Texture Explorers – Art Sparks

Challenge students to become texture adventurers! By pressing, rolling, or stamping found textures into clay, they’ll transform everyday objects into surfaces full of character.

Students will use textured slabs to build a small sculpture or vessel, celebrating the beauty of patterns.

• Collect found textures—leaves, bark, lace, burlap, coins, or other classroom-safe objects.
• Sketch a quick design showing placement of textures and slab sections.
• Roll a slab of clay to about ¼” thickness.
• Press textures firmly into the clay surface.
• Cut shapes or panels from the textured slabs.
• Assemble into a small vessel, box, or abstract sculpture using scoring and slipping.
• Smooth edges and refine form.
• Allow to dry, bisque fire, glaze, and glaze fire.

The challenge: Their final clay piece must use only textures pressed from these finds—no added drawn lines or smooth surfaces. (This constraint pushes creativity and problem-solving.)

Why Stroke & Coat Glazes Art Perfect for Textures Sculptures

Stroke & Coat works beautifully on textured clay, delivering bold color and crisp details. Because Stroke & Coat colors can be mixed together, students can invent their own colors—making every piece as unique as the artist who created it.

Variations & Extensions

• Create a collaborative “texture wall” by combining slabs from the whole class.
• Assign themes: “natural textures,” “urban textures,” or “fabric textures.”
• Pair with a sketchbook exercise where students make rubbings of textures they find before pressing them into clay.