Today was the last day of our “Fire, Forge & Feast” summer camp at Lillstreet.
The day when everything comes together. At least if all goes well.
And today it did.

Our clay pieces came out of the kiln and everything looked pretty good.
So the kids did some final projects, some last minute riveting and some finishing.

It was great to all of the dinnerware sets come together. Combining their metal & clay projects
together in one place thematic setting. The kids were excited too! And well they should be!
They all worked really hard this week – and succeeded in the challenge we put forth for them.

Theme : ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Complete with a wonderful Cheshire Cat plate!

Theme : FLOWERS. Colorful flowers everywhere, plus a great pair of salad tongs.

Theme : HARRY POTTER. With a fun Quidditch plate, Hedwig bowl and Sorting Hat cup.

Theme: DOCTOR WHO. Sadly, I’ve never seen the show, so I wasn’t much help with this one!

Theme: FISH. Catfish dinner plate, goldfish salad plate and a fun fish skeleton spoon!

Theme : ALASKA. Covered in snowy white with a moose, fish and evergreen trees!

Theme : TREES. Fun with stump handles for the cutlery. Plus a strainer-spoon for the cup!

Theme : MATHEMATICS. Not so fond of Math, but loved his direction. Not off on a tangent!

Theme : ZOMBIES. Climbing out of the RIP Cemetery plates, and a screaming mouth bowl!

Theme : SWITZERLAND. With an upcoming move to Switzerland, this was a great choice!

Theme : VIDEO GAME… not sure which one?!… I’m sure he would love to tell you about it.

Theme : CHERRY PIE.  Made as part of our demos by my co-teacher Michelle.

But here’s the kick. Along the way, the kids did break quite a few saw blades.
Now don’t get me wrong, saw blades do break! Even for adults. Even for people who have
been sawing metal for years. But maybe some of the kids didn’t get that memo?! As a few
of them broke a few more than their share. We made this list on the wall of the Metals Room
after working with the kids for two days in clay. Michelle and I tried to predict who would
do well,  and who would break more saw blades. So we put the kids in order as we were
guessing. I think we did pretty good listing the ones we thought would break fewer blades
at the top, and those who would break more at the bottom.

So we ended the class with the FEAST portion of the camp. The kids all brought in
some great food for our lunch potluck. We had pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salads,
fried rice, potatoes, sodas, lettuce salad, chicken noodle soup, Oreos, sugar cookies
and two pies – fresh from the First Slice Pie Cafe in the Lillstreet Gallery!
A yummy conclusion to another fun week of summer camp!