Sorting "Treasures"

The Tel Aviv class LOVES my glass "gems."  Throughout the year I have often brought in pieces of glass and they have sorted them by size, color  and texture. Each child has found his or her favorite and they play with their pieces as if they were treasures. This past weekend I had the opportunity to work on my art quite a bit and on Tuesday I had a whole new bag of glass gems to show the class. They immediately poured them on a table and started to sort. This time they found things such as rainbows and smily faces which allowed them to sort by "type" rather than color. Sometimes Micah and Zach assign values to the pieces and do trades creating their own sort of glass currency which I find extremely fascinating but is not based on anything I know about glass art. Although these objects aren't toys they are new interesting pieces that inspire curiosity and play. Lily and Josie were having the smily faces talk to each other as if they were dolls. So neat! It's great to see how much they can learn simply from a bag of shiny "treasures."

Tel Aviv's Super Special Mother's Day Project

Throughout the past week each member of the class has had the opportunity to learn how to cut glass in order to make a special necklace for Mother's Day. Throughout the year the group had seen, played with and sorted my glass pendants and many had asked how I made them. Fused glasswork isn't most commonly thought of as a four year old activity but with the right safety tools the Tel Aviv kids proved yet again that they are not only capable but actually phenomenal glass artists. Each child learn how to apply pressure to the glass cutter and push away from them. Then they used the grosers (see photo above) to apply pressure to the score so that the glass would split. It was exciting to hear them understand the process. "I heard it cut!" " it snapped!" They were very proud that they had the strength to break glass on their own. 

Each child also had the opportunity to think about their mom in the necklace making process. Does she wear big or small necklaces? What's her favorite color? Moms were thought of as each colored price was chosen. It was a neat adventure and I know each child was proud to present their present. We hope you enjoy them!!

Creating Elijah's Cups

With Passover here we thought it would be fun for the Tel Aviv crew to create something that they could bring with them to the Seder Table:  Elijah's/ Miriam's cups! We used real glass cups which meant we had to be really careful but the Tel Aviv kids liked that responsibility. We used modge podge and tissue paper for the first layer and then some children added ribbon or paint for a second layer. As each child worked on their creation we could see their personality come out both in the steps they took to create the cup as well as the looks of the final product. They were proud and excited about their creations and we hope that some of you have seen them on your Seder tables!

Happy Mother's Day!

We hope all the mom's out there who received a fused glass surprise this mother's day enjoyed their child-made pendent! We just wanted to share what the finished products look like for everyone who has been curious about the Tel Aviv glass projects. Some of the kids picked pieces of glass and layered and glued them on top of each other while others cut the glass themselves to create the design they wanted. It was neat to see how different each child's pendent is and how much they expires both their personality and the energy they placed towards the project. You can look and see the focus they spent creating the pendent just by looking at the finished product! The class has been very focused on glasswork this past week and the Tel Aviv mezuzah's are out of the kiln and will be ready for bidding at Taste of the Town this Saturday night!

The Tel Aviv Class Begins to Conquer Glass

The students in the Tel Aviv class have been hard at work creating glass mezuzot for Taste of the Town. Our class finds mezuzot fascinating and love finding them around the temple. It only made sense for us to work on some new ones to donate to the auction. Cutting glass is quite the multi-step process. Fist each child has to put on gloves and goggles then they score, or cut, the glass and then they use the pliers to spit the piece of glass in two. Once they have cut and collected all the pieces they want to use it is time to assemble and glue. 

I thought that this process might be too challenging for most of our kids to stay focused throughout the entire task, but boy was I wrong. This class LOVES working with glass. They are excited to watch me work with it and to create their own designs. All of the children are comfortable using the pliers to split the glass independently and Dylan and Max are completely comfortable scoring the glass all on their own!! Dylan continually told me that he could do it himself.  


It was hard to let go and realize that even though glass is a sophisticated medium that Dylan does have an understanding of the materials and he can cut class on his own. It is so neat to watch and they are so proud of each and every piece they cut. Way to go Tel Aviv class! I am proud of each of them and excited that they are working on beautiful pieces of art that they are proud of as well!