  Almost 5 months behind, yep.  Oh well.

This is a clay piece that goes home with the kids to be used as a gift during the holidays.  The candlestick is their first experience with the slab technique and embossing on the clay.  It's also their first sawdust fired piece.  After it comes thru that firing they have a choice on the finish.  To let it looking very primitive and put a glue sealer on it or to rub metallic oil based compounds over it.  

Junior Rita Labib chose the latter and rubbed several colors on hers.  She also chose to embellish with interesting  beads.  Love the little clay bird she found.

I also showed the kids how to make tapered beeswax candles so these ended up being really nice gifts  for the season.

Slab Candlesticks w/ Beeswax Candles - Student Work

Every year when I began my slab unit in the beginning Ceramics class, I start with slab candlesticks. It's a fun, simple way to ease the kids into making their more difficult slab boxes later on. And it's also an assignment that introduces them to clay embossing with laces, leaves, burlaps, wire mesh, and other found items around the room. So 2 sides were embossed, and the other 2 sides I had required them to use their cylinder rolls & stamps that they made early on out of clay that we bisque fired to make them usable. So lots of Surface Decoration!!! That's what it's all about clay kids! :) The pieces above were done either last year or the year before, I'm sorry, I've lost track. And the ones below were just finished up. They had a choice in how they finished them up after the pieces were sawdust fired. They could either paint a 50/50 mixture of Elmer's Glue and water over the surface, or they could have rubbed them with metallic compounds.

From left to right are seniors John Balagtas, Harry Trieu, junior David Hyun, and seniors Andrea Acosta and Andy De Avila. Very cool pieces your guys. And yes, they made their own beeswax candles to put inside them, but they had already been sent home so you can't see how they looked together. Bad planning on my part. Sorry!

Slab Built Candle Stick Holders with Beeswax Candles- Student Work

Ceramics I, they pix are for you to see and start thinking about before Monday when we begin.
You will be embossing the clay with many different textures: laces, burlaps,cardboard cut out shapes, stamps and cylinder rolls. I'd also like you to do something geometric or organic with the lip so it becomes asymmetrical, don't be boring and just leave it flat across the top. Also, think about what colors you'd like to build your candle sticks from and what color metallic compounds you want to rub over the sawdust fired surface, and if you are going to embellish with raffia streamers and bows. These make great Holiday gifts.