It’s been a busy couple days at Summer Camp. Lots of fun & lots of pots!!! They’ve thrown a lot in three days… and today they started trimming, detailing, carving, stamping & decorating! Tomorrow we’ll finish up with colored slip painting!!!






Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play |
It’s been a busy couple days at Summer Camp. Lots of fun & lots of pots!!! They’ve thrown a lot in three days… and today they started trimming, detailing, carving, stamping & decorating! Tomorrow we’ll finish up with colored slip painting!!!
The calm before the storm… err, well… before Summer Camp!!! The kids’ buckets & tools are all ready for another day of fun in my Wheelthrowing Camp! Now I just need some campers…
Another week of Summer Camp!!!
Wheelthrowing with another fun group of pre-teens!
Looks like they’re off to a good start!
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!!!
Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
Lillstreet Studios ∙ 4401 North Ravenswood, Chicago, Illinois 60640 ∙ 773-307-8664 gary@firewhenreadypottery.com |