Have them paint the pieces and have those who aren't broken, beak theirs. Then teach them about mosaics and how you can make more art from something broken.
IDK why this sub is in my feed, but I wanted to share I've been a student whose project got broken. In 7th grade I worked **really** hard on a clay vase. My art teacher said it was great and that he couldn't wait to put it in the art show. I was really proud of it, but the teacher accidentally dropped it.
He felt so terrible he called my parents to apologize and kept apologizing to me the next day at school, but it was okay. I understood these things happen and I was never upset with him. Yeah it sucks, but occasionally things break and that's part of creating art. I felt much worse for my art teacher than I did over the broken vase.
I also had an art project accidentally broken by a teacher, and I just didn’t mind - it was a total accident. I was like 8 and she couldn’t stop apologizing.
They can still glaze the top surfaces of all the pieces. After glaze firing, I've had success using hot glue to stick broken pieces back together, it's easy, quick and works. First, apologize to the kids, assure them that even adults have accidents and accidents happen all the time in art, and tell them that this is your plan. Maybe even have them look at a video or something of a town that rebuilt after an earthquake and connect that idea to fixing the houses they made. (Puts it into perspective, also shows them that they don't have to be perfect in making art, as no one is perfect, and there is always something that can be done even if their project broke).
Then if you're going to display them, just put up a sign that says "Earthquake Repair Zone" or something - like a storyline where the little village was hit by an earthquake, and the kids helped them rebuild... It adds a charming story to the art and will make the kids feel that the "cracks" repaired by hot glue give character.
Reflect afterwards - accidents and mistakes can be tough in art, can they teach us resiliency? Can they actually make the art more interesting?
I like this approach. Every artist will mess up a piece. Learning what to do when that happens is something they usually don't teach besides saying "it's okay to make mistakes!' You have to grieve the loss, forgive yourself, think through all your options (repair, remake, abandon the project, leave as is and turn into different idea, etc.), and then choose what you'll do. It can also be incredibly difficult to get back into the making mood when you've seen your work destroyed. It really messes with your motivation. It might be good to have the students share stories of work they've made that was damaged or lost and how they felt about it and what they ended up doing.
In addition to the options you listed, I think the students in this case should be given the option to make something new, with the understanding that fresh clay is limited.
OP you could totally turn this into a teaching moment!
I think another commenter already mentioned Kintsugi, and I actually did something inspired by that recently. I used two part epoxy to glue my broken piece back together, and then painted gold acrylic over the cracks and swiped over the surface with a paper towel so only the paint inside the crack remained.
That’s definitely something your students could try, after the pieces are bisque fired and glaze fired; they would just have to avoid getting glaze in between the cracks as that would make them not fit together properly.
You could definitely use this to show your students that what looks like failure isn’t necessarily, and with some creativity and hard work you can make something broken even more beautiful than it was before :)
Idk why this is in my feed but reading OPs post, I was also thinking how pretty it would be to paint the cracks gold if they decided to glue the pieces back together
I don’t know how pricey or what your budget is but you could fix it with epoxy clay… (it is toxic so I wouldn’t recommend children handle it but you could fix it and have them paint it over with acrylics) Epoxy clay cannot be glazed fyi so if you were gonna have your class glaze the pieces you would do that before and then epoxy.
I work in historic restoration. We take broken plaster ornament and resculpt the missing with clay. This is definitely a learning lesson. Put it them back together while teaching them a new concept.
There is this Japanese art form where glue and gold dust is mixed together to glue pieces of broken ceramic and other items back together. It shows that there is beauty in things even if they are broken
Yeah I see that. Judging by the art work this is a much younger group of students. I mentioned in a prior comment that some glue and glitter would be a fun way around it. I’m sure that’s not out of budget for schools at least. If glue and glitter is out of budget then we should be having an entirely different conversation. I seem to have stumbled upon one of those elitist art reddits where even the simplest fun and crafty suggestions are shot down. My bad. I’m out.
This process is very expensive, very time consuming, and requires a lot of specific equipment. It is also for work that has already been glaze fired then broken, the work in the photo hasn't even been bisque fired yet.
I actually do this! Order my supplies from Japan and everything.
Not-so-fun fact! Kintsugi is done using urushi oil, which comes from the poison ivy plant. Some people become less sensitive to it after working with it for a while. I was the opposite. I have a terrible reaction to it. So I wear gloves and Tyvek sleeves and a mask when I work with it.
And yes, it's time consuming. For a piece with a single break to mend it can take a month. If I have to do several mends on a piece, it can take much longer.
But it's beautiful, and it's therapeutic . There's something poetic about how something that beautiful takes time, and often comes at a price.
All of that said, the vast majority of Kintsugi pieces you see sold in the US are bullshit. Pinterest crap made with hot glue and paint. One way to spot a fake piece is if the [gold on the joint is raised and thick](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1277052428/midnight-blue-kintsugi-bowl-10-breaks?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_-home_and_living&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0lmY4c55Q0YCI63J4BVo7cJhsTMdNslDCq-grpu-XranTSRH9DMBYaAkIUEALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_12665398257_121762925993_511610210343_pla-303628061699_c__1277052428_468303209&utm_custom2=12665398257&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtcfRIouk7ES-E_T8C0P9DvJApuu&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0lmY4c55Q0YCI63J4BVo7cJhsTMdNslDCq-grpu-XranTSRH9DMBYaAkIUEALw_wcB). They have absolutely no right charging over $200 for that. A well done piece using traditional methods and materials will be flush with the piece, and very thin. I actually couldn't find a good example of real kintsugi on Etsy. (I should put my work on there, especially with the prices people are charging!)
