close-ups of birds made by the children

Here are some of the birds made by the children, which have been incorporated into the mosaiced poles. A film of the project has been uploaded onto You-tube and you can view it by clicking on the link: http://youtu.be/2WrlojzD_AE

garden poles completed

birds looking around

On top of the poles are little birds. These birds have been made from stoneware clay so that they are strong. They have coloured glazes on them. They have little decorated tubes underneath them. These have been made out of earthenware clay, so that Debbie could decorate them with brighter colours.

completed birdbath

The birdbath has a hollow log as its base with a nest of twigs in it. The children have some small birds to play with in this hollow. Debbie made the hollow trunk out of clay. It was made to fit on top of a terracotta pot. So the base that looks like one object is actually made of two ceramic objects glued together.

mosaicing the cement poles

Mosaicing the cement poles, putting pots on top and little birds. Thanks to Edwin at the Moonee Valley Council for cutting and getting the third one organised for us

putting on the birds

Here are the birds being glued onto the pole.

Some are on the ground pecking for things to eat, amongst the grass.

And other birds are in the trees.

mosaicing the first pole

Above: Debbie breaks the tiles using a hammer. she is wearing safety glasses to protect her eyes.

The mosaic tiles and the ceramic birds are glued onto the poles with tile adhesive.

the pipes arrive

We have been able to get the concrete poles from the Moonee Valley Council, thankyou to Jason and Edwin. Phil and Peter brought them to us on a truck.

They were lifted from the truck with a special crane.

mosaiced pavers

Here are two pavers that have been mosaiced.
In this photo they have not yet been grouted.

making the first pavers

A sunny friday and Debbie begins to make the pavers with four year old children helping and giving advice.

Debbie is breaking up the tiles with a hammer. She has to wear safety glasses so she doesn't hurt her eyes.

Here are some helpers pulling small tiles off the backing mesh.

a close-up of the feet that are going onto the pavers.

some fired birds

Here are three of the birds that have been fired in the kiln.
Now they are ready to put into the artwork.

making the ceramic footprints for the paving stones

Here are the children rolling out the clay ready for their footprint. Their foot is then traced and the shape cut out. Then the children decorate it using coloured underglazes. The clay feet will be fired and then glazed and fired a second time. Then they will be ready to be glued to pavers to decorate their garden and play area. The gaps between the ceramic feet will be decorated using mosaiced tiles.

As I am writing this, the feet are actually in their first firing in the kiln (the bisque firing). I will be pulling them out tomorrow and then applying the glaze to them, ready for their second firing.

making the footprints

below are some photos of the process of making the footprints with the three year-olds. Each child had a go at rolling out the clay, then Debbie traced their feet onto the clay. Then she cut out the shape of the foot. The child helped to smooth the edges of the clay and then decorated the foot with underglaze colours.

We also made some leaves and branches for the birds to sit amongst.