As part of our Camp this week, my co-teacher Pam and I decided to make two prizes for the kids. My “prize” was for the Best Cookie form our Cookie Bake-Off on Wednesday. My “prize” plate went to Max for his wonderfully delicious Sugar Cookies. Shocking, I know… no chocolate to be found anywhere, and STILL a winner!!!

Pam’s “prize” was a metal ball peen hammer spoon with a fitting message stamped into the handle. “I Sawed. I Hammered. I Won.”

But the question was who win Pam’s prize?… We all knew it would be based on the number of broken saw blades.

Typically, we give it to the one who breaks the LEAST saw blades during the week. However, this time we felt that “that” winner was someone who didn’t make enough & avoided sawing so as not to break blades. And a few others didn’t continue to mark their tally as they broke blades. So we let the class vote and decide the winner… and they went for the one who broke the MOST saw blades. Not typical for us to award that kind of breakage, but Jordan definitely gave it her best and tried really hard all week.

By the end of the week, my Summer Campers had completed their dinnerware sets. Two days of clay, two days of metal, and Friday for finishing touches & putting everything together. They worked really hard. Focusing on their projects and making sure they stayed on track. We had a great group of kids!!! I covered the clay parts. And my co-teacher Pam covered the metals parts… as I know just enough to be dangerous!!! So here are the finished dinnerware sets… each with a theme designed by my campers!!!

Max went for a sports theme… with each piece representing a different sport. Football platters, soccer serving tray, biking dinner plate, sailing bowl, and a hockey “puck” dish complete with a hockey stick!!!

Max’s younger brother Sam went for a camping theme. With possibly the best bowl & platter EVER!!! Yes, the bowl is “cooking” over the campfire platter – flames and all. Brilliant. You’ve got to admire the unbridled creativity of these kids!!!

Linnea went for a fruits & vegetables theme. With a pumpkin lid platter, watermelon plate, oranges bowl and an incredible asparagus cup!!!

Lena decided to pay homage to  the band Maroon 5… featuring dinnerware based on the names of their songs! Including “Lucky Strike” platter, “Daylight” dinner plate, “Sunday Morning” bowl, and a “Payphone” cup. Gotta love visual puns!!!

Lucy went a different route and honored her Greek ancestry. She spent a lot of time on her dinner plate with grape leaves, vines & grapes!

Elianna went Greek as well. Working the Greek key pattern into the rim of her pieces.

Isaac was working on a DC Comics themed set, but missed a day of clay. So his set was a little smaller than it should have been.

Jett did a sports theme as well. With a soccer ball dinner plate, a basketball hoop, net & ball cup and a golf bowl.

Jett also made the cutest little salt bowl & spoon!!! Cut, filed & hammered into shape.

Willem decided to go green. Not really sure what his “theme” was… but it was something about geometric shapes I think?! Not the most “focused” of Campers…

Sophia used The Beatles as her inspiration. With a “Yellow Submarine” for a platter, and the “Octopus’s Garden” for the dinner plate… she then decided “Here Comes The Sun” worked for the salad plate.

Shaina honored her Jewish heritage with a very symbolic dinnerware theme. Complete with a (sing it with me) “dreidle, dreidle, dreidle, I made you out of clay.”

Zoe went with a fruity theme… banana, cherries, grapes and blueberries!

Stella did a feline theme. Cats, whiskers, cat food and fish skeletons! I especially loved how the grommets in her cutlery were the eyes to her cats!!!

Jordan went all polka dots on us!!! Different size, different colors, different patterns!

Once we had finished assembling all of their parts & pieces, the kids had a great potluck lunch… the “FEAST” portion of the “Fire, Forge & Feast”… while I had to pack it in early so I could make it to Evanston to set-up my art fair booth!

Once again it was a VERY fun week. We had a lot of great kids… reminding me time & time again of just how much I LOVE SUMMER CAMP!!!

 

So the dinnerware pieces came out of the kiln… still a little toasty. Waiting for them to cool before we bring them into the class for our Summer Campers.

When they were cool, I brought them into the room and the kids were thrilled. We separated the pieces by kid and started to assemble their sets. Then I assembled their clay handles with the metal forks, knives & spoons they had made. One step closer to finishing their Camp projects.

Today was the “Cookie Bake-Off” with my Summer Campers.
We had twelve homemade options to choose from thanks to some very talented baking kids!!! Yummy… and quite entertaining to see my campers after all that sugar!!! A sampling of all twelve cookies for everyone to taste-test and vote!!!

Here are the twelve different varieties…

Yes, that last one – the white Sugar Cookies were the WINNER!!!
And will win the coveted “Best Cookie” Trophy plate that I made.
Congratulations Max… great cookies!!!

This week’s Summer Camp is “Fire, Forge & Feast.” Two days of making thematic clay dinnerware pieces, followed by two days of metals making the forks, knives & spoons. On Friday we pull it all together with a full Potluck lunch with the kids using the themed dinnerware sets they’ve just made!!! While our Clay pieces go into the kiln, today we started in Metals… with a lot of teaching, sawing, filing & sanding. Here’s my co-teacher Pam Robinson showing the kids some of the metalsmithing basics…

After Pam’s demo, thee was a LOT of sawing, filing & sanding. Followed by texturing, stamping & forming. The kids have a LOT of work ahead of them to finish off their thematic dinnerware sets!!!

And in case you’re wondering… here’s a quick example of the cutlery they’re working on. Clay handles with metal utensils inserted into them.

Here’s another challenge for the kids… we’re keeping track of the number of saw blades they break. Whoever breaks the LEAST over the next three days will win a prize!!!

My Summer Campers finished building their themed dinnerware sets today. With their terra cotta, they’ve made plates, platters, bowls, cups, mugs, handles and more! Today we also glazed them with a once-fired colored glaze palette. Right now everything is in front of a box fan trying to dry as fast as possible… and we load them into the kiln tomorrow morning. Can’t wait to see all of their pieces come together on Friday!!!

Today was the first day of a new week of Summer Camp.
We’re doing “Fire, Forge & Feast” this week… one of my favorites!!!
But when the “morning doodles” looked like this… I was a bit concerned?!!!

Looks like I have a little work ahead of me this week getting everyone “focused”
on the task at hand. It might be a long week…

And yes, my Campers learned some “valuable” lessons on how fragile dried terra cotta can be. And that painting “too hard” can break things. Of course, I also had to point out a few times how “I was right” when I told them to score & slip everything… and that “just squishing it together” won’t work!!! Luckily, they had time to rebuild a few pieces as needed.

Today was the last day of Chess Camp. With the deadline looming, the kids did a wonderful job staying on task all week. They created all of their Chess pieces, painted them with underglazes & painted a chess board with acrylic paint. It was a great week for me with great Summer Campers!!! I just wish I knew more about the video games their chess sets were based on… whew, I must be old?!!!

It’s always so fun to watch the kids paint their pieces. To see them really come to life. And more “apparent” as to what character they are in their themes. Of course I’m still struggling with some of these video game characters!!!

By the end of the day we had quite a few pieces all lined up. Worksheets checked off. Pieces labeled with initials. A few “spares” made. And ready to go!!!

Rows & rows of little “soldiers” ready to go into battle…

And now all of the pieces are “safely” set aside on a rolling kiln cart… waiting for a sprayed coating of clear glaze and a trip through the kiln!

Yesterday my Summer Campers “finished” building all of their Chess pieces. Today they’re going to paint them all with underglazes to bring them to life with colors & details. At this stage, they’re incredibly fragile… so I hope we don’t need to re-make too many if they “paint too hard” today?!!!