We also had another birthday in camp today! So of course we needed a birthday cake… and two campers jumped right in!!! Aaron threw the cake on the wheel… and then Ophelia decorated it. So cute!!! Birthday boy Colin was very pleased with his first-ever clay birthday cake!!!

Another day of gloopy-gloppy fun at Summer Camp. This group’s third & final day of wheelthrowing… for tomorrow we start trimming, carving, stamping & adding handles. And then Friday they’ll paint all of their masterpieces with colored slip. They will then be fired, glazed in clear & fired again after they’re gone. So the campers will need to come back to pick up their pottery treasures in a couple weeks!

Yesterday at the end of summer camp, a couple of the kids finished early… and asked if they could make some stamps like the ones I made that I let them borrow. Of course I said YES!!!

A roomful of summer campers making a LOT of pots! Not bad for three days of wheelthrowing, one day trimming & one day painting. They were busy little campers this week… especially for a four-hour camp!!!

Now they’re off to a bisque firing, then a clear glaze & another firing to finish them off. And then the kids will come back to pick-up their pottery!

Another week of Summer Camp coming to an end today. A lot of painting with colored slips to make their mini masterpieces really come to life! So fun to see some additional creativity present itself when they start painting… too cute!!!

“Whatever mess you make, YOU will be cleaning it up.”

And they do willingly… even cleaning the floor if they spill water or slip. My campers learn the very first day that cleaning up after themselves is all part of the process. Now if we could just get a few more of the adult students to do the same?!

As if Wheelthrowing Summer Camp weren’t fun enough… I challenged my pre-teen campers to do a little blindfolded throwing!!! And they LOVED it!!! After just two-and-a-half days of learning to throw on a pottery wheel, I think they did an AMAZING JOB… and the giggles were absolutely contagious!!!

HAPPY MUGSHOT MONDAY… celebrating with this sweet little Summer Camper mug!!! Sure, a little rough around the edges, but it shows promise… and they were only 9-years old!!!

My newest mantra… “Paint your POTS, not your hands!!!”

This year at summer camp, the kids are decorating with colored slips on Fridays… instead of rushing through the process & glazing hot pots fresh from the bisque kiln on Friday. It makes for a much “calmer” Friday & gives the kids a bit more time to focus om making their pots a mini masterpiece!!! After they leave, their pots will be bisqued, glazed with clear, and fired again by Lillstreet “monitors” before the campers come back to pick-up their pots.