Smileys
This simple yet useful small project is suitable for children at the age 3+. You can easily adjust it to every age group. Let's see how a simple soap dish is made using Relyef Pottery Tools Emoji Stamps.
List of material and tools:
- any clay you like to use at your studio (try to avoid grolleg clay which is difficult to
- stamp properly)
- template - paper, marker/pencil, scissors
- needle tool
- pin roller
- ceramic knife (plastic knife for small children is safe option)
- sponge and water bucket with some brushes
- talc powder to refrain the stamps from sticking to the clay
- Relyef Pottery Tools Emoji Stamps No.2 or any other you like
First of all, let children cut a simple template from scrap paper. You can encourage them to trace the plate or plastic soap dish on the paper with pencil and then cut it out with scissors. This way we incorporate into this project many different activities for children to learn and improve their skills.
Then roll out the slap of clay approximately 5-10mm thick and trace the template on the slab using needle.
Cut out the base for the soap dish with a ceramic knife.
Softly lift the edges of the clay with your fingers and smooth the edge with a damp sponge. Prepare small coils as soap stands.
Stick the coils to the soap dish base. Let children to come up with different ideas of clay supports for soap not to be soaked in water when resting on the soap dish. They may use small balls or circles of clay. Let them play for a while. Only be sure they scratch the clay with a needle, wet and scratch the clay again when sticking parts together. Smooth the whole plate.
Now is the time to stamp and decorate your soap dish. If your clay is too wet you may like to use a talc powder to stop the stamps from sticking to the clay. Beware of dust in your studio and wear a protective mask whenever needed.
If you have enough time, you can encourage children to make small holes for water to drain from soap dishes and eventually add feet to the bottom.
Make sure every soap dish is visibly signed on the bottom and let them dry. After bisque firing, glaze the dishes with breaking glaze so you can clearly see smiling emojis.
Enjoy your soap dish and smile a lot!
See below, what small kids made :)
