Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

I hope you're having a good day.

My name's Esther.

Some people call me Miss Esther.

And I'm here to share a lesson with you today called, "Clay Beads: Meanings and Patterns," and it's part of our unit, "Clothes and Culture: Wearable Arts." Great.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today is that you will be able to make and decorate clay beads using pattern, shape, and meaning.

We have some keywords today.

I'll go through them and then we'll look together at what those keywords mean.

You may have heard these keywords before.

We have bead, repetition, symbol, and pattern.

A bead is a small round object, which has a small hole through its center.

Some of you may wear beads.

Repetition is the repeated use of elements.

Elements like images, colors, and text.

A symbol is an object, shape, or image that stands for or represents an idea or meaning.

A pattern is a design in which lines, shapes, forms, or colors are repeated.

We'll be coming back to these keywords all the way through our lessons so we can find out a bit more.

Here's our lesson outline for "Clay Beads: Meanings and Patterns." First of all, we'll be making clay beads by hand.

We'll be designing a pattern inspired by East Asian fabric, and decorating the beads with symbolic pattern and texture as our last activity.

I can't wait to get started.

I really love working in clay.

We'll start by making clay beads by hand.

We've got an image here to look at, and I'd like you to think about how can something small, still tell a big story.

Pause the video and have a conversation with a partner.

Try and think of small objects, maybe items of jewelry that you wear that tells a story.

Restart the video when you've had your conversations.

Well done for talking about it.

I wonder if any of you thought of things that you own that tell a story, but are very small.

Beads are one of the oldest forms of art in the world.

They're found in many cultures and can be use for wearing, for trading, or telling stories.

To make beads, artists use repetition, doing something over and over and over and over, and form.

Today, you will roll many small clay beads to create a set of beads.

We have a check for understanding here, a short pause to have a thing.

What are some ways beads have been used around the world? So just thinking about this question, is it A, they've only been used for decorating clothes? Is it B, beads have been used for wearing, or trading, or telling stories? Or is it C, they've been used just for counting and for maths? Pause the video, talk as a group about whether you think it's A, B, or C.

Did you get the answer B? Beads have been used around the world for wearing, trading, or telling stories.

Thank you for sharing your ideas.

Lucas and Izzy begin to make their beads.

They used clay, I can see some spheres of clay there.

a clay board or mat, and some paper straws.

To make your beads, take a small piece of clay and roll it between your palms to make a smooth sphere.

Repeat this to make more beads.

So we've got an artist here showing us how they would roll, and they're rolling everything up in the air and then popping it back onto the board.

Use the cut straw to gently poke a hole through the middle of each bead.

So you might have to wiggle it in and spend a bit of time getting that straw nicely into your clay piece, right in the middle.

You might see that the straw takes out a plug of clay and clears a space in the bead.

Straws should be longer than your clay shape, and you leave the straws in, that's very important.

Shape the beads into ovals or make flat shapes.

Place the beads to one side to dry.

So you can see here, that some of the shapes have stayed round, some of them have become cylinders, some of them are being squished a little bit to make different shapes.

It's all about experimentation.

We are ready for Task A, making clay beads by hand.

Roll at least six to 10 clay beads.

Use a cut straw to make holes in them.

Leave the straws inside while drying.

Keep the shape smooth and strong.

Have a fantastic time exploring clay, experimenting good shapes, and making many different clay beads.

Pause the video and restart when you've done Task A.

Fantastic work exploring the clay and challenging yourself to make different shapes.

I wonder if you found a particular way of using the clay that you liked and made lots of repeated bead shapes.

We've got some examples here of clay beads.

When you made your beads, you may have created some different-shaped beads or laid out your beads carefully, ready to refine them later.

We are ready now for our second task to design a pattern inspired by East Asian fabric.

Wow, this is an amazing piece of artwork.

Could you just pause the video and have a conversation about where you have seen patterns? Doesn't matter where it is, just have a conversation about where you've seen patterns with somebody nearby.

I hope you enjoyed talking about where you've seen patterns.

Maybe you talked about favorite patterns.

A pattern is a design made by repeating line, shapes, or colors.

Repeating shapes is called repetition.

That means it happens over and over.

So if we thought of it as a movement, a repetitious movement would be me tapping my hands together, over and over.

It's repeating again and again and again.

In Japanese fabric design, patterns are full of meaning.

Artists repeat shapes to show nature, protection, or strength.

Patterns are part of the wider history of East Asian textiles where nature, protection, and strength are shown through shapes.

This pattern is known as the seigaiha pattern.

What does it remind you of? Look at the screen and think about what this pattern reminds you of.

