Modeling and Sculpting
In the Classroom for Children

Modeling and sculpting are among the oldest forms of man's expression. As early as prehistoric man found flat surfaces on which to scratch and draw, he found pliable clay with which to model figures. It was probably later when he first fashioned tools capable of carving wood or stone, but his first three-dimensional efforts are related to today's efforts, for the primary subjects of art have not changed much throughout the years. Only man's relation to his subject, his materials, and his techniques have changed.

Man was first inspired by the forms of nature that made up his environment--animals, birds, trees, and people. Only later, when he became interested in the mysteries of life, such as fertility, birth, and death, and became involved in mystical relationships to his environment, did he begin to develop abstract symbolism to express his feelings, desires, and beliefs. In many ways the traditional concept of sculpture is rapidly changing. The media for the adult sculptor now include all the materials and processes of modern production. There are sculptures of concrete, steel, glass, aluminum, and plastic. Sculptors use welding equipment, mechanical drills and presses, and many other kinds of construction equipment as legitimately as they use mallets and chisels. Color as in ancient Egypt is once again an integral component of many sculptures. Use of these newer media has, of course, resulted in sculptures that are less dependent on natural sources for their inspiration. The child approaches modeling and sculpture in ways similar to those of all artists. He interprets his visual and tactile impressions of his environment, or he expresses in personal symbols his thoughts and feelings.

No art program can be complete unless it provides some opportunity for three-dimensional activities, such as modeling and sculpture. It is one thing to draw or paint one's experiences on flat surface, but it is a far different experience to create three-dimensionally. Many children have great difficulty with two-dimensional media. The teacher may watch a child struggling indefinitely to draw a figure with legs crossed; the child might solve this problem immediately when working in clay, simply by lifting one leg and crossing it over the other. To work in new and different materials can itself be stimulating, and the limitations imposed by each new material cause the child to develop new ideas and to vary his mode of expression, experimenting, and inventing as he goes. Working in three dimensions can also provide opportunities for the child who is more interested in tactile than in visual sensations.

Because we stress the importance of being individual, we ought to recognize the fact that each person has his own way of working and can develop a technique only through his work. Some teachers hold a mistaken notion that, given the materials, the child will create freely by himself. This is a beautiful thought, but unfortunately it is not often true. In most cases it is up to the teacher to provide adequate stimulation or motivation based upon the child's own experiences. For example, the teacher might ask how to prepare a hot dog for eating. How is it held? How wide must the mouth be opened? How do you chew? Does it drip catsup or mustard on your face? Can you model yourself eating a hot dog? Some other stimulations for working in clay or plasticene might include: "I am catching a ball," "I am eating corn on the cob," "I am taking a nap after lunch," "I am petting my cat."

NOTE: There are many common materials for modeling and sculpting, as well as many fine local materials available to teachers in different parts of the country. In some areas, lava-type stones that are very satisfactory for carving can be found. In other areas, where scrap materials are readily available, teachers may find sizable scraps of foam glass used in large construction projects. Older children can make excellent sculptures from fire brick or sand cores from foundries where material of this sort is available. It is important that teachers be alert to find and use the materials available in their own localities. The most imaginative and creative programs begin at home, not in the art supply catalogs.

Probably the most widely used of the three-dimensional materials is the nonhardening type of clay known generally as plasticene or plastilene. This clay usually contains oil and glycerine, which keep it from hardening permanently. It is considerably less responsive than earth clays. This plastic modeling clay is popular because it is reusable and therefore economical. It can play an especially important role in the lower elementary grades, where the product is not of as lasting importance to the child as the process of creating it. In these lower grades, it is perfectly permissible for the teacher to re-form the children's products into lumps and use the clay over and over again. However, the teacher should do this without the children around, and only after they have lost interest in what they have created.

The older pottery or sculpture student must follow some processes (especially if products are to be fired); but small children should be encouraged to develop their own personal techniques.

Since plasticene is soft and pliable, it requires no special tools or equipment; children can work on a piece of newspaper or old cardboard. It keeps best if stored in an airtight container. If the clay becomes old and hard, one can sometimes resoften it by warming and working glycerine into it.

A second type of clay that is often used in schools is common earth clay. This can be purchased as dry powder to be mixed with water or moist and ready to use.

