collaborative Garden Projects

collaborative garden pd
Notes from the professional development class held  at Northcote Pottery.

projects explored include: totem poles, hanging assemblages, ceramic mural techniques (and using ceramic and mosaic together), pavers and ground murals, free standing sculptural ideas.

All projects can be made by classes of students at different age levels and information about how to alter projects to suit different group needs and how to manage projects will be discussed.

Examples of projects will be explored, as well as the technical know-how of making and installation techniques, processes and the correct materials  such as glues.

Having a go at making the things that interest you will also be an important part of the day. So you will get to make trial pieces of ceramics, to take home as an example. 

all pd's are adjusted to cater particularly for the participants needs and interests on the day.

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Garden projects for your school    Tutor: Debbie (Harman) Qadri

debbieqadri@hotmail.com

Collaborative Garden Project for your school

This workshop is designed for schools or kindergartens wanting to undertake a collaborative garden project such as a mural, mosaic, totem pole, mobiles or pavers

Over the course of the day you’ll take your idea and develop the plan and the skills to make it happen.  We will:

·         Discuss and develop ideas into a plans

·         Break the plans down into elements to make the projects simple and manageable for your class

·         Determine the materials you’ll need and cost out the project

·         Develop the skills needed for the project to be realised

·         Provide trouble shooting and advice that will make life easier

At the end of the day you’ll have a plan to follow, a basic costing and a clear idea of what needs to be done to ensure the project is realised (as well as some valuable, guided practice making).

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Hanging arrangements beads, bells and small sculptures.
A great range of ceramic things can be made to make decorative hanging sculptures for, the garden. Ceramic bells, beads, small sculptures such as faces, birds, and fish can be made to incorporate into the hangings. Other materials can also be added such as driftwood, sticks, feathers and shells.

Notes:
When you make the ceramic pieces make sure they all have clear holes made in the, with a skewer before firing.
Purchasing wire. Some wires go rusty and others don’t. Make sure children are shown how to use wire correctly and safely in small pieces so that they don’t poke someone in the eye.
Fishing line can also be used so that parts swing more freely. But fishing line deteriorates faster than wire.

Totem poles and other applications
Totem pole pieces can be made uniformly by wrapping the clay around pvc piping.
It is very important that newspaper is wrapped around the PVC piping first and that the pipe is also removed from the inside of the clay cylinder within an hour.
The clay should be overlapped at least one inch and be joined with slip and scoring.

It can be gently rolled to smooth it.

The thickness of the clay should be 8-10mm, not thinner.


Notes:
I recommend terracotta, as it is very sturdy. But I have used web for this many times.
You will use a lot of clay in the process.
White clay is more easily decorated with liquid underglazes and looks great. If you want to minimise firing, use terracotta, as it looks good once fired. You can use white and blue, brown decorating slip or oxides and slips on terracotta and it looks very good once fired.

Many people have also had excellent results painting the bisque fired clay with vipond paints.

Bisque-fired terracotta can withstand the elements looks great in the garden.

If you just bisque fire, you can concentrate on carving, scoring and marking the clay for decoration.

Installation

You need to know how you are going to install your work before you make it. Ceramics shrinks in the kiln, so if you are threading beads of totems over a pipe or metal stake, make sure you are planning the sizes correctly. You will also need to pay attention to safe installation. Totem poles are very heavy and the stake may need to be installed with a base of concrete to hold it straight.

? before you dig perhaps check for water and gas pipes?

Birdhouses
Make using PVC pipe.
Remove pipe
Add the roof which can be made by making a large circle and cutting out a wedge to make it into a cone. Overlap edges by one cm at least when joining.

Pre- bisque tile applications
buying pre-bisqued tiles and painting them with underglazes is a good way of making a large and colourful artwork with only one firing and less mess. The tiles can be attached to a backing board with silicon or tile adhesive depending on the surface that it is being glued onto.

Blueboard or cement sheet – tile adhesive or silicon

Or marine plywood for outdoors – silicon or pre-mixed flexible tile adhesive

Indoors – you can use any sturdy surface that will hold the weight of the ceramics, plywood, MDF, Masonite, particle board etc.

Notes:
Coloured underglazes should be used thinly as they will peel if applied thickly.
Underglazes can be thinned with water.
I would recommend not using oxides to decorate pre-bisque tiles, as when you apply the glaze with a brush they usually smudge. If you want to use oxides you will need to make up a powdered glaze and dip the tiles into it face down to glaze them.
Glazing needs to be done very carefully as the underglazes can get smudged if the glaze is applied too brusquely or if a second coat is applied while it is still wet. The glaze needs to be gently brushed on with one stroke and then left to dry before adding the next coat.

If the mural is being placed outside always use a weatherproof backing board such as cement sheet, blueboard or MARINE ply which has been varnished with marine varnish. Artwork can be applied directly to a brick wall with tile adhesive or silicon. Using surfaces which deteriorate will shorten the life of your artwork.

Cut clay, murals low relief sculpture.

Slabs of clay can be made into low relief sculpture murals. Rollout slabs of clay and join them to make the slab to size by overlapping the clay and joining with scoring and slip. Draw or scratch the design onto the clay and add clay to build low relief areas. Cut the clay into pieces before it dries. Separate the pieces and smooth the edges. Dry slowly and carefully.

Notes:

Keep clay one centimetre ( pinkie) thick. Dry slowly, covered with newspaper layers and a lightweight board so that it does not curl. Moving the work onto layers of newspaper can speed up the drying form underneath. Patience is a virtue in ceramics and always assists with success.

Hanging plaques

These can be made with slabs. Make sure that a hole or hanging system on the back of the plaque is made before drying. Themes: birds, faces, scenes painted on a slab.

For a once only fire, use a clay with coloured slips and oxides.

For glaze fire, use coloured underglazes.

Other projects:

·         Low relief ceramic features can be made for mosaic pavers

·         Low relief ceramic features can be made to be included in mosaic walls, pots, totem poles.

·         Low relief ceramic artworks can be silicone onto pre-existing walls or fences to create an artwork.

·         Plant holders made using slabs, to decorate a fence.

·         Face plaques

·         Birds or fish ( two pinch pot or slab method) or flat flowers made to sit on metal stakes.

·         Hanging spherical birdhouses

Decoration:

For terracotta once fire: white earthenware slip or decorating slip, alice blue underglaze, black stain, iron oxide.

For WEB ( white earthenware handbuilding) terracotta slip, brown and white, black stain, decorating slip

Twice fired – I use liquid underglazes on greenware and then clear gloss glaze for the second firing.

Examples

Bird plaque, Totem pole pipe, Hanging plaque, Tile mural, Pre-bisque tile mural.