Hands On Crafts for Kids

by Patty Cox

The Blue Hen chicken was adopted as Delaware’s official state bird in 1939. Sometime during the 1400’s a potter in Germany bought inexpensive wood to fire his kiln. This wood was from crates in which fish had been salted. When the potter opened his kiln he found that the stoneware was completely finished with a beautiful clear glaze after only one firing. It was the salt in the wood that left the glaze. When the colonists came to this country they brought salt glazed stoneware and the unique technique for making it.

You will need:

4oz. Translucent oven bake clay
½ Teaspoon kosher salt
Blue marker
Rubbing alcohol
Cotton swab

Instructions:

1. Knead and soften clay. Add ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Knead into clay.

2. Roll clay into a ball. Roll and taper a side for beak. Place on flat surface. Pinch two wings from body sides. Pinch tail from back. Press the edge of a piece of cardboard into clay at an angle, just in front of tail for the recipe card holder.

3. Place on an oven proof glass surface in a regular oven at 275°F for 15 minutes per ¼” thickness. DO NOT USE MICROWAVE OVEN. Let cool.

4. Draw design on clay hen with blue marker.

5. Lightly dampen cotton swab with rubbing alcohol. Rub cotton swab over design. The alcohol will smear the blue marker without removing the pattern and leave the hen a very light blue color.

Polyform® Sculpey® III Polymer Clay