So last night, a former student of my wheelthrowing class stopped by again
with special homemade treats! This time, it was homemade ice creams with some
wacky flavors! Every time Cam makes treats to share, they seem to have unusual
ingredients you wouldn’t expect to taste in the same place. But somehow they always
seem to work. I guess that’s what makes him a chef… and not me?!

So one of them was made with blackberries, goat cheese and sage.
It was quite different because it was more savory than sweet.
But the collective class “favorite” was a wonderful concoction of strawberries,
sour cream, basil and balsamic vinegar! Fantastic frozen fun!!!

Another week of camp… and this time it’s all about Chess!
The kids are going to make an entire thematic chess set out of terra cotta.
So today we started the day with some great brainstorming to help the kids
come up with their themes. Some of them came into the day with a theme
already in their head, others needed some help. So we came up with a lot of ideas…
and it was funny to see where there minds were coming from! We had a list with
lots of video games, vampires and crazy inanimate objects!!! Once they each
decided in their theme, I had them fill in a worksheet to figure out what each
piece in their set will be. A quick demo… and then they started forming their pieces!

It’s going to be a very long week… they’ve got a LOT of work ahead of them.
With 32 chess pieces to make, plus their thematic chess board, they’ve got a lot of
handbuilding to do! So my job is to keep them focused… and their job is to keep me laughing!

After a week of clay & metal, my summer camp kids finally pulled everything together
to make their dinnerware sets come true! They’ve made their clay plates, bowls, cups,
platters, cups, whatever. And then made metal forks, knives, forks, spoons, bowls,
chopsticks, whatever. Today we finished everything & had a wonderful potluck feast!

We started by pulling all of their metal pieces out of the tumbler… all polished and
hardened from a night of tumbling. The kids loved seeing their pieces all shiny!

Then they assembled their pieces by inserting the metal pieces into the clay handles
that they made on Monday. A little epoxy… and voila’… instant handmade cutlery!!!
And a few pieces that were all metal. Cut, textured and metal handles riveted in place…
like my new salad tongs!!!

As some of the kids had already assembled their dinnerware sets, and we still had time
to make a few more pieces, some kids moved onto forming metal bowls from a flat sheet
of metal. Fun with torches & a lot of hammering!!!

Finally it was time for lunch and we got to use some of out new pieces for The Feast.
It was so nice to actually use the kids pieces to eat their lunch. Serving pieces, forks
and plates!!! And from the looks of it… we had quite a Feast. The kids brought in
a LOT of wonderful food to cap off our wonderful week of camp!

As we finished our clay pieces yesterday with underglaze colors & clear overglaze,
the pieces were all put into the kiln and we moved on to the metal portion of our camp.
So we started the day with the kids designing the flatware pieces that will coordinate
with their ceramic plates, bowls & cups. After a little instruction & demos, the kids set off
and started sawing through their sheets of copper. With some great conversations,
a fun iTunes Playlist by Sydney and a lot of laughs!!!

At lunch today, we saw a large tree that had been chopped down. Beautiful wood chunks.
Just sitting there for the taking. How can you pass it by? We couldn’t… Pam was too excited
to get a couple pieces back in the Metals Studio for new hammering work stations. So we
put the kids to work and had some of them roll them down the alley and back to Lillstreet.

Back at Lillstreet, we had a very happy Pam about the new “huge stump in her life.”

Then my camp co-teacher Pam Robinson gave them a demonstration on how to hammer
their pieces to add textures & curves.Lots of tools. Lots of techniques. Lots to learn.

And if that weren’t enough, we also enjoyed the 3rd Annual Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-Off.
We had seven entries in the contest, so everyone tasted the homemade cookies and voted for
their favorite. Since I taught my adult class late last night, I didn’t bake. But I did bring milk
to help cleanse their palates in between cookies. I love it when my campers bake cookies!!!

Isabella came up the big winner with the cookie on the far right side – with a mixture
of semi-sweet and white chocolate chips! She will be the proud recipient of the
“Number One Cookie” plate I made for the victor! Congratulations Isabella!!!

Today was the start of another week of camp… this time, one of the most exciting
weeks of the whole summer! It’s “Fire, Forge & Feast”… where we work on clay
dinnerware sets on Monday & Tuesday, then move over to the Metals Dept. for
the rest of the week making metal forks, knives & spoons. Then we put it all together
on Friday and have a big potluck feast on Friday! Using the actual dinnerware they’ve
just created during the week. It’s a full-day camp with some of the older kids who are
up for the creative & production challenge!

So today the kids started their adventure – with some creative brainstorming of their
themes & designs. We’re working towards a cohesive design where all of the pieces
work together in the end. Today was Day One… and they’re off to a good start!

As my campers finished their sculptures, we turned to more painting since
they were doing so well, and having so much fun. So we switched to a little fun
with color theory and gradations. They did a great job mixing & blending colors
and painting their color swatches. Once they dried, we put them back together
to create a mural to put on the wall for all of Lillstreet to see!

Oddly…. many of the kids didn’t quite understand that they paint was supposed
to be on their paintbrushes… and NOT their hands?!!!

And here’s their final result… the mural that all of Lillstreet can now enjoy!

As the week continued, my campers started to work on their sculptures.
We built them with wire hanger armatures, newspaper & masking tape
fillers and a final “sculpting” layer of plaster gauze. The kids were all quite
focused… and excited to finally be painting them to bring them to life!

And a very good job by Grace… who assembled her collage out of magazine pictures
and then enlarged the image onto her canvas board, and painted the entire thing
with just primary colored acrylic paints! Nicely done Grace!!!

This week, my Summer Camp is Clay & Multimedia… which means we do a clay
project on Monday, and other art projects throughout the week. So my afternoon
group of campers have switched to a painting project. They’ve chosen photos from magazines and have been working to enlarge them & paint the picture on canvas boards. Some of them have breezed right through it… other have required a little more “assistance.”

And then there’s Emma… who effortlessly created her nautical masterpiece!
A little painting prodigy in the making.

It’s another week of summer camp… and the kids this morning were pressing leaves
into their clay, covering them with colored underglaze, and then pulling out the
leaves to reveal a wonderful “relief” of the leaf! These colorful “natural” slabs were
then formed into plates, platters, mugs & vases!