Homemade Clay Garden Mushrooms

What better way to give a little funky charm to your garden or potted plants than to "plant" some hand-made clay mushrooms.

I teach my students that basic ceramic hand building starts with learning to make three forms: a ball (for pinch pots), a snake (for oil pots), and a pancake (for building with flat slabs). This garden mushroom project, not only helps students use two of these techniques, but is serving as a fundraiser to coincide with a school plant sale. 

They start with a pinch pot to make the top of a mushroom, and then they make a coil for the stem. These are attached using a score and slip technique, and so a lot of basic skills are being practiced with one simple project. 

When the clay was still wet, we nestled the mushroom tops upside-down in newspaper cradled in a cup, sometimes wrapping paper towels around the stem to keep it from slumping over. Students could press  objects into the mushroom tops to make dots or lines to add texture to the surface.

The stem made for a perfect handle to glaze the mushroom top. This student is totally blind but was able to get a few coats of glaze on each of their mushrooms without any problem. It was a little tricky getting glaze from the top of the mushrooms from touching the kiln shelves, but I sponged off the edges and balanced the tops on little stilts. A couple of the tops came off in the bisque firing, but I managed to stand the stems up in kiln posts, put a blob of glaze at the top of each stem, and balanced the mushroom tops until the two parts fused together. Everyone was so happy to see all the colors after the glaze firing. 

Try finding mushroom combinations that either mimic or contrast with the plants pairing.

I had never heard about these until half a year ago, but this project has turned out to be a big hit with my students.  Students suggested prices as low as $1 and as high as $20.  We compromised at a $5 price, and we'll see how it goes. Here's to a successful fundraiser!

 

Puppetry Arts Field Trip

Living in Georgia means getting to be close to the largest puppet museums in North America. The Center for Puppetry Arts has 4,000 puppets, and the biggest collection of Jim Henson's masterpieces on earth.

Every 3 or 4 years I like to do some puppet making projects incorporating global cultures or performing arts and literature. This year my lesson spanned both as we were studying shadow puppets that have been in Chinese and Indonesian cultures for over 1,000 years. 

Most of the performances at the center are geared towards younger audiences, with Dr. Suess or Very Hungry Caterpillar type shows. But I found one that was definitely geared towards my high school students: Tales of Edgar Allen Poe. The sets were versitile, with doorways turned ship masts, stairways turned catecombs, paintings that became see-through, and table tops that became floor boards for hiding dead bodies. The puppets were also versitile: eyes popped out, or glowed from within. Faces changed, and corpses dismantled. The stories are pretty gruesome, but it's classic literature and my students loved every minute of smoke machines and folly artistry. I liked that it was as much about the language as the performance, so even my blind students could enjoy it with minimal audio description. See...another layer of literature incorporated into my art lesson.

There were lots of hands on opportunities. Half of the museum takes you through history and around the world, as the parts of the gallery are divided by continent. Our tour guide let students pass around at least 10 different kind of puppets, from African stick puppets, to Japanese Bunraku puppets, to Italian marionettes.

And the Jim Henson side of the museum, allowed students to try out what it might be like to be on a puppeteer on a TV show,

Movies and TV shows have used puppets to entertain masses, so it was fun to see the actual pieces used in the Lion King, Ghost Busters, Gumbi, Pinochio, and more!

It has been a couple decades, but I remember vividly the 3 field trips I took throughout my high school experience, two of which were with my art class. I count on my students looking back on the 4 Art field trips we took this year alone. This was the first year some of them have been to any sort of museum. I hope it is the start of a life long journey for them to explore the world and never stop learning about the Arts. 

 

Indonesian Shadow Puppet Making Project

Student made shadow puppets for Aesop's fable of the crow and the fox

Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world. There are 300 hundred ethnicities, 700 languages, and 120 volcanoes on the many islands that make up the country of Indonesia. And the animal species are varied, with Asian animals (such as tigers and elephants) on the western islands, and Australian animals (koalas and komodo dragons) on the eastern islands. Because my students are blind or visually impaired, I brought in the spices (such as cloves and nutmeg) for students to smell. These were important Indonesian spices that put them on the map in terms of trade. I brought in a model of the kind of boat people would have used to row from one island to another. And I made an Indonesian flag (red stripe and white stripe) to discuss the importance of symbolism in flags. 