If the teacher is working with powdered clay for the first time, he would do well to mix his clay with small amounts of water until it is a good consistency. A good consistency is one that allows the clay to be manipulated without cracking and yet be stiff enough the clay doesn't stick to the hands too much. A very pleasant and clean way to mix the clay is to put about a pound of powdered clay in a plastic bag, add a small amount of water, press out all the air, fasten the bag with a heavy rubber band, and give it to one of the children to knead. Kneading is itself often very enjoyable to young children, satisfying a kinesthetic desire. If the clay seems too dry, add a bit more water; if too moist, add some more dry clay. The teacher will son discover his own formula for mixing clay and water to produce a good consistency. The clay will work best if allowed to age for several days after it has been kneaded. It can be stored for an extended period of time in the bag in which it was kneaded.

This type of clay can be fired in a kiln, but as a rule it is permitted to harden by drying in air. Pieces can be softened by being soaked in water. This clay is about the same as that which the children might find in a clay back near the school or along the edge of a stream, except that when purchased it is always in a refined, gravel-free state. Sometimes it contains certain materials to make it harden more permanently. Earth clay has definite limitations, in that it always shrinks during the drying process, preventing the use of any type of framework or armature inside the clay figures; built on a frame, the dry figure will generally break into many pieces. Therefore, the teacher working with ordinary clay must limit the modeling to rather compact, bulky figures without delicate appendages. However, such limitations are desirable, because they place before the child a new problem requiring a new solution.

If a kiln is available, it might be desirable to fire the works of the older children, but it is generally unwise to fire those of the very young. To fire the work of a child who is doing little more than "scribbling" in clay is to place undue emphasis upon the product. When using earth clay, it is permissible to allow the young child to paint his finished figure if he so desires. Teachers have no business developing "purist" attitudes about the art work of children, for anything that fosters sincere self-expression is desirable. Therefore, the painting of clay figures, which adult artists might shun, is acceptable with children.

An excellent substitute for clay and plasticene that every teacher can make in his own kitchen or have made by the mothers of the boy and girls in his class is called salt ceramic. It is made by using:

1 cup table salt
1/2 cup corn starch
3/4 cup of cold water

These materials are mixed together in a double boiler placed over heat. The mixture is stirred constantly, and in about two to three minutes it becomes so thick that it follows the spoon in the stirring process. It quickly reaches a consistency similar to bread dough, and is then placed on a piece of wax paper or aluminum foil and allowed to cool. When it has cooled sufficiently to be handled, it is kneaded for several minutes, after which it is ready for use. If wrapped in wax paper or placed in plastic bags, it can be stored away for several days.

Salt ceramic will harden to the consistency of stone and is excellent for painting with any type of paint. It has several classroom advantages over clay. For one thing, it does not shrink when drying and therefore permits the use of any type of armature. Because it dries very hard, it is much more durable than ordinary unfired earth clay. Perhaps the feature that teachers like most is its cleanliness; when salt ceramic gets on the floor, it does not powder and get dust all over the school.

Through the use of the armature, a great variety of figures can be created with salt ceramic. If the children have been to the zoo or have seen a film or slides showing many types of wild animals, they may wish to create animals. Without an armature it would be quite difficult to make an animal like the giraffe, with its extremely long neck, or the gorilla, with its large upstretched arms. Using material of this sort often suggests group modeling, in which each child's product contributes a part. To use the zoo as an example, each child could model the part that interests him most. Perhaps the class could do a holiday scene, in which each child selects one of the major or minor figures to model. This sort of activity is especially good when children are ten to twelve years old, and can learn the meaning of cooperation. When the child ses a completed group modeling, he carries away a feeling of satisfaction for the completed project, fully realizing that what the group did as a whole he could never have done by himself.

Lends itself well to making tree ornament or decorations. Among the simplest forms will be little balls that the children can roll in the palms of their hands and into which they can pinch a bit of string that will dry in place and can be used for hanging. When dry, these balls can be decorated with paints or glitter. Smaller balls may have a matchstick pushed through the center of them to form beads of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions; when painted and strung, these make beautiful hangings for the elementary school Christmas tree..... pg. 144

Sculpturing need not be limited to solid forms, but can sometimes be created with just a piece of wire. It is very interesting to give each child about a yard's length of soft stovepipe wire and permit him to carry out his ideas with this material. The thinness and flexibility of the wire will send the child off exploring in entirely new directions. Wire sculpture is an especially desirable activity in the upper elementary grades, where children are becoming conscious of body joints and bends, such as knees and elbows, in their drawing and painting. Wire allows them to bend figures at the knees, ankles, wrists, and elbows, and lends itself to a greater flexibility than any other material that they have used before. This is a sort of sculpturing that permits the figure to throw the ball and be quickly bent in time to be the catcher. Wire sculpture lends itself to a sort of action sketching in three dimensions, with great consciousness and awareness of movement and, unconsciously, greater sensitivity.

