This week at Summer Camp we’re doing Chess Camp!
My campers are each designing & creating an entire chess set out of clay. Of course the first step Monday morning was an “official” brainstorming session where they all came up with some really fantastic ideas!!!

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Today was another messy day in Wheelthrowing Camp. The kids were throwing with terra cotta clay… and found it to be a LOT dirtier & sloppier than regular stoneware. Messy… but so much FUN!!!

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Okay… so today was the first day of my second week of camp.
Another great group of kids for a week of Wheelthrowing Camp.
A little bit older then the group last week, More experience throwing too!
Off to a good start… until…

So I’m doing my first throwing demo with all of the kids gathered around.
We’ve already done introductions, week plans, goals, expectations, etc.
So I’m sitting at a wheel throwing, talking & demo-ing. When I started to hear some commotion going on behind me. Not sure what it was, but I knew it was a couple of the older kids. When I turned to look over my right shoulder, I could see one of the older girls slowly leaning forward, dropping slowly, fainting all the way down to the ground. What?!!!

So I hopped up to check on her and she was already coming to and trying to get up. More embarrassed than injured. She had no color in her face so we had her sit down and drink some water. She said she was feeling better and the color started to come back to her face.

I went back to my demo… with one eye on her at the same time.
She said it was not her first time fainting. And her friends knew that she had done it before at school. Yet nothing about it on her camp medical list??? I asked if she wanted us to call her Mom, she said no. But when she started losing color again… and started vomiting into the garbage can… we knew we had to call home. Mom came and picked her up from camp.

We all hope that she’s feeling better…
and that she makes it back to camp for the rest of the week!

Not the best start for Week Two of Summer Camp. Tomorrow will be better…

TUESDAY UPDATE : She’s back at camp… as good as NEW!!!

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It’s a “shame” they’re not having any fun in Summer Camp this week!!! Ha.

Today my Summer Campers switched to terra cotta. They threw a bunch of pots, let them set-up a bit and then did some more stamping! Go figure.

My summer campers are doing great this week…
and it looks like I have a few stamping prodigies in the group!!!

And a beautifully stamped surprise in the bottom of Helene’s bowl…  so proud!

Summer Camp Day Three : We’ve trimmed, stamped, decorated, added handles, labeled and finished all of their stoneware pieces. We’re quick-drying them and throwing them into a kiln tonight so they will be bisqued and ready for the kids to glaze on Friday!!! For tomorrow we switch to terra cotta…

Another productive day with my Summer Campers. They are catching on well and starting to make some great pots! Not too shabby for Day Two with my young beginners!

Who doesn’t love Summer Camp?
Today was my first day back to Summer Camp with a huge group of 17 kids getting all sloppy & muddy on the wheel. So funny. So messy. So much fun!

While we were finishing up the last of the metal pieces, Pam did one last demo on connecting two pieces of metal with rivets. Some of the kids have moved on to salad tongs, pie servers and other pieces that have metal handles.

While Pam and the kids were riveting… I was connecting all of their metal cutlery pieces with the clay handles they made earlier in the week. Just a dab of 2-part epoxy will hold them together.

After they epoxy had cured, we started setting out each kid’s sets. Pulling together all of their clay pieces and metal pieces. So much fun to see everything coming together in the end… and seeing each kid’s creative vision come to fruition.

Gabi : Underwater theme

Madeline :Aquatic theme

Elynor : Underwater theme… yep, seemed to be a popular theme, huh?!

Alex : I think this might have been something about MineCraft… maybe ?!

Zoe #1 : Alice In Wonderland

William : not quite sure what his theme was… or if there even was one…

Bellah : Greek Mythology

Jessica : Jurassic Park

Claudia : Harry Potter

Zoe #2 : Food

Greyson : Mission Impossible

Sita : Garden…   but unfortunately missed most of the metals days…

After finishing all of their work, we finally had time to sit down for our feast. Everyone had brought food to share. A great potluck with all kinds of food. Sliders. Pizza. Sandwiches. Chips. Macaroni & Cheese. Rice Pilaf. Watermelon. Brownies. Ice Cream … and so much more!!

Oh wait… did I mention my favorite?…

Yes. One of our campers brought in her COTTON CANDY MACHINE!!! Whoo-hoo!!!
What’s not to like about spun sugar? And what’s even better?… Gabi’s machine melts down any hard candy and spins it inot cotton candy. So we had an assortment of Jolly Rancher flavored cotton candy. I went with the tried & true Watermelon Jolly Rancher!!!