The cow jumped over the moon!

Day 2 of the lesson was when I introduced my students to puppetry. Shadow puppets have been part of the culture of Indonesia for about 1,000 years. I knew that my students would have a chance to see and touch Indonesian shadow puppets at Atlanta's Center for Puppetry Arts, so I thought it would be a perfect way for us to tie in performing arts with cultural arts and prepare my students for our upcoming field trip.

Every student picked an animal or character. Some made characters from a nursery rhyme or fable, others just came up with their own animal or person to draw on a cheap piece of white paper. Then they cut out the the shape on black paper. Some body parts had paper clasps as hinges or joints for moving parts.

A few students  used cut holes as windows for stained glass by coloring laminating plastic with sharpies and than taping it to the puppet. 

Other students used paint pens to decorate their shadow puppets. Indonesian shadow puppets are all about the silhouette, with intricate holes cut to make a lacey shapes. But the puppets, often made of buffalo skin,  also had/have elaborate patterns painted onto them that will never been seen during a performance.

I used an old silk screen as a screen for the puppet theatre, for students to try their hand at puppetry.

 

Paper Bag Puppets

 

While my high schoolers could spend a week, with each student making enough shadow puppets to cast a small show, my elementary school students didn't have that kind of time...or skill set. We started simple, with paper bags. two dots on a bag is technically all you need for a puppet. I limited my students to green paper bags as the starting point and some students wanted to make animals like lizards and frogs, others wanted to make monsters or aliens. One made Elphaba from Wicked, another made a little green man with a bow tie and mustache. It's a short and simple assignment that has to do with making choices, finding resources, cutting and pasting. Ultimately, it's a project that shows how creativity is possible by having your own ideas and making those ideas tangible.

Lots of Dots: Aboriginal Inspired Dot Paintings

Did you know that there are more kangaroos than there are people in Australia? It was fun to study Australian history and culture with my students before making Aboriginal-inspired dot paintings. These paintings use symbols to represent things such as bodies of water or gatherings of people. Often they include handprints or or animal shapes. 

Dark paper made for a nice value contrast with bright or light colors, which is helpful for my students with low vision, and the acrylic dots made from the backs of pencils dipped in paint became tactile bumps once the paint dried. This project can be done in a period or two of art class, which meant there was plenty of time for discussion of symbolism in art, and how important it is to appreciate cultures other than our own.

 

Mosaics Project

We began our Art class unit about art around the world by studying Ancient Roman mosaics. Long before Italy was a country with Rome as a capital, it was part of a huge empire, extending into Africa and Great Britain. And the mosaics with intricate images made of thousands of tiny colored glass and ceramic tiles, like pixels. There were complex boarder patterns, intricate scenes from daily life. a wide range of value would give the illusion of space to images of people, animals, and still life objects. 

 My students chose from a variety of colored tiles in my room, put on a pair of safety glasses, and then took a hammer to the tile to break it into smaller pieces. Our classroom has an outdoor patio, where we could attack the tiles on bricks without having to worry about a big indoor mess. 

Students each drew a simple image onto a piece of wood, and then glued their tiles down with hot glue or hot glue. It helps to start with the big pieces and then fit smaller pieces into the remaining spaces. I bought a bag of sand grout, and half the bag ended up being enough for 15 mosaics of various sizes. We mixed a cup or two at a time, covering the top with a square of mat board, trying to "squeegee" it into all the cracks. After it sits long enough to harden, the excess on the top can wiped and polished up with a rag. Everyone was so excited to see how their projects turned out. 

 

Cloud 9: Making Clouds from Paper Lanterns

I never imagined how easy it would be to make home-made clouds that look like the real thing.