Aluminum wire is about the easiest for boys and girls to use. This is very economical, extremely pliable, and noncorroding. The teacher can generally get a good supply of wire for sculpture and other activities simply by asking the newsboys in the class to save the wire that binds their bundles of newspapers together. As a rule, such a request to a group of elementary school boys brings an overwhelming response.

Wire sculptures are more attractive if they can be mounted upon a small piece of wood that the children can sand and wax, stain, or paint.

Toothpick sculpture is another type of unit sculpture that is extremely fascinating to boys and girls in the upper elementary grades and in junior and senior high school. Probably no creative activity in which the child engages holds a greater fascination. Children become completely engrossed in building with toothpicks, using model airplane cement for joining. They seem to find toothpicks a stimulus in themselves. It is exciting to watch the different methods with which children who are given these materials work. Some will begin simply with a triangle, develop it into a prism, and allow it to grow in all directions into a construction of planes and lines and, sometimes, closed forms.

It seems unimportant to the child as he builds to state what he is building or to be concerned with a conscious reason for building, other than that it seems to satisfy an urge to create something new. Some children who work with toothpicks seem concerned only with making something realistic and recognizable. This is permissible--and even desirable--since the limitations of the materials will help the child to develop new directions. The teacher may stimulate the children even further by giving them small bits of cellophane or colored paper that they can use to define a plane. Older students may use strips of tin, pliable wood, such a balsa, and combine it in structures with translucent tissue paper or cellophane.

The same sort of construction can be done with soda straws or colored toothpicks. In working with airplane cement, it is a good idea to work on pieces of waxed paper, because cemented objects will not adhere to the waxed surface.

Paraffin is an extremely fine sculpting material that lends itself to ordinary classroom use and yet can be finished beautifully. Generally, paraffin is purchased in one-pound packages that consist of four quarter-pound blocks or slabs. The slabs can be used as they are at almost any grade level for very interesting relief carving, but some of the most interesting results come from fusing the four blocks into a solid mass, sometimes with the addition of a small amount of color provided by a wax crayon melted along with the paraffin.

It is not difficult to fuse the four blocks if a hot plate is available. The bottom of the waxed carton is carefully sealed with masking or gummed tape and placed in a container of cold water. Even better is a waxed or plastic-coated milk carton, which is less likely to leak than the paraffin box. One block is removed and melted and the remaining three separated slightly. The melted block is poured into the box, fusing the three remaining blocks. If the carton should leak slightly, the cold water will immediately harden the paraffin, thereby stopping the leak. Later, the carton is removed and the paraffin can be carved.

As is the case generally in sculpting, the shape of the block determines what is to be carved. Carving can be done with paring knives, wood-carving tools, or linoleum-carving tools. One good method is occasionally to have the children begin carving the paraffin block with no conscious plan, allowing the feel of the material to determine the outcome. Very often the paraffin lends itself to the creation of abstract sculptures, in which the children make beautiful forms that are as pleasant to handle as to view.

Paraffin is fairly sturdy, so it permits quite intricate cutting if the child desires to go into detail or is working in a realistic direction; but it is difficult, though not impossible, to repair. When all the cutting is complete, the child can smooth the paraffin by rubbing it with a rounded stick, such as a tongue depressor or an orange stick. He can bring it to an almost translucent polish by rubbing it with a stick, a smooth piece of cloth, or even the fingers.

Dropping a piece of wax crayon into the melted paraffin will sometimes cause the color to run through the block in a very irregular fashion. This in itself might suggest what shall be cut away and what shall remain. Sometimes the child sees in the color that flows through the block the image of what he wishes to create. Old wax candles or unbleached beeswax can be melted and added to the paraffin for interesting color. Occasionally, if the whole pound of paraffin is melted and poured back into the box, minute air bubbles will remain, bringing a rich appearance to the surface of the paraffin.

In recent years, art teachers have developed one of the most interesting of all sculpting materials. This permanent material, extremely easy to make and to use in most classrooms, is made from a combination of cement and Zonolite, or Perlite. The latter are concrete aggregates made of mica, a very lightweight mineral substance also frequently advertised as an insulating material. Both the cement and Zonolite can be purchased from any lumberyard or home supply store.

