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pottery as art therapy

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Marmaj40

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Jun 26, 2004, 9:43:07 PM6/26/04
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I have a teenage boy neighbor who has a tumor on his spinal cord. He is home a
few weeks from his second surgery. He has a lot of pain, and I have offered to
go over with clay to see if some clay therapy will help him with his pain
management. My question is because I am not a teacher, what would you, who
teach children, say would be a good starting point? I have an extruder, and a
slab roller so I can take prepared clay to him. Any suggestions? I think coil
building would not require a lot of skills, and I have even thought about just
giving him a lump of clay and let him make a small sculpture. There are many
possibilities.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
Martha

annemarie

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Jun 27, 2004, 3:55:19 AM6/27/04
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"Marmaj40" <marm...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040626214307...@mb-m17.aol.com...

Start with pinch pots. He can do that in his lap with the least strain on
his back I would have thought.


Bubbles

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Jun 27, 2004, 8:40:20 PM6/27/04
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"Marmaj40" <marm...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040626214307...@mb-m17.aol.com...

I like your idea of not making his beginnings too complicated. Even slab
building does take a lot out of you physically as you need to move around
the object a bit to get it all together. If you have a dias/wheel on which
to place the sculpture, so that it moves around instead of him doing so, I
bet that would help.

Personally, just the feel of the clay and the ability to mould it into any
shape I like is wonderful. Even if there is no actual result in the first
couple of tries - just the distraction of concentrating on the clay instead
of the pain may be helpful.

Wishing you the best of luck and him a good recovery!

Marianne


Lischneid

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Jul 2, 2004, 7:56:06 PM7/2/04
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If you make a slab for him, your neighbor can wrap it around a plastic 1/2
gallon square container (ice tea, etc). The trick is to cut a slit lenghtwise
in the container ahead of time and tape it from the inside and to cover the
container with plastic. Put a slab on the bottom and then around it. After it
dries for awhile you can take off the tape and then collapse the container and
remove the plastic.
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