2D to 3D Net Ceramic Animals

Year 5 Haileybury, Brighton students began with a research task, looking at animal shapes in 2D to 3D net ceramic animals form as flat 2D designs

Students then completed a design process, beginning with an animal of choice, then drawing it as a 2D net. To make the animals each student created a template of their drawn net. Using a slab of earthenware clay and a pencil, the 2D net animal was draped over a cylindrical tube and the body and legs arranged so that the animal, when dry, would stand alone as a 3D sculpture. The sculptures were bisque fired and each student created a sculpture.

Students used their designs to determine the colour and style of the under-glaze technique. When dry a top coat of clear shiny glaze was added and the sculptures were glaze fired. Finally, students mounted their animals on wooden plinths and created name tags.

The name Biscuit firing or Bisque firing as it’s sometimes known is given to the very first firing of pottery before it is glazed. Most pottery goes through a bisque firing and is then fired again to melt the glaze and fuse it to the clay body. Bisque firing pottery is the most popular type of firing and is extremely important. It transforms the object into a porous state for glazing. It allows the potter to do much more decorative work with stains, underglazes, and glazes with a greatly reduced risk of the pot being damaged. Because the bisque firing is brought to temperature much more slowly, bisquing also reduces the chances of pots cracking or exploding in the glaze firing. The slowest firing and kiln temperature increase should be done at the beginning of the process, as the most crucial point is when the chemically combined molecules of water are being removed from the clay.
Year 5
Haileybury, Brighton