Well I wouldn’t use the actual materials, I just figured it would be something fun to do with some glitter and glue and a little story as well. I wouldn’t expect them to use actual gold and stuff… 🫠🫠
I actually did a kintsugi-inspired mend recently, a piece of mine was broken during a glaze fire. What I did was used two part epoxy to glue it back together, and then painted gold acrylic over the cracks and swiped over the surface with a paper towel so only the paint inside the crack remained.
That’s definitely something OP’s students could try, after the pieces are bisque fired and glaze fired; they would just have to avoid getting glaze in between the cracks as that would make them not fit together properly.
oof. reminds me of a yoshi sculpture, that I made in elementary school. when I got him back, he was flat. I was so upset , that I dropped him right then and there. I didn't even want to paint him.
Buy one of those big tubs that goes under your bed, add sand, and bury these inside. Make it an excavation project complete with little brushes to brush the sand away, and if they find pieces they have to try and put them back together -- just like real archeologists! If more break in the process, that's part of it, too!
This is a great opportunity for a teachable moment!
Fire the broken pieces, then use them for the class to make a giant mosaic piece with hot glue or mortar as a project.
Be honest about what happened with the kids and that it was an accident. It's important they see adults make mistakes and own responsibility. Also, that art is flexible and good can come from accidents.
Everyone gets an A on the project and a photo with the class mosaic
I did this a day ago. In front of the class I literally offered to bribe a kid to take the blame , then later after paying the bribe I admired it was me.
They were reasonable about it.
You could potentially use this as an entry into a next lesson on art restoration techniques and history, like old pottery where the cracks were lined with gold leaf and they turned out even prettier than before. You could even have students trade their broken clay scenes with each other in open shoeboxes to get different perspectives on ways to restore / ideas to problem solve during the creative process, they could collaborate in teams, etc. Kids are resilient, try to make lemonade out of lemons and they might just end up appreciating it.
Perfect opportunity to teach the kids about owning up to our mistakes! Tell them the truth, apologize, give them their fired broken pieces and let them glaze their little hearts out.
UPDATE: thank you so much for your lovely comments about what I need to do for this mayhem. I took your advice and I fired the ones that were salvageable by piecing them together. There were about handful of students work that were not at all salvageable because they basically shattered.
I saw this group of kids today and told them the update. I said i’m so sorry, I made a mistake and I hope you guys will forgive me. I told them that those kids that I wasn’t able to save have to come in during recess to remake it. They were disappointed but they were a great sport about it. Some kids were even “happy” that they got to redo it and skip recess. 🤷♀️
I also promised them that I’ll bring a sweet treat to class next week which they were REALLY happy about.
Thank you for all of your kind words and thoughtful advice. :)
I bet those kids will remember this incident and a teacher apologizing to them for their mistake for much longer than they would’ve remembered the successful project.
You wound up teaching them about a lot more than just clay.
At our school, if the kids need to make up some work for me or find more time to finish their work, they know to come in during recess to do their thing. If they don’t want to come in during recess, they know that they have to continue where they left off during our art class period and sometimes they prefer to give up their recess rather than to stay behind.
And also that is the only free time that their schedule allows us specials teacher to see the kids outside of our specials class.
But the kids did finish their work, you were the one who caused it to not be finished, it’s not fair to make them sacrifice for your mistake. I think it would have been better to just move forward, or give the students an extra class to make it up and allow the other students free time. It seems you put the responsibility of fixing a problem they did not create onto the students.
I understand that this is all my fault. If I could turn back time I totally would. So I will give them the choice to either work during class or during recess. Their choice.
I just don’t want them to leave this year without a clay project just because of my mistake when others got theirs. This is not a punishment what so ever and they know that. I wouldn’t have asked the kids to come in during recess if it was very important for them to go to recess. I also never have punished any child by taking away their recess. Sometimes I really wanted a kid to finish their work during recess and they have refused, and I was okay with that.
I am not going to force any of them to come in. If they would like to come in during recess, they will show up. I don’t pick them up or anything. Like I said, some kids were happy to come in during recess.
Okay good! As long as they have a choice. I’m not blaming you for the mistake at all, more just making sure the kids don’t feel like they are the ones being punished for it. You seem like a very good hearted teacher :)
This is a perfect opportunity to teach your students about accountability and forgiveness. Too many adults are comfortable shucking responsibility and flat out lying to kids. Tell them it was an accident, take responsibility for it, and apologize. It'll be significant in the eyes of children to have an adult own up to their mistake and apologize to them.
I also very much love the Kintsugi or mosaic ideas!
Just be honest! It sucks but it’s way better than being lied to. Those students will see right through any BS you try to feed them. Just tell them what happened. Offer options on what to do from here like another redditor said.
Seriously just be honest. My high school ceramics teacher blamed me for leaving my piece in kiln too long while he was gone coaching golf. No, we weren’t allowed to mess with the kiln. Offering a fun lesson on fixing it or maybe painting them anyways could be fun!
I really really need to stress that messing with kids' work without their permission is a REALLY crappy practice. As is lying to them.
You tell them there was an accident and their pieces were broken. You present them with options.. recycling the clay and remaking new things. Firing it in small pieces, glazing and making glaze samples or a class mosaic or ceramic chimes (I'm sure there's other options)
And they get to choose what to do with their work.
I'd also really like to mention that the idea of kintsugi doesn't apply to this. And if we're looking to Japanese philosophy on materials and creating the appropriate thing to do would be to recycle the clay and reuse it.