The seigaiha pattern shows ocean waves.

It can mean peace, and it can mean strength.

We've got another pattern here.

The kikko pattern is shaped like a tortoise shell.

Tortoises are well-known for having long life spans.

The kikko pattern stands for long life.

Many patterns come from nature and hold important meanings.

Beautiful leaf pattern here that we can look at.

We have a check for understanding.

What does the kikko pattern stand for? Does it stand for A, fire, B, long life, or C, light life? Have a conversation with a partner and decide whether your answer is A, B, or C.

Pause the video and restart when you're ready.

Did you get the answer B? Long life.

Well done for sharing your thoughts.

Lucas and Izzy begin to make their pattern.

They're going to use square white paper, oil pastels or colored chalks, and images of Japanese fabrics for their inspiration.

It's interesting how they're adding the shapes one by one, and they've gone across the paper.

You could go around the edge of your paper, across your paper, or begin in the middle.

I can count that the yellow shape has been repeated one, two, three, four times.

I'm not sure how many times the triangle, the purple triangle, has been repeated though.

Izzy and Lucas discuss how they can improve their pattern.

Lucas says, "Your pattern has a great start, but I noticed there are still empty spaces.

Maybe you could repeat your shape more to fill the square." Izzy says, "Good idea.

I might add another shape, like small circles between the crescent shapes.

That will give the pattern movement." Great sharing of thoughts, Izzy and Lucas.

Thank you.

Now we can see what happen next.

We've got one, two, three patterns.

One yellow, one purple, one red.

We've got four patterns now.

One pattern in green has been added.

Oh, five patterns.

We've got some blue circles that have been added.

And six patterns.

We've got a final pattern in orange that looks like a diamond shape to me.

Lovely artwork to look at.

Izzy has refined her initial design.

The space has now been filled with color and repetition to create the pattern.

We have a check for understanding, and we have a statement to look at.

There's a sentence here with a gap in it.

"A pattern uses, gap, to create a design." What do we think the answer is to that? "A pattern uses to create a design." Talk to someone nearby about what you think the missing word is.

Pause the video and restart after you've shared your ideas.

Did you get this answer? A pattern uses repetition, doing something over and over and over again to create a design.

Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts.

We are now going to design a repeating pattern inspired by East Asia.

This is Task B.

Some top tips here for us.

Repeat five to six shapes.

Fill the space using pattern.

Take inspiration from seigaiha, waves, or kikko, tortoise shell designs.

Think what could your pattern mean? Pause the video and enjoy creating some repeating patterns.

Well done for exploring lots and lots of different pattern shapes.

Really fantastic to repeat something over and over.

I wonder if you find it relaxing as well.

We have an example here of a pattern.

Izzy says about this pattern.

"I used a repeating blue circle shape inspired by the color of the seigaiha pattern.

The repeating yellow lines create a flowing movement.

My pattern means peace and strength." Fantastic work.

We are ready for our last lesson cycle of making, decorate beads with symbolic pattern and texture.

Wow, we have an amazing array of things to look at here and a question, "Can a bead carry a powerful message? If it can, how can it carry that message? I'd like you to pause the video and talk as a group about how you think one small bead could carry a message.

Restart the video when you've had your conversations.

How did the conversation go? You might have come up with different ideas about how something so small can carry a powerful message.

We have a symbol here, and a symbol is a shape, or object, or image that stands for an idea or meaning.

Have a look at the screen and think about what the symbol means.

I think you all know the answer to this one.

We've got a more complicated symbol here to look at.

Four hands going round in a circle.

What might this symbol of hands represent? Pause the video and have another conversation with a partner about what this symbol might represent for you.

What it means for you.

Restart the video when you've had your conversations.

So this symbol is usually seen as representing unity and the idea of people being one.

That's because the hands are going round in a circle to form one shape and holding onto each other.

It's a powerful symbol.

Symbols are powerful because they can share ideas, feelings, or stories without using words.

We have three symbols to look at here.

One is strength, one is unity, and one is power.

I wonder if you can think of another symbol that means power for you.

Artists often use symbols in bead designs to show meaning or identity.

What message could your bead design share? Pause the video and have a think, and maybe sketch some ideas of what symbol your bead could have on it.

The beads are small, so the symbol needs to be quite simple.

And remember, it's a symbol, so it doesn't have to make sense to somebody else.

The pattern you decide to use can be one that has come from your imagination, from your head, and you've given it your own symbolic meaning.

And symbols are different all around the world.

Pause the video and enjoy thinking up a message for your bead design to share.

