Time for Year 6...

This term I was working with Year 5 on a rainforest theme. We made brightly coloured tree-frogs and birds, cornucopia-style vases to represent the layers of the rainforest and plates with maps of South America or Africa (no-one felt brave enough to tackle the islands of Indonesia!)

Year 6 presented a greater challenge. They made medals to commemorate their time at the school, but we also wanted a group project for them to leave behind. Their theme is "Fairgrounds" and last year we made a helter-skelter. It slumped a bit - but that's another story. This year their teacher suggested a carousel - I think that was a joke!

However, some brain-storming with a friend led to a design for a ferris-wheel clock.

There are only 18 in the class so they worked in teams of three: each group made two sections of the clock using my templates. Red clay was painted with bright blue, white and black slips so the designs were both individual and co-ordinated. Cookie-cutter people completed the effect.

After biscuit and glaze-firing, the pieces were ready to be glued onto a 600mm square piece of 12mm plywood. We made supports for it to stand freely and had to cut a square hole in the centre to accommodate the clock movement - but it all worked! Phew!

Maybe next year I'll feel strong enough to tackle a carousel...?

This image shows all the pieces ready to assemble. I'll post more pictures here soon but you can see them on Instagram now: @poteriealacarte #schoolceramics #clock