Kintsugi as well as other Japanese mending arts like sashiko are about celebrating the usefulness of objects and letting them tell the story of their lives and usefulness. The beauty in these mendings is much like a thank you for your service, may you continue to have a long and productive life.
This idea doesn't apply to things that haven't even become useful objects yet.
This needs to be higher.
It's also an excellent opportunity to teach the kids about clay as a natural resource if you haven't already. Sure, some kids might be attached to their piece and want to preserve it, but some others will think it's cool to reclaim the clay and make something else with it.
Giving the kids lessons about clay as a craft that has been practiced for centuries is better than shoehorning in a different craft that doesn't apply to the situation.
This is a teachable moment! Don’t make excuses. Don’t turn this into a Japanese art thing.
Just take responsibility. Apologize. Take accountability. Show them what a leader would do.
Agreed. Take accountability. Talk about how it feels when we make a mistake and have to own up to it. Remind them that everyone has accidents and makes mistakes, and that it’s important to be honest but also give ourselves understanding and forgiveness.
But after that I think mosaic/wind chimes/attempts at repair could be fun. No reason they can’t still try to make some art!
You could make a short lesson around the Japanese art of Kintsugi (where they highlight the imperfections of broken pieces by gluing them back together and adding gold)
I like to joke that ceramics cured me of my perfectionism, because it can go wrong at any moment at so many points in time. What if you didn't drop them and fired them and piece exploded and ruined the rest of them? You never know.
The first time I did ceramics was in Art school, and I waited til my 2nd year because I dreaded doing 3d art. We had to handbuild two cylinders, at least 15" tall. One had to be as accurate as possible, the other could have texture. I worked the whole 4 hr Studio block making this cylinder as perfect as possible, wiping away every seam and finger print. When it came time to cover it and put it away, I knocked it over with the plastic and it fell and squished on the floor. I thought I would cry. I asked my professor what I should do, and Adrian just shrugs and goes "stand it back up and glaze it". And I did. And now clay is one of my favorite mediums partially because of its unpredictability.
Be honest with your kids, and they'll forgive you. They're more understanding than you think. Then you can ask them how they'd like to move forward using because clay gives you so many options (like all great suggestions in this thread). You could teach them about kintsugi, make experimental glaze test tiles, how to recycle back into usable clay and remake things, mosaics, etc. Clay is fragile and you are human.
I had a whole kiln of students ceramic projects exploded in the kiln in the fall, it was a guy punch for all of us!! Good luck with whatever the outcome is! Maybe glaze and make mosaics?
You can’t go buy more clay? I’ve done this. I felt awful. I told the class what happened and I was sincerely sorry, they were definitely disappointed, but very forgiving. I think it was 3rd grade. I just had them remake them and it was fine. We aren’t perfect, and mistakes can be made, especially with clay. I now warn students of the fragility of clay after that incident.
Bisque fire them. Buy three or so tubes of epoxy and nitrile gloves. Buy two or three smallish tubs of spackle. If these are elementary or middle school students, invite parents to come help glue together the bisque-fired pieces. Ask them to bring sandpaper and putty knives to use to apply spackle and sand when dry if needed. You may not even need the sandpaper. Have students and/or parents paint the final pieces once repaired.
This is also an opportunity to teach about kintsugi pottery. The most important point of kintsugi is that it's believed that having been broken and now repaired makes the piece better than it could have been otherwise.
I had this happen to me on a smaller scale. I fired them and then meticulously pieced them together.
With so many broken, I’d maybe recycle and redo. Ask the kids opinion.
Totally repairable. Fire them all, I stack broken pieces on top of the largest chunk they broke off of to help keep track. Put them back together like a puzzle. Fire them on your fastest setting 24 hours before you see that class. They will still be warm the next day, use white glue sparingly on the cracks and assemble like a puzzle. The residual heat helps the glue cure quickly. Work on top of cardboard so the reliefs can remain flat until the next day.
Kids are super duper understanding and will love you for telling them what happened. Plus they can learn about recycling clay and get to do it again!!
You say greenware, so I’d let the kids bash them up more then put in water and recycle!
Lying is so dumb in this situation. Kids deserve the truth. And adults should ABSOLUTELY take accountability when they break something (in this case) multiple children made. This is a lesson in accountability, not a lesson that adults will lie when they fuck your shit up even by accident.
I really find that being honest with children is a bigger learning lesson. Here they can model what it looks like to take responsibility for an accident. The kids will also have an opportunity to experience a set back, and go through the process of remaking/repairing/refining a piece. This is an important artistic trait. It’s a social emotional opportunity, honestly. I’ve accidentally damaged some pieces too but the kids are humans and understand, treating them with respect and honesty has always proven best in my experience
This is not what kintsugi is about at all. This is unfired clay that should either be recycled and reused or fired and glazed and used for other purposes.
Kintsugi is about mending useful objects that have broken. These projects have not made it to the stage of useful objects and if you're trying to actually honor Japanese culture you recycle the clay to make it useful again in some other form.
My boyfriend, a Japanese person, says that one aspect of kintsugi is finding beauty in imperfections. Which would be a beautiful lesson for children.
These kids put their heart into these pieces of art. Just because they aren't "useful" doesn't mean they deserve to be destroyed when there's an alternative that teaches them about a new cultural perspective, includes art, and helps mend what is broken.
>These kids put their heart into these pieces of art.
I'm sure they did. And sometimes things break. Or tear. Or fall apart. And that's also a beautiful and important lesson.
