Victorian Style Clay House

In this lesson students will explore Victorian style architecture by creating a clay house. Students will create a slab clay work and cut the house shape out of clay before adding a second slab layer to some areas and incorporating texture with tools. Students will use oil pastel and watercolour to create colour in the work.

Lesson 1

Students explore Victorian style architecture. Show them images of Victorian houses and discuss the features of the style from the shapes, textures and colours used. Demonstrate how to create a clay house using a slab technique. Students design their own Victorian house to be made out of clay and annotate the textures they will use and the tools they would use to create them.

Lesson 2

Students roll out their clay to begin constructing their house. They will use the wooden slats to roll their clay out evenly on a silicone mat and then draw their design into the clay using a clay tool. Students will cut around their clay and join a second layer of clay to some areas to emphasise certain shapes. They will then add more details and textures with their clay tools. Students will allow their clay to dry, to be coloured in the next lesson.

Lesson 3

Students use oil pastels to colour in their dried clay houses. Students should use Victorian style colours. Students will then use black watercolour and paint it over their clay house to create a resist effect. Students will dab away excess watercolour with a damp cloth.