Ceramic Animal Wall Planters

This project involves students creating hand-built ceramic wall-hanging planters with animal features.

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

Plastic & Leatherhard Clay

All of the building happens during the Plastic stage, when the clay is wet and pliable.
The carving of the textures happen during the leatherhard stage, when the clay is less flexible, but still changeable.

Bisque ware

Once the clay is completely dry, it is fired in the kiln. When it comes back from the kiln, it is hard and permanently changed. It will no longer reconstitute back into malleable clay.

Painted & Glossed

Finishing your sculpture with painted details and a gloss finish. Ceramicists would glaze their ceramic sculptures by coating the bisqueware in powdered glass and other chemicals that react to the heat in the kiln.

Rat

  • Facial Features: Eyes, Ears, Snout with nose
​
  • Textures: Impressed fur, Ear ridges, Whisker holes
 
  • Planter Features: Flat back, Open top with hollow opening, Keyhole for hanging on a screw, nail, or hook

Macaque

  • Facial Features: Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Teeth
​
  • Textures: Impressed fur (facial fur), Added clay fur (around head), Poked holes pores, Carved tusk ridges

  • Planter Features: Flat back, Open top with hollow opening, Keyhole for hanging on a screw, nail, or hook

Goat

  • Facial Features: Eyes, ears, nose, horns, beard
​
  • Textures: Impressed facial fur, Added clay forehead fur, Embossed horns (netting), Carved beard hair

  • Planter Features: Flat back, Open top with hollow opening, Keyhole for hanging on a screw, nail, or hook

Download the Rubric

ENGLISH
CHINESE
SPANISH

Download the Rough Draft

ROUGH DRAFT

Rough Sketch - 3 Views

• Front View
    3+ Facial features
    Textures are noted
• 3/4 or Side View
    Shows opening on top
    Protrusions on face
• Back View
    Keyhole and Name

Day One

Base Form
​& Keyhole + Name

Day Two

Add main shape pieces to match the animal

Day Three

Add Facial Features

Day Four

Add Textures

Steps for Day One

Roll out the clay 1/4" thick
Cut the clay in two with one side about a third the size of the whole.
Use the smaller piece as the back of the base form. Score around a ball of newspaper.
Use slip to join pieces of clay. Slather slip over your score marks.
Lay the larger clay over the newspaper ball and push down onto the base clay. Cut through the joined pieces of clay.