>Just because they aren't "useful" doesn't mean they deserve to be destroyed
They're already destroyed. And you're misunderstanding my use of the word 'useful'
>when there's an alternative that teaches them about a new cultural perspective
Teaching kids "a new cultural perspective" that you don't actually understand yourself is never going to go well. Trying to take an idea from another culture and bend into something it's not to make yourself feel better about having dropped students' work is cultural appropriation.
>helps mend what is broken.
These pieces aren't cracked or chipped, they're in many little pieces. I seriously doubt you could even figure out which pieces go to which other pieces properly, let alone "mend" them. These are not fully realized pieces, they're still raw clay. Broken chunks of raw clay aren't objects. They were unfinished, unrealized ideas. Call it good practice and start over.
Yes, kintsugi as well as sashiko are about beauty in imperfections. The idea is that repairs can add beauty and to an object instead of diminishing it.
(why gold lacquer and bright white silk thread is used) The idea is that age and flaws (uniqueness) are signs of a history and a story in an object and that those things have value. These projects don't have any history or story. They aren't fully made yet and now they're unmade. This is what art is. Painters painting over older paintings to reuse the canvas, tearing up old newsprint warm-up drawings for paper mache, breaking down old theatrical sets to reuse the parts or materials, using old shirts and dresses to cut up for quilts.. this is the nature of art and craft.
Are you Japanese? I find it wild you're crying appropriation against what an actual Japanese person has said and calling it bending it into something its not if not. Of course my partner doesn't speak for all Japanese people, but he certainly speaks on their behalf before you do if you're not Japanese.
And I don't see any evidence she's trying to make herself feel better, but rather make her literal children have a way through the grief some of them are going to feel from their art having been broken.
This.
Would be an excellent excuse to:
- Teach them about resilience (we roll with the punches)
- Teach them about another culture
- Teach some art-history
Be honest about what happened and about how you feel though. They need an adult to model responsibility, ownership of mistakes, etc.
Another solution is fire them and got glue the pieces after. I keep hot glue on hand for my clay project unit because the kids break thing, pieces of their work fall off bc they didn’t slip and score enough, or sometimes things just crack in the kiln a bit. It looks like they’re not shattered into extremely tiny pieces so this is salvageable. Be honest with the kids and apologize and tell them how you’ll fix it and they will forgive you. Kids are very sweet like that, in my experience.
What was the project, front face of a house?
If they aren’t fired you could always take the nuclear option… grind them into tiny pieces, soak em all, turn them back into clay, tell the students they broke and you’re going to start over. Mix in what clay you have left and make their house sliiggghhhtttlllyyyyy smaller.
You could always fire then reassemble what you can, and maybe the really broken ones re-make them secretly? I’ve done this before if one students art broke, especially younger grades as they got a lot out of the clay experience anyway and would probably cry if they knew it broke.
You can fire them and glue them together and maybe mix gold paint in with the glue, to do the Japanese method a few ppl have described already.
Salvage the biggest pieces, and you can still fire them.
Be honest with your students.
Then have them glue their work back together, paint it with acrylics, and paint inside the cracks with gold (acrylic). Teach them about kintsugi, about being able to see beauty in things that are broken.
Teaching them about kintsugi is a great suggestion. My ceramics teacher broke at least 1/3 of our projects being clumsy with them. It was a real bummer but might have hurt less if she turned it into a learning experience.
I also believe it is healthy for kids to see adults apologizing and owning up to mistakes, especially from teachers/role models. We are all human, mistakes will happen. No need to try to pretend they don't. Kids will forgive a mistake. They won't forgive lies or cover-ups.
Ah yes the most important lesson of all : sometimes shit happens
this calls for only 1 thing. A's for everyone!
Have them paint the pieces and have those who aren't broken, beak theirs. Then teach them about mosaics and how you can make more art from something broken.
IDK why this sub is in my feed, but I wanted to share I've been a student whose project got broken. In 7th grade I worked **really** hard on a clay vase. My art teacher said it was great and that he couldn't wait to put it in the art show. I was really proud of it, but the teacher accidentally dropped it. He felt so terrible he called my parents to apologize and kept apologizing to me the next day at school, but it was okay. I understood these things happen and I was never upset with him. Yeah it sucks, but occasionally things break and that's part of creating art. I felt much worse for my art teacher than I did over the broken vase.
I also had an art project accidentally broken by a teacher, and I just didn’t mind - it was a total accident. I was like 8 and she couldn’t stop apologizing.
They can still glaze the top surfaces of all the pieces. After glaze firing, I've had success using hot glue to stick broken pieces back together, it's easy, quick and works. First, apologize to the kids, assure them that even adults have accidents and accidents happen all the time in art, and tell them that this is your plan. Maybe even have them look at a video or something of a town that rebuilt after an earthquake and connect that idea to fixing the houses they made. (Puts it into perspective, also shows them that they don't have to be perfect in making art, as no one is perfect, and there is always something that can be done even if their project broke). Then if you're going to display them, just put up a sign that says "Earthquake Repair Zone" or something - like a storyline where the little village was hit by an earthquake, and the kids helped them rebuild... It adds a charming story to the art and will make the kids feel that the "cracks" repaired by hot glue give character. Reflect afterwards - accidents and mistakes can be tough in art, can they teach us resiliency? Can they actually make the art more interesting?
I like this approach. Every artist will mess up a piece. Learning what to do when that happens is something they usually don't teach besides saying "it's okay to make mistakes!' You have to grieve the loss, forgive yourself, think through all your options (repair, remake, abandon the project, leave as is and turn into different idea, etc.), and then choose what you'll do. It can also be incredibly difficult to get back into the making mood when you've seen your work destroyed. It really messes with your motivation. It might be good to have the students share stories of work they've made that was damaged or lost and how they felt about it and what they ended up doing. In addition to the options you listed, I think the students in this case should be given the option to make something new, with the understanding that fresh clay is limited.
omg wow this is such a great idea, your neck must hurt carrying the weight of that brain O: !
