clay creatures

This spring I ran a few Saturday workshops for those families whose weekly schedules were too jam packed for art class.

One of the workshops had the kids creating imaginary bugs in clay.

My original thought was they would place them in glass jars, but those were quickly placed back in the cupboard as the kids brought their own ideas to the table.

I have a box full of shells in the studio that I brought down and the next thing you know, the kids were creating some very interesting garden snails with them using oven baked clay.

9 year old

Isn't this great? It reminds me of a moose with those shells as ears. I love the texture she added to the clay too.

9 year old

This fanciful snail is just all kinds of wonderful. Part peacock with the way she utilized the scallop shell and feathers and part unicorn! There are bells on the antennae! This is just stellar.

The girls were quite pleased with these in the end.

Then there were these butterflies created too.

I have done this project before and continue to come back to it because I know how much the kids enjoy creating them. While the clay is baking, they create the wings with watercolors on watercolor paper. 

Then when the clay cools, the wings are hot glued onto the back of the caterpillars.  The glass marble eyes were baked into the clay but anything plastic (like the rhinestones) were glued on afterwards.

The two hours went by quickly as everyone was having lots of fun creating their bugs. What a terrific way to spend a late Saturday afternoon.

Summer camp schedules are up on the website now at KudzuStudio.com and filling up quickly. I could not be more excited about all the new and fun projects I am in the process of creating to share with the kids. Hope to see your child there too.