arts of ceramic
A Simple Ceramic Art Education Project
Like most elementary school art teachers you probably strain your brain to come up with simple and fun clay making lesson plans. Here’s a suggestion for kids from third to seventh grades which demonstrates basic ceramic techniques and at the same time provides a functional and attractive art object which can be used as a Mother’s Day or Christmas gift. Making a ceramic tray decorated with beautiful impressions accurately and quickly demonstrates to students how easy it is to create beautiful pottery as well as providing a basic understanding of how clay feels, how to use tools to cut the clay to size, and how to give surface texture. This project provides instant gratification in a first-time ceramics class, and thus increases the students’ self-confidence and their interest in learning more about pottery-making.
The materials required for this ceramic art education project are a slab of clay rolled out to 1/4″ thickness, a rolling pin, a pin tool, a window wipe, clay stamps, leaves or other flat found objects, newspaper, WD-40 lubricant, a wooden board sized to reflect the inside dimensions of the finished tray and a piece of foam 2 1/2″ to 3″ thick, and a bit larger than the size of the finished tray. Then, using the rolling pin or a slab roller flatten the clay to a uniform 1/4″ thickness. Read the rest of this entry »
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Guide to the Modern Use of Ceramics
Ceramics as a material were initially used by the scientists in the space industry. They used the ceramic sheets on the outside to create a heat shield against the high temperatures which were generated when the shuttles were entering the earths atmosphere.
Once the ceramics as material was popular its first use was in the ball bearings industry where they used the ceramic material to make ball bearings which were being used wherever there were high intense heat situations.
Now the ceramic industry is a large industry with the ceramics being used in every conceivable form ranging form the flooring industry where ceramic tiles are popular to the high end aerospace industry.
Initially the ceramics were the refractory material which is still used in the flooring industry but for the high end uses there were hybrids developed like the silica carbide and the silica nitride. These ceramics have advantages over the traditional steel or other materials. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: arts of ceramic, craft hobbies