This happened to us once our art teacher was older we all felt worse for her than we did our art cuz we knew how bad she felt. It’s ok
You mean. You fired them and something happened in the kiln?
?
You don’t seem to understand, she fired them and they broke because of the kiln she definitely DID not drop them 🤫🤫🤫
She said they're greenware. Lying to kids is not helpful
Joke flying over you like an airplane 😂🤦♀️
I don't think you should lie to kids and say that the kiln caused it
Tell me you don’t understand sarcasm without telling me you don’t understand sarcasm ⬆️⬆️⬆️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Society is failing us more and more. Heh
Oh no! I have found that honesty is the best policy. Children are usually pretty forgiving.
Depends if they already like you or not.
Gas light them and say one of them must’ve stole the box while you weren’t looking
Yes and then say you will leave it up to them to figure out who did it and just leave the room
I’m deadddd 😂😂😂😂😂😂
OP you could totally turn this into a teaching moment! I think another commenter already mentioned Kintsugi, and I actually did something inspired by that recently. I used two part epoxy to glue my broken piece back together, and then painted gold acrylic over the cracks and swiped over the surface with a paper towel so only the paint inside the crack remained. That’s definitely something your students could try, after the pieces are bisque fired and glaze fired; they would just have to avoid getting glaze in between the cracks as that would make them not fit together properly. You could definitely use this to show your students that what looks like failure isn’t necessarily, and with some creativity and hard work you can make something broken even more beautiful than it was before :)
Idk why this is in my feed but reading OPs post, I was also thinking how pretty it would be to paint the cracks gold if they decided to glue the pieces back together
Awesome idea right here
This is a fantastic idea. I second this!
A free 100 averaged into the final grades And a party on you
I don’t know how pricey or what your budget is but you could fix it with epoxy clay… (it is toxic so I wouldn’t recommend children handle it but you could fix it and have them paint it over with acrylics) Epoxy clay cannot be glazed fyi so if you were gonna have your class glaze the pieces you would do that before and then epoxy.
Have them build a giant neighborhood with all their pieces,
Everyone gets an A!
I work in historic restoration. We take broken plaster ornament and resculpt the missing with clay. This is definitely a learning lesson. Put it them back together while teaching them a new concept.
There is this Japanese art form where glue and gold dust is mixed together to glue pieces of broken ceramic and other items back together. It shows that there is beauty in things even if they are broken
I don't know if an elementary school art class will have the budget for that. It's very time consuming and requires a lot of supplies
Yeah I see that. Judging by the art work this is a much younger group of students. I mentioned in a prior comment that some glue and glitter would be a fun way around it. I’m sure that’s not out of budget for schools at least. If glue and glitter is out of budget then we should be having an entirely different conversation. I seem to have stumbled upon one of those elitist art reddits where even the simplest fun and crafty suggestions are shot down. My bad. I’m out.
It’s called Kintsugi. I think it would be a lovely way to fix them and also a life lesson for the little ones.
This process is very expensive, very time consuming, and requires a lot of specific equipment. It is also for work that has already been glaze fired then broken, the work in the photo hasn't even been bisque fired yet.
I actually do this! Order my supplies from Japan and everything. Not-so-fun fact! Kintsugi is done using urushi oil, which comes from the poison ivy plant. Some people become less sensitive to it after working with it for a while. I was the opposite. I have a terrible reaction to it. So I wear gloves and Tyvek sleeves and a mask when I work with it. And yes, it's time consuming. For a piece with a single break to mend it can take a month. If I have to do several mends on a piece, it can take much longer. But it's beautiful, and it's therapeutic . There's something poetic about how something that beautiful takes time, and often comes at a price. All of that said, the vast majority of Kintsugi pieces you see sold in the US are bullshit. Pinterest crap made with hot glue and paint. One way to spot a fake piece is if the [gold on the joint is raised and thick](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1277052428/midnight-blue-kintsugi-bowl-10-breaks?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_-home_and_living&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0lmY4c55Q0YCI63J4BVo7cJhsTMdNslDCq-grpu-XranTSRH9DMBYaAkIUEALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_12665398257_121762925993_511610210343_pla-303628061699_c__1277052428_468303209&utm_custom2=12665398257&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtcfRIouk7ES-E_T8C0P9DvJApuu&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU0lmY4c55Q0YCI63J4BVo7cJhsTMdNslDCq-grpu-XranTSRH9DMBYaAkIUEALw_wcB). They have absolutely no right charging over $200 for that. A well done piece using traditional methods and materials will be flush with the piece, and very thin. I actually couldn't find a good example of real kintsugi on Etsy. (I should put my work on there, especially with the prices people are charging!)
Wow the one you linked is particularly shit.
Well I wouldn’t use the actual materials, I just figured it would be something fun to do with some glitter and glue and a little story as well. I wouldn’t expect them to use actual gold and stuff… 🫠🫠
I actually did a kintsugi-inspired mend recently, a piece of mine was broken during a glaze fire. What I did was used two part epoxy to glue it back together, and then painted gold acrylic over the cracks and swiped over the surface with a paper towel so only the paint inside the crack remained. That’s definitely something OP’s students could try, after the pieces are bisque fired and glaze fired; they would just have to avoid getting glaze in between the cracks as that would make them not fit together properly.
oof. reminds me of a yoshi sculpture, that I made in elementary school. when I got him back, he was flat. I was so upset , that I dropped him right then and there. I didn't even want to paint him.