You can make one in a couple of hours. I used a hot glue gun with large hot glue sticks, and attached about 4 round paper lanterns together. You can cut small holes on either side if you want them to fit together a little more snuggly and have a large whole between each chamber so that you can easily string lights inside the entire cloud. But I like to keep them a little less like one blob and more like separate billows of the same cloud. I was able to poke my finger through the sides after they were glued. Use lots of glue in a circle about the circumference of an apple, and then old them together until the glue cools.

Then I put more circles of hot glue on one lantern on a time and held a handful of Poly-fil against the glue spots. bit by bit, you cover the cloud, going back to check on bald spots. I also used quilt batting to cover the wholes in the bottom and some of the cracks before adding Poly-fil stuffing to the top of the batting. The stuffing sticks better to the paper lantern than the batting though. Just kind of pull it over the holes to hide the fact that these are really lanterns. I made sure that the hanging loops were at the top, and plan on using fishing line to hang it from the ceiling for our Enchantment Under the Stars prom. I have some LED lights to help them glow pink or purple. The more varied the sizes of lanterns the better. Keep the small ones on top and sides. 

It takes about 10 large glue sticks and a little more than half a pound of Polyfil for one cloud. I made about six and still half half of my 13.5 box of stuffing left. (It was $35 a box).

Whether you are decorating a bedroom, or for baby shower or bridal shower. These clouds can create a really special ambiance that makes you feel like you are on cloud 9!

 

Painting a Night Sky Back Drop

We've got some fun events coming up at my school. A spring concert, and a prom, with the theme: Enchantment under the stars. A starry & cloudy night sky killed two birds with one stone, just like last year when the prom theme was Enchanted Forrest, and the spring program was Into the Woods. I love working smarter, so I can work harder on other projects. We started with a blue background, starting with the darkest blue at the top, and adding lighter blue to the paint pan, until it was a sky blue at the bottom. A couple of my students got a kick out of giving our stars of the silver screen (from our Hooray for Hollywood prom) some wacky features during the process.

As soon as that dried, I had two more students add the stars. The more the better. They wanted to space them all evenly, so I had to remind them to think in clusters and make some bigger than the others. Most of the stars were 6-8 feet off the ground so we tilted the sets down on a chair to make it more accessible.

When it comes to making clouds, it's easy to over-do it. Start with darker values. Just subtly shift the value from the background. And I used a brush that was about 4 inches wide to start.  Then I started adding lighter colors until there was some areas of white, usually around the edges and tops of clouds using a one inch brush. It would make more sense to have a moon reflecting light back onto the clouds, but I'm saving a big moon for another photo op. I like to use an almost dry brush and scrub it on in circular motions so that it doesn't come off as a flat, coloring-book-style cloud. It didn't take long, and it is gratifying to knock out what is essentially a 32 foot mural in a day.

 

Social Awareness Stop Motion Project

 After finishing our fun class project: Monsters on the Town, I proposed we do something more personal. I asked students questions: What is love? What is the meaning of life? What's the secret of happiness? The big concept questions answered by kids. Everyone was self-conscious and I didn't get very interesting responses. Even when I asked what it was like being blind, some didn't know how to respond. But once I got them talking about what they wished sighted people knew about them, they opened up.

When people find out I work out I work with blind students, they start talking about sign language. Yes, I took American Sign Language in college, but I don't use it at work. The students can't see. The students complain about the same misconception. People confuse blindness for deafness and raise their voices or assume they speak sign language.

My students wish everyone understood that blindness is a spectrum, that you can have vision and lose it. They want to know when you enter a room and when you leave a room. Don't try to quiz them on your voice; let them know who you are.

They get tired of hearing phrases like "here" when they're being handed something, and "over there" when they're trying to find something. They can't see you pointing. We used stop motion animation with the camera from the top much of the time--just moving flat pieces of craft foam and felt on a piece of paper.

Other times we used claymation figures with the camera in the front. But hopefully, it all came together in a coherent way that helps my students self-advocate. I want them to learn that art can be used for a good purpose to edify and inform. What We Wish Sighted People Knew. 

