DIY Pottery Nativity

I am SOOOOO pleased with how this turned out. After last Christmas, I knew I wanted to make a small nativity scene for our cabin. We have 2 different nativity scenes with stables for our home (one is quite large and was made by my great grandpa) but I wanted something at our cabin as well.

Joseph in this display is only about 6 inches tall and about 4 1/2 inches wide.

I started out by slab rolling out some clay. I cut out my Joseph body first (I did it free hand) and then shaped it. I set it aside nearby so that I could use it to figure out my Mary size. I allowed the body pieces to harden a bit before I attached the heads (which are just rounded balls).

To make Mary, I cut a section of clay to the height I wanted her body to be, then I turned the clay in a circle to find out how much I needed to make the size around I need and then cut it while laying flat. While it lay flat, I fut the slanted side. I cut a circle that I would mold in to the bottom circle body that would be her lap.

I started out with a round flattened piece of clay for baby Jesus and placed the circle head about a 1/2 inch inside the circle, then I just shaped the clay up and around the head to look like swaddled blankets.

Finally, I attached the ball heads on the other 2 pieces.

When it came time to glaze the pieces, the colors I used were Navy Blue and Firebrick Red (they are currently 2 of my favorite glazes we have at the Art Center; I am also very fond of Metallic Green.)