Making a Clay Ice Cream Cone

There’s nothing like a cool ice cream cone for a hot day. Too bad this one got a little off balance! Try your hand at this easy project making a funny ice cream cone out of clay. We used three colors of clay for a little extra flavor.

Materials:

Clay (stoneware, terracotta or a non-hardening modeling clay will work)

*Slip (slurry made from old, dry clay and water to use as paste with stoneware or terracotta)

Pencil

1.       Roll three balls of clay in three sizes.  The smallest should be the size of a walnut, the largest should be no bigger than a ping pong ball. If you are using different colors, roll one ball of each color.

2.       Make each ball into a pinch pot. Vary the sizes of the pots so you have one small, one medium and one large pot that can stack on each other.

3.       Now make faces on each ball. You can use extra pieces of clay to shape eyes and a nose for each one. Use the pencil to draw in a mouth, eyebrows or nostrils. You may want to create a different emotion on each face like sadness or laughter – whatever you think the ice cream “feels” when it falls. 

4.       To make the cone roll out golf ball-sized clay and flatten it into a circle about 6 inches across. 

5.   Trim two edges off so one side is an arc and the other two sides are straight.

6.       Draw lines with a pencil or wooden skewer to create a waffle cone look. 

7.   Bring the 2 straight edges together and smooth the seam. You may have to trim  the edge of the circle so the cone is even all the way around.

8.       Stack the three ice cream “scoops” on each other like a snowman and put the cone on top.*  You can add a cherry or other decoration on top if you like.

*If you are working with stoneware or terracotta, you will need to use the slip as glue to attach each piece to your frog. Using the pencil, make scratch marks on both surfaces you will be joining. Apply the slip to the piece of clay you are adding and press the piece into place.

We liked this project so much we're sharing it today on Skip to my Lou and Link and Learn.