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"A Faithful Attempt" is designed to showcase a variety of K-12 art lessons, the work of my art students, as well as other art-related topics. Projects shown are my take on other art teacher's lessons, lessons found in books or else designed by myself.
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge, with deep respect, that I am gathered on Treaty 7 territory. I acknowledge the many First Nations, Métis and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for generations. I recognize the land as an act of reconciliation and gratitude to those whose territory we reside on or are visiting.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Clay Dragons



Grade 8's made dragons for their clay unit. 
Before this project they practised drawing dragons with an oil pastel project you can see here.

They had the choice of either an Eastern Asian style snake-like dragon or the more traditional 'fairy-tale' European winged dragon. I demonstrated both techniques, emphasizing the Asian dragon was slightly easier. The Western dragon involved fusing together two pinch pots in order to get a hollow body, then the biggest challenge of attaching the legs, wings and head. This was a challenging project but I was really happy with the end results.

                 

   
My sample: a bisque fired Asian style dragon.
I used a wooden coffee stir stick from a coffee shop to create the scales. 
A popsicle stick would create larger scales.

                          My other sample: a bisque fired Western style dragon with wings.


Here are some students' work waiting to dry (let them dry a week, at least).








Here are some glazed dragons waiting to be fired (we used Mayco Stroke and Coat glazes)



Ta da!











This guy was inspired by the film "How to Train Your Dragon".
















9 comments:

Hope Hunter Knight said...

Especially like the Asian dragon style - fun for the Chinese New Year, right around the corner...

Miss said...

Thanks Hope!

lisbonlioness said...

Found you via pinterest, and there is not one dragon in this post I would not be proud of displaying in my house. They are amazing, the whole bunch of them! I am quite partial to dragons myself, but my little attempts never turned out such scaly goodness. Way impressive!

Miss said...

Thanks so much lisbonlioness!

Katie Morris said...

I used your coil idea with my 4th grade students in our East Asian study. They loved learning about Asian dragons and were really excited about this lesson. Thanks!

Miss said...

I'm glad the lesson worked out for you, Katie. Yes, all kids love dragons!

Mrs.Kaip'sArtClass said...

These are amazing!

Miss said...

Thanks Mrs. Kaip!

Anonymous said...

Awesome post.

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