I Love This Clay Project

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for new clay projects.  And in 18 years of teaching (HOW did THAT happen????) I've never done fifth grade the same way twice.  
With my fifth graders this year, I decided to look at some modern ceramic artists and found Christy Keeney and Liz Scrine--two working British artists.  Go ahead and look them up, their work is ah-maze-ing! I also had some designer silkscreens from Mayco that I really wanted to try out (I like the bugs best, but my students liked them all).
Our first step was to design and build a slab person, here some of them are after firing (apparently I was too excited about the next step to take any photos of that).  So here's some photos of them after we silkscreen'ed on them:

It's very obvious that she was inspired by Christy Keeney's work.

This student has done NOTHING all year,
ceramics may be 'his thing.'

I do love this one!

This is a special needs friend, and he did the BEST on his silkscreen.

  
The process for this is pretty simple, you draw around the image and cut it out (larger than your outline).  Then USE TAPE ('cause that wet-it-and-it-will-stick that it says on the directions totally does not work) to attach the silkscreen (smooth side down) onto the bisque fired clay.  Next, mix a small amount of glaze (we used Stroke & Coat) with the silkscreen medium powder (it's about $4/container and I forgot I had some and ordered two more, so it's obvious that I now have enough for the next 150 years) and use your finger to smoosh it through the silkscreen.  I did this at one table with small groups of students as they were working on another project, then put them immediately in the kiln for a second firing.  When done correctly, the detail is awesome!
So, after they were all fired again, we used tempera block paint to paint them:

Here they are all done, dry and ready to go home:

Hard to see in this photo, but the spider is amazing!

There is a silkscreen'ed ladybug under the rainbow.

I just love this one, even though she missed silkscreening.

Gotta have some rainbow hair!

It's Hillary Clinton.
Because of course it is.

Silkscreen 101

This is my second year silkscreening shirts with my sixth graders, and I think I've worked out some of the bugs from last year (though I still have a way to go).  Disclaimer: this is what I do and it works for me, but it's not what I learned in college, it's more jerry-rigging things I have around the house.  With that in mind, let's get started!
Step one, get some screens:

The larger one was purchased from Nasco,
the smaller ones I'm borrowing from a friend.

I had to clean mine out from last year.  The kits of emulsion that you purchase come with screen clean-out, but of course I didn't remember that so I just used bleach and a scrub brush.  And yes, my bathtub is baby blue.

Step two, coat the screens:

Just follow the directions on the bottle, mixing the stuff from
the small bottle into the large bottle.
Have a magnifying glass handy to read the directions if you're over 40 like me.

Pour a healthy amount.
I do all of this step in my basement bathroom,
and I do it with the light on.

Spread it around evenly.
This is where I had my biggest problems when I began--
in college we use a scoop coater, and I don't have one.

Then I found out the squeegee works nearly as well.
(Though honestly it's not as even, or it's harder to make even)

Step three, shoot the screens:

I do this step on top of my washing machine with a simple light from Home Depot clipped to a shelf.  I use glass out of a thrift store frame, and a black blanket from my couch.  Make sure you lay it on the screen backwards or it will print backwards. Through trial and error, I found 45 minutes works the best for me.  At the end of the 45 minutes, I quickly pull off the glass and transparency image (more about that in a minute) and run the screen upstairs to wash out with the sprayer at my kitchen sink.  I couldn't take a photo of that because time is of the essence here.
Now, for the transparency image part: I have my students turn in their ideas to me electronically (my district uses Schoology) and then students vote.  Once an image or quote is chosen, I have learned to make adjustments (all those fonts they like can be quite distracting!).  I then have them printed twice on transparency, and it is VITAL that you tape them together exactly right.

See this?  I had to re-shoot the screen because that corner of text wasn't perfect.

Once the screens are washed out (with the non-exposed emulsion--ie what was under the black sections of the transparencies dropped out) and they've dried you are ready to print.
For the printing part you only need a squeegee and screen printing ink for fabric.  I allow my students to bring their shirts in any time, and after they've printed them, they dry in my room.  Then I send them home for heat setting with this document.
I'm sure I've left out some need-to-know things, so please comment if something is unclear.
Keep on bein' awesome, art teacher friends!