The first batch of Critters is out of the kiln! These little pinch pots have definitely got BIG personality! I also included the names and descriptions that students invented for their critters.

Oceana & Sunny
“Crackers,” the small brown owl, secretly lives in the cupboard and eats all types of snack food. He plays practical jokes at night and naps during the day. “Peri Piranha,” the ferocious fighting fish loves to eat sushi. He is camouflaged in the aqua-marine colored water so that he can sneak attack other fish.

penguin & Mikayla
“Bob,” the party penguin lives in Los Vegas and loves to eat eat junk food including chips, pizza, Oreos, and cookies. He behaves like a penguin unless he is threatened, in which case he will shoot lasers out of his eyes.

Ashley & Chloe
“Shadow,” is a rare creature called an Eclipse Dixit. Dixits are known to travel the world looking for cocoa beans. Every lunar eclipse flocks of Dixits sing a beautiful song.

Emily & Monster
“Chubbs”, the spotted monster, lives in the pantry and likes to eat Cheerios. He is famous for his pro-tennis career and he likes to give out hugs.

Iana & Sabrina
“George”, the baby elephant, lives in the garden and eats blueberries. He likes cloud-watching, smelling flowers, and swimming with his gnome friends. “Ella,” the pink elephant will do tricks for peanuts- her favorite treat! She can spray water with her trunk, and juggle up to four things at once!

fish & Brisa
“Kitty,” the Luna Shark loves to eat java chip ice cream while watching his favorite shows- Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries. “Roger,” the giraffe likes to eat apple bananas and watch Sponge Bob.

critters_07
“Mud,” the green spike-tailed Croop, lives in swamps, marshes, and wet muddy areas. Croops will eat anything that fits in their large mouths and like to hunt prey by hiding in the mud. When threatened, Croops can dig in to the ground leaving only a spiked tail above ground acting as a primitive but effective form of protection.

critters_08
“Chompers,” the gaming dinosaur loves to eat tacos. He lives under the bed, sleeps all day, and plays PS3 all night. “Mr. Buttercup,” the spoiled fat cat, spends his days in bed at a royal palace. His favorite things to do are take naps and eat cookies.

critters_09
“Spike,” the spiky blob, lives in an underwater cave and eats noodles. You know he’s happy when he turns pink, and he puffs up when he gets mad. His favorite thing to do is ride on the backs of narwals. “Trig,” the pig-troll sleeps under a bridge and eats anything he can find. Although Trig looks scary, he is actually very kind. He will only attack with his razor-sharp tusks if he gets scared.

By Julia

9 thoughts on “Pinch Pot Critters”
  1. LOVE your ideas for the classroom! I randomly feel upon your wrapped vase lesson a couple of years back and used it in my classroom. I tried to find the owner, but the Google image search only went so far. So I just stumbled on your totem poles thru Pintrest and while I was stalking your website I noticed the wrapped vessels again! Crazy good ideas you have! I was hoping you could share with me your inspiration and requirements for the textured coil vase project? And did you stain the outside? Looking to do something different with the kids, I get bored ust thinking of using the same lesson! Might steal the pinch pot critters as well, if that’s ok??
    Thanks!

    Alicia Hawkins
    Park View Middle School
    Cranston, RI
    ahawkins@cpsed.net
    http://hawkart.weebly.com/

  2. Hi Alicia,
    Thanks so much for the positive feedback! I’m so glad you can use some of my project ideas in your class. I also checked out your website and was inspired by your student’s work as well! I especially liked your approach to Pop Art portraits!

    If I remember correctly, I required that students create 4 to 5 different coil patterns (rhythm, repetition, and line) for their coil pots. The animal that wraps around the outside was added once the coil vessel was complete. It’s great to try intertwining features such as tails or legs in and out of spaces between the coils. It is important that the vessel is still leather hard when the creature is attached.

    I will check back with your site to see how your pinch pot critters turn out… Have fun!

  3. Hi Julia,

    Awesome project. This is my second year teaching art to 6th graders and I want to do a pinch pot monster project. Your final projects have inspired me to change up my clay this year and try this. Still feeling my way through clay, and have a couple questions. Did you have the students underglaze these, and how many coats, they seem so bright. Any advice on this project is appreciated.

    You rock.
    Kelly

  4. Hi Kelly,
    Thanks for your comment! I didn’t use underglaze, only because there is the extra step of having to then overglaze… And sometimes middle schoolers can be clumsy handling greenware. Instead we used low-fire cone 6 glaze from Laguna Clay Company that students brushed on after bisque firing. My experience with both underglaze and low-fire glaze is that two coats works best. Either choice would work for this project, so if you already have underglaze, go ahead and use it…
    Good luck!

  5. I really like how colorful and creative this is. I would like to learn how to work with clay and how to draw 3-d things.

  6. This project is really interesting because of how creative all of the sculptures are. It seems like a really fun expressive project.

    This year in art class I hope that we get to do something like this with ceramics (though I’m not the best at working with clay 🙂

    Great Website!
    – Kasiah Vercelli 🙂

  7. I hope we get to do something like this clay project. The blue cat with the cookie is my favorite out of all of them. The pink elephant is also cute.

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