Check it out using the following link: https://youtu.be/fqI1pu4BvB0

Monster Mania

If you want students to learn how to think creatively, the secret is giving set boundaries, and lots of tools for students to explore possibilities within those boundaries. For my monster assignment, students had access to bins and bins of supplies: pipe cleaners, yarn, feathers, wood, cardboard, and more. 

Too many options feels overwhelming and can lead to paralysis, so it's best to walk them through the process. You can dig through supplies that lead to inspiration. I  might find a discarded nest ornament, and say, I wonder if this could be used as a baby carriage since eggs are basically eggs. What do we have that could make wheels? What would a birdlike monster look like? Does it have to have wings? What would help us hint at a bird without it becoming a bird?  It's also good to start with the idea first: I want a skate boarding cyclops. I'm going to sketch it out and then try to find the materials needed to make it. Give each creature a name and personality.

For little kids and for those starting out, a basic form is all it takes to get going. A toilet paper tube, or a dixie cup, might be the basis for some legless creature. Think about colors and surface textures: foam, felt, tape, or tissue paper can all help transform the household item to the point where students want to add tentacles or antennae. You know you are doing something right when lots of laughter is part of the process. This project was just the beginning, but it was a great way to start on our film making experience.

 

Creature Feature: Monsters on the Town (Stop Motion Animated Movie)

 

After my students created their monsters, they created sets to serve as a backdrop for our stop motion ovie. It's a creature feature, but rather than be bogged down with plot, we decided to just parade our little guys through various neighborhoods. 

We used discarded shipboard and painted the stripes. Students then used paint pens to make store fronts, apartment buildings, and town houses. For my students who were totally blind, they glued doors, windows, stairs, bricks, stones, and siding from cut mat board. There was a lot of glue on a lot of fingers, but it was a great way to make a neighborhood that felt less flat.

One student who is especially interested in architecture did some research and created a street with the type of home you'd find in the French Quarter of New Orleans near a brownstone you'd find in New York City. We created trees and streetlights from coat pegs, and topiaries from wooden knobs in new boxes. 

Of course we had to create white canes for our creatures to use on the sidewalk in front of a school for the Blind. Some of my students who have zero vision were able to help push the monsters across a set one tiny movement at a time, others could push the button to take a picture, and others could count to make sure we had enough pictures to complete a scene. We tried to give each scene about 10 seconds of air time, which at 12 frames per second, amounts to 120 pictures. If we went too fast or too slow, or if it just looked bad, we'd start over for that scene. The song for our monster movie was Low Rider by War, and we filled that whole funky soundtrack with about 2,300 frames. Filming only took a few days and we were all tickled with the results. Check it out using the link below:

https://youtu.be/fqI1pu4BvB0

ELLE Field Trip and Virtual Artist's Visit

 whose medium is photography. Her exhibit (Jan-Feb 2026) at the Wesleyan Leadership lab is a collection of three bodies of her work.  I was so happy when the Wesleyan Leadership Lab director, Alexis Gregg invited my students and I to come see the show, because one room was set apart especially for people with visual impairments, which is right up our alley.

We couldn't make our schedules work to be there at the same time as the artist, but Aleixis did a great job in audio describing pieces like the banners of portraits of black women portraying large monuments in American history, such as liberty and justice, with slave crops, such as tobacco and cotton being used as props.

 

She also lead a discussion on resilience as we learned about a series of photographs for people who moved to a new place and learned a new culture where they were a minority.

But the most meaningful part of the trip was getting to explore the embossed paper images and the Brailled descriptions. There was also a soundscape of familiar noises such as a beep kickball, which is used in a modified version of baseball.

There were glass light boxes with images of faces which were cyanotypes. These also had Braille dots on the textured glass.

The following day, we had a zoom call to get to talk to the artist. She had more questions for them they they did for her, but the discussion was meaningful and the students were left feeling inspired and seen. Stephanie Elle is a talented artist who works notices the marginalized and gives them a place at the table in the art world.