Middle School

The Essential Question
How can students see versatility in learning to make a pinch pot?

Objective
Students will create and glaze two pinch pots using clay. Students will learn to attach clay elements securely using the score and slip method. Students will construct a functioning bobblehead using pinch pot forms.

Materials
low-fire white clay, slip, pencils or other pointed tools (for scoring), garlic press (optional, for creating feathery texture), glaze, pencils and paper (for thumbnail sketches)

Procedures

1. Share a brief history of bobbleheads and show students examples from ancient history to the present.
2. Have students make a thumbnail sketch for their own functional bobblehead design.
3. Demonstrate how to make a clay pinch pot. Then have students create a pinch pot for the head and add elements for facial features or other decorate elements by scoring and slipping.
4. Students make another pinch pot for the body of the bobblehead, turning it upside down to serve as the base. Instruct students attach a pointed spire, about the size of their thumb, to the top of the body using the score and slip method. Then they can add textures or other details to the body.
5. Have students test the movement of the head by gently placing it on the spire. Instruct them to mark where the spire touches the inside of the head and create a slight indentation there to help it rest and bobble more easily.
6. Once the clay has been fired, students can glaze their bobbleheads.
   

Melody Weintraub is a retired art educator and art education supervisor for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.