Mix: 4 parts Zonolite
l part dry cement
water

For elementary level children, a good beginning mixture consists of four parts Zonolite to one part dry cement. An ordinary mop bucket or lard can serve very well as a mixing container. The Zonolite and cement are mixed together, and then enough water is added to make the mixture moist or fluid. It is well mixed, then poured into a small cardboard carton. It is a good idea to place the carton inside a larger carton on the first attempt, in case too much water has been added. The excess moisture may weaken the side walls of the inner box, causing them to break down. Newspapers wadded up between the walls of the two cartons will provide ample strength to keep the inner walls from collapsing. This mixture is allowed to harden for about twenty-four hours. The box is then removed, and the Zonolite-cement block can then be sawed into blocks of whatever size the teacher wishes. A good beginning size might be 5" x 5" x 8" or 6" x 6" x 10". The mixture can be carved with the simplest of tools--an ordinary kitchen or paring knife, an old hacksaw blade, a wood rasp, and an old screwdriver will provide all the tools needed to do a good job. The mixture is very light and is, therefore, extremely easy to carve.

When the student has created a sculpted form and it has been set aside to dry for several weeks, it will turn light gray, have a rocklike appearance, and be quite permanent. For junior and senior high school students, the same materials may be used an a finer texture created by cutting down on the quantity of Zonolite in the mixture. As the proportion of Zonolite is decreased, the density and hardness of the cast block increases. Of course, different tools will be required with the harder blocks. An inexpensive cold chisel and an ordinary hammer will serve for this type of carving.

Rarely does the classroom provide adequate facilities for each child to be carving at the same time. A good solution is to set up a carving table or a carving corner and allow one or two children to work at a time. Have each child bring in a cardboard carton and, when he is ready to start carving, fix the side walls of the carton so that he can work with his sculpture always inside the box; the dirt and chips that are cut away can remain in the box. When the piece is entirely finished, the box can be disposed of without any of the dirt ever reaching the classroom floor. This kind of procedure is almost essential if the classroom teacher desires to have the boys and girls work in carving plaster.

The procedure for plaster carving is about the same as that for Zonolite, except that the plaster creates a great deal more dirt and dust in the room and is extremely difficult to clean from the containers once it has set, whereas the container that has been used to mix Zonolite can easily be rinsed out and left in perfect condition. Plaster carving can be used most effectively in the junior and senior high school, but only under very controlled conditions.

Plaster plaques or reliefs are very easily created in the upper elementary grades and junior high school. Each child can bring a small box in which to make his plaque. Plasticene (or earth clay) is patted or rolled flat, and the entire bottom of the box is covered with a layer about a half inch thick, on the surface of which the children can work their ideas out directly. They can make many exquisite shapes and textures by pressing a variety of objects into the soft clay. Dowel rods, buttons, natural materials, spool ends, large nailheads, keys, wire screening, and twigs are only a few of the possibilities. If the child's first idea doesn't work out satisfactorily, he can smooth the surface out again for a new start.

The teacher may wish to have the children work out their ideas first on paper with chalks or crayons. The teacher can explain the steps that follow more easily to children if he has prepared a sample for illustrative purposes and perhaps has a finished plaque from another class or even one that he has made himself.

The children begin by digging directly into the plasticene, using tools fashioned from tongue depressors split lengthwise. Into the plasticene they carve, deep in some spots, shallow in others, until they have expressed their ideas as fully and originally as possible in this material. The plasticene can then be given a very thin coat of petroleum jelly; however, this is not absolutely necessary, as there is already oil in the plasticene mixture. It does, however, prevent bits of plaster from adhering to the plasticene.

The next step involves the mixing of plaster of paris in a container, such as a plastic washbasin or mixing bowl, or a #10 tin can. The plaster is poured onto the plasticene carving to a thickness of 1/2" to 3/4" . While the plaster is still wet, the child can insert a loop of soft wire near the top of the back in order to hang the plaque. If the teacher encourages the children to jostle the boxes slightly without lifting them from the table while the plaster is still liquid, any air bubbles that might have been trapped in the plaster will rise, insuring a more uniform quality.

After the plaques have dried overnight, the boxes can be torn away and the plaques lifted away from the plasticene molds. Slight imperfections can be carefully carved away with an ordinary paring knife or smoothed with a small bit of sandpaper. After the plaques have dried for several days, they can be given a very light sanding to remove all traces of the petroleum jelly, which might offer some resistance on future painting operations. Now the plaques are ready for painting. Ordinary water paints, tempera paints, enamels, or oil-based paints are satisfactory for finishing this project.

If ordinary earth clay is readily available, it can be used just as effectively as plasticene. Unlike plasticene, which can be used over several work sessions, the earth clay should be carved and the plaster poured while it is still malleable. When the plaster has hardened sufficiently to pull it free from the clay, it may be necessary to take a moistened brush to wash away clay particles that still adhere to the plaster.

The teacher will find the children very excited about this project and wanting to do it another time. [Note: Pouring plaster into a box, letting it set, carving in relief.]