Jewelry I students worked on rings this week, and came up with some creative variations on twists. We also started a texture band, in which we experienced first hand the properties of work hardening and re-crystallization in metal. The metal structure becomes increasingly fractured when it is bent, twisted or hammered, eventually breaking. This process is known as 'work hardening'. Students experienced this by using a hammer to peen round stock into rectangular stock, then they re-heated the metal through the colors of heat (white and crusty, black, purple, red) to re-grow the metal structure, creating a soft and flexible stock for texturing. Check out this post for an explanation of work hardening and annealing by Silver Leaf Natural Jewelry. Put in your ring 'special orders' and give your child your ring size:).
Ceramics I students will prepare for their quiz on tools and materials this weekend by completing a review guide (available on my moodle page) using their notes, and terms found on the project hand outs. We go over the review guides together in class to model good study habits and make sure everybody is on the same page. You can help your child by checking in our his/her study strategies. Is s/he checking moodle or his/her notes? Does s/he use flash cards or quizzing with peers? There are some great online study tools, like studyblue or quizlet. Our in class review guides count as part of the quiz grade, because students have control over this outcome; it is graded on completion. Students who've forgotten or missed the review guide by the due date can make up the activity, but by completing a different activity, since we've already done the review guide together. An example of an acceptable make up activity would be creating a public online quiz card set (at least 20 questions) for future students to use, based on the content in the review guide packet.
Ceramics II Students started their 8" or Bust assignment. The wheel is a difficult skill, so each project in Ceramics II is designed around helping to build wheel skills in addition to creative expression and mastery of the medium. In the 10 Cups assignment, students became comfortable with foundational wheel skills. In this project, students are doubling the amount of clay that they can center, mastering compressing the floor and rim, learning how to shape, and most importantly, learning how to keep forms in a cylindrical shape, and how to pull the clay up. Students are practicing 'the claw' technique, as I call it, which shifts the pulling force from the palm or pad of the fingers to the finger tip. This allows students to be much more aggressive with their pulling and bring the clay up more effectively. I am continually impressed by how much growth I see in my students. They are doing a great job!