Ceramic Phone Holder

Ceramic Phone Holder with an Additional Function

This project involves students creating hand-built ceramic phone holder with an additional function.

Students will learn ceramic building techniques: wedging, attaching clay with the four s's, slab, coil, pinch, as well as, focusing on surface quality.

Ceramic Phone Holder has an Additional Function

Amplifier plus Phone Holder

Glasses Holder plus Phone Holder

Pencil Holder plus Phone Holder

Ceramics is an Art Medium

Project Requirements

Holds Your Phone

Phone fits and sculpture doesn't fall over when holding phone

Charging Cord Hole

Make a hole in the bottom and the back for the charging cord. There should be space for the phone to be charging while in the sculpture. Don't make it too hard to plug in the phone.

Additional Function

In addition to being a phone holder, the sculpture also does something else, like a pencil holder or sound amplifier.

Texture Added

Carved textures or attached clay textures make the surface more interesting. Smooth is the default. Textures are added on smooth clay

Wedged Clay

Wedging removes air bubbles from the clay to prevent the clay from blowing up in the kiln.

Scored & Slipped

Scoring helps create more surface area between the two parts being connected. Slip helps join the two pieces like glue.

Right Size

Your sculpture should be BIGGER than the minimum sizes of 2" wide, 3" tall and 3" deep.

Name Carved

You should carve your name, your teacher's initial, and period number inside or on the bottom of your sculpture. No name on there? You might not get a grade for your work!

Rough Sketch

Idea #1

Idea #2

Side or 3/4 View and Front View
Phone Holder
Other Function (Amplifier, Pencil Holder, etc.)
Cord Hole
Added Clay
Texture
Name + Teacher Initial + Period Number

Sculpting Instructions

Step One

WEDGING : Take 2 minutes to wedge your clay. Start by forming your clay into a ball. Then, with both hands on either side, push the clay in and down towards the wedging mat at the same time. Then, flip the clay and do it again. You should end up with a little pyramid.

Step Two

MAKE A PINCH POT : Cut your wedge in half. Put half under a wet towel. Use the other half to make a pinch pot. The walls of the pinch pot should be no thinner than a 1/4" thick, but no fatter than 1/2" thick.

Step Three

ADD BIG STUFF : Add Function Parts (Amplifier pictured). Remember to SCORE the parts you want to attach, add SLIP to the scoring, STICK them together, and SMOOTH out the attached parts.

Step Four

CUT PHONE HOLDER SLOT : Cut Phone Holder Slot. Remember that clay shrinks a bit as it dries, so make the space for your phone a bit larger than your phone.

Step Five

CORD HOLE : Cut a hole for the charging cord to exit out the back.

Step Six

ADD SMALLER STUFF : Add the extra parts that will make your sculpture interesting to look at from all sides. Remember to Score, Slip, Stick, and Smooth any time you add clay.

Step Seven

ADD TEXTURE : First smooth the surface of your sculpture with a damp sponge. Then, add a texture to make part of your sculpture more interesting. You can make impressions by pushing a tool into the clay in a repeating pattern. You can also add texture by adding small bits of clay in a pattern.

Step Eight

CARVE NAME : On the inside or the bottom, carve your NAME, your teacher's initial and your period number. Example: Name R1

In-Class Demonstration Videos

New Supplies + Ceramic Project Description

Ceramic Demo - Helmet Sound Amplifier

Adding Texture to Helmet Demo

Ceramic Demo - Dinosaur Amplifier

Three Building Techniques: Pinch, Slab, Coil

Ceramics Demo - Phonograph

Helmet - Turn in Checklist

Dino Checklist Before Drying

Phonograph Turn in Checklist

Turning in your Bone Dry Clay

Helmet Demo

Dinosaur Demo

Phonograph Demo

Turning in your Bone Dry Clay

TURN IN YOUR SCULPTURE TO THE "READY TO BE FIRED TABLE"
IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE BONE DRY - IT CAN BE LEATHER HARD.

Photos You Need to Have of Your Sculpture

Right Side

Front

Back (cord hole visible)

Top

Left Side

Name Carved into Sculpture

Painting Your Ceramic Sculpture

VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS

Period Zero

Photographing Ceramics

Period One

Period Two

PAINTING YOUR SCULPTURE REQUIREMENTS

LIMITED COLOR PALETTE (3 Colors with 2+ values of each color)
PAINTED DETAILS (added details that weren't sculpted)
IN THE ROUND (all sides are equally interesting)
CUSTOM COLORS (mixed own colors, did not use out of bottle)
CRAFTSMANSHIP (take your time to get smooth lines)
UNITY (linked areas of the composition together with multiple details)
PHOTOS (colored paper background create contrast with sculpture)
7 PHOTOS (front, front with phone and cord plugged in if possible, left view, back view, right view, top view, underneath view; all files labeled with view name and your name - ex: RossFront.jpg)