And with that… another week of Summer Camp comes to an end! Five days of fun teaching kids to make their own pottery on the wheel… like this ADORABLE cat bowl that C.C. made this week!!! The cutest.

After just three days of wheelthrowing, my campers did their trimming, texturing & finishing of their pots today… as tomorrow is our last day to be spent painting everything with colored slips. So imagine my excitement to see camper Sophia pull off her very first teapot!!! Super cute & she did it all by herself. I was just there to teach, encourage, inspire… and yes, I might have brought some clay stamps for them to use too!!!

And with Summer Camp in full-swing, so is Rule #3…
“Whatever mess you make, YOU will be cleaning up!”
And they do.

I’ve got a great bunch of kids this week… well-trained & eager to help out!

Another week filled with a bunch of crazy 10-12 year olds learning to throw on the wheel.
Getting all gloppy & gloopy… with plenty of giggling too!

I also did a demo for my campers yesterday while they were trimming… about how much fun carving can be. Especially when I’m letting them borrow some of my DiamondCore Tools!!! Just a fun little demo cup with “fireworks” all over the sides!!!

As part of my slip painting demos for summer camp today… I introduced the kids to skip trailing. Going one step further with slip trailed flowers… “dragged” for texture… and drawn on the canvas table as that’s just where we were sitting!!! It’s just clay… it washed right away!!!

Lots of fun & lots of pots!!! With pre-teens in the morning & teenagers in the afternoon, my week was filled with Wheelthrowing Summer Camp at Lillstreet Art Center. So much work, such determination & such creativity. In just five days, they threw a lot of pots, trimmed bottoms, made attachments & painted everything with colored slip! Soon enough they will be bisque fired, clear glazed & fired again. Then the campers will return to claim their treasures… and hopefully treasure their memories of camp!!! So much fun… and luckily, I have several more weeks of camp still to come!!! We’ve only just begun!!!

Week One of Summer Camp done. And eventful it was!!! We started the week with no air conditioning… sweltering during the hottest days of the heatwave! They moved us to a different classroom that was not quite as intolerable… and gave use a “swamp cooler.” Yep, I didn’t know either… a 5-gallon bucket of ice in front of a fan!!! Wait, what?! We made it through the day with only one camper passing out… but who’s counting? The rest of the week was warm… as we got moved back into our original “UN-air-conditioned“ room. Sweaty & clammy pretty much all day long!!!

But then today… THIS happened! They got a NEW air conditioning unit on the roof!l… YAY!!! Although I didn’t really expect them to open the ceiling completely… DURING camp!!! But they did. Very quickly… just a shower of dust… a new sky view… and then we had air conditioning again!!! Voila’!!!

Quick fix and the room got chilly as the old unit was lowered down from a crane
just outside our classroom window! Like I said… eventful.

Luckily, the new air conditioning unit should make the rest of Summer Camp
so much more enjoyable in there!!!

It’s only Day Two of Summer Camp… and Rule #3 is already well in play!!!
With a splash of water on the floor… “Whatever mess you make, you WILL be cleaning up!”
And they do…

Today was my first day of Summer Camp!!!
You know it’s my favorite thing!!!
I mean, what could be better than being “entertained” by kids all day
while playing with clay making cool projects on the wheel?!

This week it’s back-to-back Wheelthrowing Camps… with pre-teens in the morning & teens in the afternoon. My “Summer Camp Tour of Duty” has officially begun at Lillstreet Art Center!!! Giddy-up…