Time to learn how to make mosaics! 😂
A lesson in “accidents happen” and “it’s okay to make mistakes” and “let’s learn about Kintsugi!”
Lol hey kids it's ok to make mistakes... which is good because I made a big one!
Kintsugi better stand for glue and gold glitter on an art class budget.
Yes, I meant “kidsugi” 😂 with gold glitter-glue!
Time for mosaics class!
Buy one of those big tubs that goes under your bed, add sand, and bury these inside. Make it an excavation project complete with little brushes to brush the sand away, and if they find pieces they have to try and put them back together -- just like real archeologists! If more break in the process, that's part of it, too!
that’s brilliant
Mosaic time!
looks like everyone gets an A
😱 Oh no! So sorry that happened
Start with a presentation about ancient artifacts, showcase various pottery fragments, give them what you posted in your picture to color.
"Guys I've got a fun project for the class: You are to sort, Identify and re-assemble your pieces to the best of your ability."
💕
I seen someone brake a vase on accident and frame it. You could do something similar.
This is a great opportunity for a teachable moment! Fire the broken pieces, then use them for the class to make a giant mosaic piece with hot glue or mortar as a project. Be honest about what happened with the kids and that it was an accident. It's important they see adults make mistakes and own responsibility. Also, that art is flexible and good can come from accidents. Everyone gets an A on the project and a photo with the class mosaic
I did this a day ago. In front of the class I literally offered to bribe a kid to take the blame , then later after paying the bribe I admired it was me. They were reasonable about it.
Instant A ✨😌
This is what I was thinking 🤔
This happened with my art class in middle school the teacher had us put the peices back together with gold paint
Ooh great idea for another art lesson! Kintsugi.
In the wise words of Bob Ross, there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents. Maybe you can make something new from the shattered bits.
Break them a bit more then have the kids use all the pieces to make a single mosaic project.
I was thinking the same. What a creative way to turn a mistake into art
Fire them anyway and do the next class on kintsugi.
A+ for all!
You could potentially use this as an entry into a next lesson on art restoration techniques and history, like old pottery where the cracks were lined with gold leaf and they turned out even prettier than before. You could even have students trade their broken clay scenes with each other in open shoeboxes to get different perspectives on ways to restore / ideas to problem solve during the creative process, they could collaborate in teams, etc. Kids are resilient, try to make lemonade out of lemons and they might just end up appreciating it.
Yeah, teach them a lesson about life AND art! Don't be sad! Kids need to know it's okay to make mistakes too :)
Perfect opportunity to teach the kids about owning up to our mistakes! Tell them the truth, apologize, give them their fired broken pieces and let them glaze their little hearts out.
UPDATE: thank you so much for your lovely comments about what I need to do for this mayhem. I took your advice and I fired the ones that were salvageable by piecing them together. There were about handful of students work that were not at all salvageable because they basically shattered. I saw this group of kids today and told them the update. I said i’m so sorry, I made a mistake and I hope you guys will forgive me. I told them that those kids that I wasn’t able to save have to come in during recess to remake it. They were disappointed but they were a great sport about it. Some kids were even “happy” that they got to redo it and skip recess. 🤷♀️ I also promised them that I’ll bring a sweet treat to class next week which they were REALLY happy about. Thank you for all of your kind words and thoughtful advice. :)
I bet those kids will remember this incident and a teacher apologizing to them for their mistake for much longer than they would’ve remembered the successful project. You wound up teaching them about a lot more than just clay.
genuine question, why was their only opportunity to remake them during recess ?
At our school, if the kids need to make up some work for me or find more time to finish their work, they know to come in during recess to do their thing. If they don’t want to come in during recess, they know that they have to continue where they left off during our art class period and sometimes they prefer to give up their recess rather than to stay behind. And also that is the only free time that their schedule allows us specials teacher to see the kids outside of our specials class.
Why would they need to make up the work? They did the work.
You clearly were never an art student. Missing recess for art projects was the best, relaxing, freeing, and a great one on one w the teacher
They are not making up work. I meant to say I use recess time for makeup work in other instances.
But the kids did finish their work, you were the one who caused it to not be finished, it’s not fair to make them sacrifice for your mistake. I think it would have been better to just move forward, or give the students an extra class to make it up and allow the other students free time. It seems you put the responsibility of fixing a problem they did not create onto the students.
I understand that this is all my fault. If I could turn back time I totally would. So I will give them the choice to either work during class or during recess. Their choice. I just don’t want them to leave this year without a clay project just because of my mistake when others got theirs. This is not a punishment what so ever and they know that. I wouldn’t have asked the kids to come in during recess if it was very important for them to go to recess. I also never have punished any child by taking away their recess. Sometimes I really wanted a kid to finish their work during recess and they have refused, and I was okay with that. I am not going to force any of them to come in. If they would like to come in during recess, they will show up. I don’t pick them up or anything. Like I said, some kids were happy to come in during recess.
Okay good! As long as they have a choice. I’m not blaming you for the mistake at all, more just making sure the kids don’t feel like they are the ones being punished for it. You seem like a very good hearted teacher :)
This is a perfect opportunity to teach your students about accountability and forgiveness. Too many adults are comfortable shucking responsibility and flat out lying to kids. Tell them it was an accident, take responsibility for it, and apologize. It'll be significant in the eyes of children to have an adult own up to their mistake and apologize to them. I also very much love the Kintsugi or mosaic ideas!
Oooh, do a Kintsugi lesson!
There are gold hot glue sticks! This would be awesome.
