Tonight I had two little visitors stop by my studio.
My friend Kristen brought her two kids for an afternoon of clay fun. We decided to make mugs with AJ and Lizzy. AJ has played in the studio before so he was incrdibly excited to be coming back. This was Lizzy’s first trip in, but was quick to jump right in. We started by throwing ourt some slabs, and then they “refined” them with rolling pins… and such focus!!!

We then decided that they should press their names into the clay. AJ had done a clay project at a birthday party a couple weeks ago. And when he got his mug back after firing, it wasn’t his!!! Apparently, someone had written the kids names on the bottoms of the mugs before firing, and goofed up. He got someone else’s mug with is name on it. So this time, we were confident to NOT make that mistake again.

After they had stamped their names into the clay, it was time for other textures, patterns & details. Each of them worked very hard & stayed quite focused on their slabs.

Cute how they “almost” work together… with Lizzy always watching what AJ is doing!!!

Once their slabs were all decorated, it was time to turn them into cylinders. So a little scoring & slipping and we pressed the together.

AJ was a bit concerned that it might not hold together…

And when it did… the true AJ showed up again!!!

Then he scored & slipped the bottom of his cylinder so he could attach the mug’s bottom.

While Lizzy was a bit concerned about getting dirty.

Much better after a bit of handwashing!!!

After handles were attached, it was time to start painting. It’s a special underglaze-glaze-combo that is great for kid’s projects. You can paint it on leatherhard clay, let it dry, fire it once and you’re done!!! So they continued to focus as they painted with great detail.

When Lizzy thought she was done painting her mug, apparently she thought it was time to start painting her fingers?!!! Not so concerned about being dirty anymore, huh?

So here they are… two masterpiece mugs!!!
Of course, they could use a bit of touching up and a bit of cleaning around the bottom. But they were thrilled… and now very anxious to get their mugs back after firing!!!

Here’s AJ’s mug…

C’mon… just look at AJ’s tiger!!! Adorable!!!

And here’s Lizzy’s mug!