Another week of Summer Camp done! Ending with a lot of flowerpots with flowers…
and perhaps a stray side-eyed penguin in the mix!!!

Another great day at Summer Camp… today was handbuilding with my 8-10 year old campers. The project was flowerpots with dimensional flowers on the sides… seemed obvious to me! We all had a great time making flowers & leaves to grace our textured flowerpots! Well done kiddos!!!! And tomorrow they add colors…

Lots of fun handbuilt mugs for my summer campers to paint with colored slips today …
in addition to their wheelthrown pots! Including my favorite Chicago-themed mug…
well done Emma!

This week at Summer Camp I’m teaching 8-10 year olds both wheelthrowing & handbuilding. We already tackled wheelthrowing & trimming. Today was their handbuilding day… and I challenged them to make two mugs with one theme! Can’t wait to see these come together even more when we paint everything tomorrow with colored slips!

Another “monstrously“ fun night at the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN this past week!!! For their final handbuilding challenge… we took inspiration from Gretchen the “Master Monster Maker”… @biggirlco . I’ve loved seeing her monsters online over the years. So I shared her page with my class… discussed being “inspired” by her work… and definitely making our own versions & not copying hers!

So my class had just over two hours to make their own “free-standing” monster… with a minimum of 12” tall. Not an easy assignment… especially with a time restraint. Handbuilding takes time… as they learned… “wet clay” typically doesn’t want to stand up on its own! Everyone had a GREAT time… thanks again to Gretchen @biggirlco for the inspiration! We hope we did you proud!!!

So I made another batch of fortune cookies last night before heading home. Left them out to dry… and I’m a little intrigued on how “randomly” they’re drying. Creating a crazy cool ombré blend from the lighter-drier ones to the darker-wetter ones. Kinda cool…

Well, it’s cold & flu season… so last night in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, the handbuilding challenge was a decorative Kleenex box cover! Many of my students are “not” handbuilders, so this pushed them out of their comfort zones… that and the time constraints. I also brought in my collection of textured handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools in case they wanted to try them. With just 90 minutes for this task, there were some great learning moments, some frustrated re-starts & eventually some great box covers! Well done team!!!

Why do I do this to myself??? Okay, so I got a little “distracted” and then THIS happened!!! I thought that since so many people have been collecting my Halloween Ghouls for years… they might need some “scenery” to go with their ghoulish groups! So I made a quick batch of tombstones… because I apparently just can’t stop myself??? And now back to reality… back to the Ghouls…

So I’m back on “Ghoul production”… and I’ve decided they could use some fun “accessories”! So I think half of them will get hats… and the other half?… something else??? Gotta keep making…

Also in the kiln… a fresh batch of fortune cookies!
With a nice wash of iron oxide to help the textures “pop.” We’ll call this batch “replenishment.”