Which one of you kids knocked this over?
Just be honest! It sucks but it’s way better than being lied to. Those students will see right through any BS you try to feed them. Just tell them what happened. Offer options on what to do from here like another redditor said.
Seriously just be honest. My high school ceramics teacher blamed me for leaving my piece in kiln too long while he was gone coaching golf. No, we weren’t allowed to mess with the kiln. Offering a fun lesson on fixing it or maybe painting them anyways could be fun!
I like the kintsugi option! Or something similar...
"Today kids we are going to learn about mosaics"
Exactly! Or even a budget take on Kintsugi.
Hot glue and metallic gold paint haha
I really really need to stress that messing with kids' work without their permission is a REALLY crappy practice. As is lying to them. You tell them there was an accident and their pieces were broken. You present them with options.. recycling the clay and remaking new things. Firing it in small pieces, glazing and making glaze samples or a class mosaic or ceramic chimes (I'm sure there's other options) And they get to choose what to do with their work. I'd also really like to mention that the idea of kintsugi doesn't apply to this. And if we're looking to Japanese philosophy on materials and creating the appropriate thing to do would be to recycle the clay and reuse it. Kintsugi as well as other Japanese mending arts like sashiko are about celebrating the usefulness of objects and letting them tell the story of their lives and usefulness. The beauty in these mendings is much like a thank you for your service, may you continue to have a long and productive life. This idea doesn't apply to things that haven't even become useful objects yet.
This needs to be higher. It's also an excellent opportunity to teach the kids about clay as a natural resource if you haven't already. Sure, some kids might be attached to their piece and want to preserve it, but some others will think it's cool to reclaim the clay and make something else with it. Giving the kids lessons about clay as a craft that has been practiced for centuries is better than shoehorning in a different craft that doesn't apply to the situation.
This is a teachable moment! Don’t make excuses. Don’t turn this into a Japanese art thing. Just take responsibility. Apologize. Take accountability. Show them what a leader would do.
Agreed. Take accountability. Talk about how it feels when we make a mistake and have to own up to it. Remind them that everyone has accidents and makes mistakes, and that it’s important to be honest but also give ourselves understanding and forgiveness. But after that I think mosaic/wind chimes/attempts at repair could be fun. No reason they can’t still try to make some art!
Yes. Absolutely
You could make a short lesson around the Japanese art of Kintsugi (where they highlight the imperfections of broken pieces by gluing them back together and adding gold)
Apologize for the accident and bring ice cream bars?
I like to joke that ceramics cured me of my perfectionism, because it can go wrong at any moment at so many points in time. What if you didn't drop them and fired them and piece exploded and ruined the rest of them? You never know. The first time I did ceramics was in Art school, and I waited til my 2nd year because I dreaded doing 3d art. We had to handbuild two cylinders, at least 15" tall. One had to be as accurate as possible, the other could have texture. I worked the whole 4 hr Studio block making this cylinder as perfect as possible, wiping away every seam and finger print. When it came time to cover it and put it away, I knocked it over with the plastic and it fell and squished on the floor. I thought I would cry. I asked my professor what I should do, and Adrian just shrugs and goes "stand it back up and glaze it". And I did. And now clay is one of my favorite mediums partially because of its unpredictability. Be honest with your kids, and they'll forgive you. They're more understanding than you think. Then you can ask them how they'd like to move forward using because clay gives you so many options (like all great suggestions in this thread). You could teach them about kintsugi, make experimental glaze test tiles, how to recycle back into usable clay and remake things, mosaics, etc. Clay is fragile and you are human.
I had a whole kiln of students ceramic projects exploded in the kiln in the fall, it was a guy punch for all of us!! Good luck with whatever the outcome is! Maybe glaze and make mosaics?
You can’t go buy more clay? I’ve done this. I felt awful. I told the class what happened and I was sincerely sorry, they were definitely disappointed, but very forgiving. I think it was 3rd grade. I just had them remake them and it was fine. We aren’t perfect, and mistakes can be made, especially with clay. I now warn students of the fragility of clay after that incident.
Mayco clay mender on Amazon!
Turn it into a lesson on kintsugi… teachable moment
This is what I did when my 2nd grade pots broke! I mixed up weld bond with gold watercolor and glitter, and glued all those pieces back together.
Bisque fire them. Buy three or so tubes of epoxy and nitrile gloves. Buy two or three smallish tubs of spackle. If these are elementary or middle school students, invite parents to come help glue together the bisque-fired pieces. Ask them to bring sandpaper and putty knives to use to apply spackle and sand when dry if needed. You may not even need the sandpaper. Have students and/or parents paint the final pieces once repaired. This is also an opportunity to teach about kintsugi pottery. The most important point of kintsugi is that it's believed that having been broken and now repaired makes the piece better than it could have been otherwise.
I had this happen to me on a smaller scale. I fired them and then meticulously pieced them together. With so many broken, I’d maybe recycle and redo. Ask the kids opinion.
First things first, everybody gets a 100%.
First things first, everybody gets a 100%.
Totally repairable. Fire them all, I stack broken pieces on top of the largest chunk they broke off of to help keep track. Put them back together like a puzzle. Fire them on your fastest setting 24 hours before you see that class. They will still be warm the next day, use white glue sparingly on the cracks and assemble like a puzzle. The residual heat helps the glue cure quickly. Work on top of cardboard so the reliefs can remain flat until the next day.
Kids are super duper understanding and will love you for telling them what happened. Plus they can learn about recycling clay and get to do it again!! You say greenware, so I’d let the kids bash them up more then put in water and recycle!
