1. Useful and Beautiful Pencil Holder
Activities by Mary Erickson, Ph.D. and graduate student Colette Pecenka
In conjunction with the exhibition:
NCECA: 2009 Regional Student Juried Exhibition
from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
and the Tempe Center for the Arts

2. Pencil holders need to be open at the top and tall to be useful.
Both of these pencil holders are cylinders.

3. Which two cylinders have shapes and colors that make them interesting to view?B C

4. You can make your own pencil holder with supplies like these.

5. Begin with a ball of clay the size of an orange.
Flatten out 1/4 of the ball.
Cut the circle for the bottom of your pencil holder with the rim of a plastic cup.

6. 4. Make a “snake” (or coils) by rolling a small amount of your clay first between the palms of your hands and then on the newspaper.
5. Make five or six coils that are thicker than a thick pencil.

7. 6. Place two coils three inches apart.
7. Make the sides of your cylinder by filling in the space with other coils.

8. 8. You can curl a coil to make a “snail” (or spiral).
9. You can also use circles and ovals to fill in the space on the side of your cylinder.

9. 10. Use a popsicle stick to scrape together and connect the coils on one side.
Your spirals, circles and ovals will be safe on the other side.

10. 11. Carefully bend the side of your cylinder around the circle bottom you made earlier.

11. 12. Use the popsicle stick to gently push the coils into the bottom circle and to push together the ends to complete your cylinder.

12. This pencil holder has interesting
shapes and is also useful.

13. If you are a little older and have had more practice working with clay, try working with thinner coils.

14. Place the top and bottom coils five inches apart and fill the space with circles, spirals and ovals.

15. Scrape over the coils on one side to hold them together to make your wall.
Inside of wall
Outside of wall

16. This pencil holder also has interesting
shapes and is useful.