Middle and High School
Crazy
Patchwork
Clay Bowl
Janice Hobbs
Crazy patchwork quilts,
which inspired this bowl,
are as American as apple
pie. In 1876, the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition opened
and American society fell instantly
in love with Japanese ceramics and
asymmetrical art.
Victorian ladies
incorporated the
idea of asymmetrical design into their quilts, which
became known as crazy quilts.
The crazy quilt craze started in
1880 and ended in 1910. Crazy quilts
were made from fine silks, velvets,
and brocade fabrics, cut and pieced
in random shapes, and decorated
with the finest stitches. The crazy
patchwork bowl shown here is made
from porcelain and colored with
oxides and stains. The bowl is made
from small random clay shapes just
as the quilts were made from scraps
of cloth.
Press each piece inside the mold
against another sliced piece of clay.
Don’t leave open spaces. Place sev-
eral patches of the same color next
to each other to represent patch-
work pieces. Cover
the entire side of
the bowl. Have the
teacher trim the lip
of the bowl with a
razor. Smooth as
needed.
Let the bowl get
leather hard and carefully scrape
the inside of the bowl with the
metal rib. Remove from bowl and
smooth outside with rib. Roll out
a coil of white or colored clay and
attach a small foot to the bottom
of the bowl. Allow to dry slowly
and bisque fire. Clear glaze and fire
again.
The bowls are made
from small, random clay
shapes, just as crazy
quilts were made from
scraps of cloth.
Materials
• bowl-shaped plaster mold
or plastic bowl lined with
strips of newspaper
• white clay or porcelain
• coloring oxides/stains
• spoons, plastic sandwich
bags, towels
• single-edge razor blade
(for teacher use only)
• sheets of plastic
• water spray bottle
• images of crazy quilts
• metal kidney rib
Janice Hobbs is the author of Clay Projects
for School (Dry Creek Pottery), Advanced
Clay Projects for School (Dry Creek Pottery), and More Advanced Clay Projects for
School (Dry Creek Pottery). Jshobbs1016@
aol.com
Objectives
Students will:
• choose and mix three colors
of clay from white clay and
coloring oxides.
• make an effective patchwork clay bowl in a mold
from rolls and squares of
white and colored clays.
Procedures
Color clay by adding small amounts
of oxides to white clay and mix with
hands (or use disposable gloves).
Place in plastic sandwich bags, one
per color. Wash hands after each
color. Layer colored clay with white
clay and decide on an elongated
shape (round, square, etc.). Slice
each roll of clay into small pieces
¼" thick.
NATIONAL STANDARD
Students will communicate ideas at
a high level of effectiveness in one
visual arts medium.
WEB LINK
www.drycreekpottery.com
Closure
Have students critique the
bowls using four steps:
1. Describe what you see.
2. How is the work organized?
3. What is communicated in
the work?
4. Is the work aesthetically
successful?