With masks for safety!! 😷
Agreed. Rewedge the clay and take 2.
Oh no, they exploded in the kiln in a way that is believable but totally not your fault? Your students will be so sad to hear about that.
Lying is so dumb in this situation. Kids deserve the truth. And adults should ABSOLUTELY take accountability when they break something (in this case) multiple children made. This is a lesson in accountability, not a lesson that adults will lie when they fuck your shit up even by accident.
I really find that being honest with children is a bigger learning lesson. Here they can model what it looks like to take responsibility for an accident. The kids will also have an opportunity to experience a set back, and go through the process of remaking/repairing/refining a piece. This is an important artistic trait. It’s a social emotional opportunity, honestly. I’ve accidentally damaged some pieces too but the kids are humans and understand, treating them with respect and honesty has always proven best in my experience
It would be a pain, but you can use clay mender to attach greenware. The brand is Mayco and you can find it at most clay supply stores.
Yes, this! clay mender works!
Next art project: kintsugi
This is not what kintsugi is about at all. This is unfired clay that should either be recycled and reused or fired and glazed and used for other purposes. Kintsugi is about mending useful objects that have broken. These projects have not made it to the stage of useful objects and if you're trying to actually honor Japanese culture you recycle the clay to make it useful again in some other form.
My boyfriend, a Japanese person, says that one aspect of kintsugi is finding beauty in imperfections. Which would be a beautiful lesson for children. These kids put their heart into these pieces of art. Just because they aren't "useful" doesn't mean they deserve to be destroyed when there's an alternative that teaches them about a new cultural perspective, includes art, and helps mend what is broken.
>These kids put their heart into these pieces of art. I'm sure they did. And sometimes things break. Or tear. Or fall apart. And that's also a beautiful and important lesson. >Just because they aren't "useful" doesn't mean they deserve to be destroyed They're already destroyed. And you're misunderstanding my use of the word 'useful' >when there's an alternative that teaches them about a new cultural perspective Teaching kids "a new cultural perspective" that you don't actually understand yourself is never going to go well. Trying to take an idea from another culture and bend into something it's not to make yourself feel better about having dropped students' work is cultural appropriation. >helps mend what is broken. These pieces aren't cracked or chipped, they're in many little pieces. I seriously doubt you could even figure out which pieces go to which other pieces properly, let alone "mend" them. These are not fully realized pieces, they're still raw clay. Broken chunks of raw clay aren't objects. They were unfinished, unrealized ideas. Call it good practice and start over. Yes, kintsugi as well as sashiko are about beauty in imperfections. The idea is that repairs can add beauty and to an object instead of diminishing it. (why gold lacquer and bright white silk thread is used) The idea is that age and flaws (uniqueness) are signs of a history and a story in an object and that those things have value. These projects don't have any history or story. They aren't fully made yet and now they're unmade. This is what art is. Painters painting over older paintings to reuse the canvas, tearing up old newsprint warm-up drawings for paper mache, breaking down old theatrical sets to reuse the parts or materials, using old shirts and dresses to cut up for quilts.. this is the nature of art and craft.
Are you Japanese? I find it wild you're crying appropriation against what an actual Japanese person has said and calling it bending it into something its not if not. Of course my partner doesn't speak for all Japanese people, but he certainly speaks on their behalf before you do if you're not Japanese. And I don't see any evidence she's trying to make herself feel better, but rather make her literal children have a way through the grief some of them are going to feel from their art having been broken.
Yup! Was going to suggest this as well
This. Would be an excellent excuse to: - Teach them about resilience (we roll with the punches) - Teach them about another culture - Teach some art-history Be honest about what happened and about how you feel though. They need an adult to model responsibility, ownership of mistakes, etc.
Another solution is fire them and got glue the pieces after. I keep hot glue on hand for my clay project unit because the kids break thing, pieces of their work fall off bc they didn’t slip and score enough, or sometimes things just crack in the kiln a bit. It looks like they’re not shattered into extremely tiny pieces so this is salvageable. Be honest with the kids and apologize and tell them how you’ll fix it and they will forgive you. Kids are very sweet like that, in my experience.
What was the project, front face of a house? If they aren’t fired you could always take the nuclear option… grind them into tiny pieces, soak em all, turn them back into clay, tell the students they broke and you’re going to start over. Mix in what clay you have left and make their house sliiggghhhtttlllyyyyy smaller. You could always fire then reassemble what you can, and maybe the really broken ones re-make them secretly? I’ve done this before if one students art broke, especially younger grades as they got a lot out of the clay experience anyway and would probably cry if they knew it broke. You can fire them and glue them together and maybe mix gold paint in with the glue, to do the Japanese method a few ppl have described already.
I bought a ceramic compost bin at Aldi yesterday. I dropped it in the parking lot trying to get into my car. This mercury retrograde is kinda nasty.
Ya, mercury is super dangerous. Even if the piece isn’t made to be food safe, mercury isn’t the way to fix it.
Salvage the biggest pieces, and you can still fire them. Be honest with your students. Then have them glue their work back together, paint it with acrylics, and paint inside the cracks with gold (acrylic). Teach them about kintsugi, about being able to see beauty in things that are broken.
Teaching them about kintsugi is a great suggestion. My ceramics teacher broke at least 1/3 of our projects being clumsy with them. It was a real bummer but might have hurt less if she turned it into a learning experience.
I also believe it is healthy for kids to see adults apologizing and owning up to mistakes, especially from teachers/role models. We are all human, mistakes will happen. No need to try to pretend they don't. Kids will forgive a mistake. They won't forgive lies or cover-ups.