How did it go? How many designs and messages did you think of? I'm sure you had lots of different ideas inspired by shapes and patterns.

Beads are more than just decoration.

They can carry messages.

In many cultures, beads are used in trade, in celebration, and in memory.

We've got an image here of some West African bracelets with lots of tiny beads on, and some big glass beads that are from Ghana in West Africa.

Some beads are worn for protection, and some tell a story.

You'll be turning your plain beads into something full of meaning.

The person wearing them might be telling a story, remembering someone, or showing who they are.

Beads are not just pretty, they are symbolic.

Izzy and Lucas look at examples of beads from the continent of Africa.

Lucas says, "Some are carved, others painted or shaped." Izzy says, "Some have dots or zigzags." When designing your bead, it's important to think about its design.

What could your bead protect or remember? What would someone guess from your pattern? If you wore this bead, what would it say about you? Great.

Here's Izzy and Lucas again.

Izzy says, "I think the fork lines could show strength, like strong marks or scratches in the clay.

I want it to show protection." Lucas says, "Good idea.

I could roll pasta or press a comb to make patterns for unity while all the shapes connect together." Fantastic.

Thanks, Izzy.

Thanks, Lucas.

We have a pause here for a check for understanding to do together.

What is a symbol? Is it A, a type of bead, B, a repeated pattern, or C, something that stands for an idea or for a meaning? Pause the video and share your ideas with someone nearby, and choose A, B, or C.

Restart the video when you've had your conversations.

Great conversations.

Well done for sharing your thoughts about the meaning of the word symbol.

Did you get answer C? That's the correct answer.

A symbol is something that stands for an idea or a meaning.

You can add meaning to your beads using, texture, dots, lines, mark, symbols, shapes that stand for an idea, repetition to build a design.

So three top tips we can look at texture, symbols, and repetition in our design work.

For the next part of the lesson, you will need leather-hard, firm, clay beads.

That means they're dried but are not completely dry, so you can still press into them, but they won't move about.

Some clay tools, and found textures, strings, bags, Lego, pastry cutters, cones, etc.

To decorate your beads, hold each bead in your hand and gently press in textures or patterns onto the surface.

Use the end of tools or found objects to add meaning.

You can see that if we've taken the paper straw out, it would be difficult for the bead to hold its shape and not stick back together again.

So it's important to leave your paper straws in.

You can roll your bead on a textured surface.

I really like the pattern that's come from rolling it on the vegetable bag.

That's fantastic.

Once your beads have hardened, you can take the straws out.

Lots of different designs there.

I wonder how many you will make.

We have a check for understanding to do together.

Order the pictures below for decorating your bead.

We have to decide what starts our bead decorating sequence.

Is it going to be picture A, a clay bead being decorated, picture B, some clay beads on straws, or picture C, clay beads without the straws in? What order should we arrange these pictures in? Pause the video and decide how to start your sequence.

Talk as a group, and when you're decided, restart the video.

Well done for having some interesting conversations about the order of our bead decoration.

Did you get B? B is the correct answer.

The picture of the clay bead still on straws starts our sequence, followed by A, the clay bead being decorated, and last of all by C, fully decorated clay beads without their straws in.

We're ready now to do Task C.

Decorate your beads with symbols and with meaning.

Add patterns and symbols.

Use texture to make meaning visible.

And think, what does your bead stand for? Protection, for memory, or identity? As you do your making, reflect on the questions below.

This is what we call thinking and making.

Think about what tools or textures work best for you.

What is one meaning that your bead carries? If someone else found your bead, what would they understand from it, you think? Maybe they'd invent a meaning for your bead.

Pause the video and enjoy exploring patterns, symbol, and textures, and creating a symbolic clay bead.

Restart the video when you've done Task C.

You have explored so many different ways of decorating clay and really been experimental in your approach.

Great work, everyone.

We have some examples of beads here.

Izzy says, "The fork made the best texture for my bead.

I used zigzag lines as a symbol of strength.

If someone found my bead, they would understand it was made to give courage." Amazing work in this lesson from you all.

We will have a summary now of what we did and why we did it.

Clay beads can be decorated by repeating patterns and symbols.

We experimented making our own clay bead shapes to start with, and then created a pattern on paper and did some fantastic repeating of colors and shapes, inspired by East Asian patterns.

We thought about how beads carry meaning in different cultures and places, so sometimes you might come across a bead and not know what it means, but it could mean something completely different.

African and East Asian patterns inspire design ideas.

It's wonderful to look at what's already there in the world around us, for inspiration for our very own unique clay bead designs.

Well done for all your hard work.

I hope to see you in an art lesson again very soon.