Pinch Pots.

Our Art lesson Wednesday was making Pinch Pots. The recipe is easy, mix together

1 cup of flour

1/2 c salt

3 tbsp oil

1/2 c water

add in a few drops of food coloring if you wish.

It's a bit like the dough for the Salt Maps, but this kind is bakeable...is that a word? After you let your creations dry for 3 days just pop it in a preheated 350 degree oven and cook it for 45 minutes. If you've got a really thick creation you might want to let it cook a little longer. If it's a thinner, smaller masterpiece then maybe a bit shorter. Just keep an eye on it.

Start by making a big ball out of a good amount of clay. Place it on a flat surface and press your thumb into the middle of the ball. Then slowly pinch the walls of the dough so they begin to thin out and up.

If you make a rather large pot then crumple up some newspaper and place it in the hole. Then turn your pot over and start on your creation. We've been studying Durer's The Hare for about a week so we were going to make rabbits. We made long legs, ear, and a bunny tail. The kids used forks to try and scrap at the clay to add a fur looking type of texture.

This is Evan Grace's rabbit....I swear she made Rabbit poo just for this picture.

Once the rabbits were drying out, it was time to play with another batch of clay and make whatever we wanted. Isaac asked me to make him a dragon and I tried, I really really really tried. I got this far....pretty good right,....before I decided it was better for me to keep my sanity than try and finish this dragon. It was the second wing that was giving me trouble. I couldn't get it to stay no matter how much crumpled paper I had underneath it. I like my half finished dragon, I was kinda sorry later on that I colored the clay a pink flesh color....it just made it look, well, creepy.

If you end up with extra clay, or make two batches like I did you can keep this in a refrigerator. If you notice it starts to get a little wet or sticky just add a little bit of flour to the clay, knead it in and you're ready to play again. I like this recipe a lot better than Play Do, it's softer and if it gets stuck in the carpet or on clothing it flakes off after it dries or melts away in the washing machine.

Oh, before I forget, once you get ready to bake your project make sure you take the newspaper stuffing out of the pot area so you don't catch anything on fire.