Some wonderfully tasty treats showed up today for the “annual” Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-Off. Some traditional. Some with fun ingredients. Some with marshmallows… my favorite! Everyone got a plate of “anonymous” cookies to vote for their favorite numbered cookie. We had seven different entries… as well as cold milk to cleanse the palate in between cookies! Sam’s cookie #6 won the contest!!!

And some kids even took it to another level… trying to win us over with WARM COOKIES!!!
Who doesn’t like hot cookies with their cold glass of milk?!!!

After two days of playing with clay, today we moved over to the Metals Department for the kids to start making their forks, knives & spoons! And my metals co-teachers are much more in their element now! Pam did a great job of teaching the kids how to work safely with the tools to form their thematic cutlery pieces.

Draw them out, cut them out, file, sand, texture, etc… a lot of banging & pounding!!!

While in the Metals Department, we also like to have a “contest” to see who breaks the fewest saw blades. We find that a little friendly competition makes them think a little bit more as they’ve working. Break the fewest saw blades and win the Metals Prize made by Pam!!!

The kids have been working hard building all of their terra cotta dinnerware pieces. Plates, bowls, platters, cups, handles, vases, etc. They’ve been having a great time, but deadlines are deadlines… and EVERYTHING needed to be built, done & painted with colored glaze by the end of camp. For tonight, everything goes into the kiln!

Here’s Pam looking not quite so confident or comfortable with her glazing skills?!

And Michelle painting her tiny watermelon… and her larger watermelon cup!

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Proof that sometimes metalsmiths DO indeed venture over to the “dirty side” of the building to touch some clay! Pam & Michelle got to play in the mud with the rest of the kids. It’s a “shame” they didn’t have any fun?!!!

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The kids were busy working in clay making their thematic dinnerware placesetting for FIRE, FORGE & FEAST Summer Camp. Lots of fun, lots of terra cotta, lots of dirty hands!!! It’s gonna be a busy week!!!

And one “special plate”… also in the works…

So for now they can dry… for tomorrow we will glaze them with Teacher’s Choice colors.
A quick single-fire so they can be done by Friday morning. We need a fast turn-around.

Yesterday was the last day of my Wheelthrowing Summer Camp.
They had a LOT of work to finish up. Glazing their freshly bisqued stoneware pots… as well as trimming & painting their terra cotta pieces with glaze!!! We finished just in the nick of time… with about 10 minutes for lunch!!!

The calm before the storm. All set-up and waiting for my Summer Campers to arrive this morning. It’s Terra Cotta Day… wheelthrowing and making a gooey slimey mess!!! Buckets, tools, sponges & ware boards at the ready!!! To see a fun video of the “gooey mess” check out my INSTAGRAM feed!!! @firewhenreadypottery

So my campers remembered “almost” everything from yesterday…
Apparently the discussion we had about pulling your long hair back into a pony tail was missed by one of my Campers. Yesterday she was fine, today not so much.

So we were throwing some nice pots when all of a sudden her hair got caught
in her centered ball of clay as she was bending down over it.

Stick. Adhere. Spin. Twist. Clump. Twist. Dreadlock… this could be bad…
luckily she was still smiling & laughing!

She asked if I could help her fix it… of course I said yes…
and of course I told her to hang on a second while I grabbed my camera…
and the, and only THEN, did I help her get out of the mess.

When we finally got her extricated from the wheel, I took her to the sink
to do a little cleaning, scrubbing & de-tangling of her hair.
Surely she will remember to pull her hair back tomorrow, right?!

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Another fun day at Summer Camp… luckily they remembered what I taught them yesterday, and today they made a LOT of pots!!! Tomorrow is detailing, decorating, handles, trimming and finishing this batch of stoneware pots. Thursday we switch to terra cotta and Friday we glaze everything!!!

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