Today the kids came back to see how much their Monday plates had dried. Now they need to make the rest of their pieces AND glaze everything by the end of the day. Starting off with a discussion of how INCREDIBLY FRAGILE their plates are at this stage. And that if something breaks off now that they’re dry there is NO WAY to put it back together. I like to put a tiny bit of fear in them so they will work with a little extra care & patience. I tell them that if something breaks off at this point, it’s either gone for good or they need to make a replacement piece!!!

We only had one overnight casualty. One of the plates dried too fast and cracked right through the center. And then when I moved it to the table, the tail popped right off into my hand. Not a good sign. So I quickly made the “base” of another fish plate for her, and she did the detailing when she got in. Problem solved. Back up to speed. And that brass dragonscale tool that sits in my toolbox came in really handy to make some fish scales!!!

After they finished building the last of their pieces, they all began painting them with our Teacher’s Choice brand glazes. They’re a simple collection of colored glazes that work really well on these kids projects. It’s so much fun to see their monochromatic plates & cups come to life in color… knowing that they’ll get even better & more vibrant after they’re fired.

And “somehow”… I don’t know how, but “SOMEHOW”… the kids start a discussion and decide “all by themselves” that we should have a Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-Off Contest tomorrow. Brilliant idea. On their part. And who am I to say no?!! I would never want to dash their dream & desires especially when there will be a lot of cookies in it for ME!!! So glad they thought of this idea all by themselves… with just a smidge of coaxing by me… a smidge… maybe a tiny bit… allegedly.

So if there’s going to be a contest… of course we need a BEST COOKIE TROPHY!!!
So I threw this little ditty together for the winner!

This week at Summer Camp we’re doing “Fire, Forge & Feast.”
It’s an ambitious camp where we have the kids make an entire placesetting on just five days! The first two days we work with clay, then two days in the Metals Department, then on Friday we pull it all together and have a huge FEAST for lunch. A full set with a consistent theme throughout.

So I started off this week with introductions & rules, as usual, and then we went into some basic handbuilding skills. As many of them professed to have good clay experience, I had a couple of them do the demo as I explained how & why they were doing each step.

And then the kids set off to start their own plates!!! Keeping their themes in mind. And determining how they were going to best represent their themes on a dinner plate, salad plate, bowl, platter, mug and cutlery handles.

By the end of the day, we had a table FULL of wonderful pieces. So much creativity. So much energy. So much fun to be the teacher who gets the kids to do all of this!!!

So after a couple hours of Spring Cleaning in my storage room this weekend, I decided to do “tough love” and discard some old pieces, tiles, and tests. Just cleaning out and making room for more new work. So a hammer became the tool du jour… and now I have two boxes of beautiful shards. For the most part, they’re nice flat pieces of clay. Perfect for a mosaic project of some sort. And I would MUCH rather someone make something cool out of them before I toss then into the dumpster.

ANYONE WANT SOME FREE TEXTURED SHARDS???
First-cone, first-served… and we’re doing it on my Pottery Facebook page.
The first person to leave a Comment that they want one box, or both, will get them.
Don’t try to claim them here on the blog… check the Facebook posting for claiming them, or to check if they’re already gone?!

I just don’t want to ship them. If you could swing by my place or my studio to get them, or even pick them up at one of my summer art fairs, that would be great. I would love to see them go to a good home… and become some really cool art project!!!

A full box of soda-fired shards with slips & glazes fired to cone 10…

And a full box of terra cotta shards with black underglaze fired to cone 05…

TEXTURED SHARDS : CLAIMED 4.28.15... about 30 minutes after posting!!!
My college friend Kelly was the first to claim them. I’m sure she and her 10 kids will do some fantastic craft projects this summer. Can’t wait to see what they make… and I’m sure we’ll get photos to share here as well. Right, Kelly ???

If I expect to get the new Black Cats into the kiln, fired and to ART IN THE BARN, I had a lot painting & glazing to do tonight. So I started by painting the cats with underglazes.

And then a thin coating of low-fire clear to cover everything. Yes, do no adjust your TV, these are indeed green. It’s a special low-fire clear that goes on green, but works great for my single-fired terra cotta projects giving things a beautiful clear shine.

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate already…
for some reason I also decided to make six new Mummies. We completely ran out of them last year at ART IN THE BARN. So if I wanted to sell a “complete set” of Ghouls, I needed to replenish a few Mummies!!!

Tonight after teaching my class, I had to stay late into the night putting final touches on the Black Cats. Detailing, cleaning, smoothing and adding feet & tails.

Each one with a personality of their own.

After finishing all two dozen, they’re sitting out overnight so they can dry up a bit. And then tomorrow night I need to do a LOT of painting with underglazes, add a layer of clear glaze and load them into the kiln. You gotta love single-fired, low fire terra cotta projects in an electric kiln.

And while

 

Today was a great night to turn regular cylinders into something Ghoulish. Every year I like to add another character to The Ghouls Collection. We started with a Pumpkin… then added a Skull & a Frankenstein. Followed by a Vampire. So what to add this year???… I figured a Black Cat would be a nice addition.

So tonight was filled with ears, eyes, noses & whiskers!!!

Okay, so we’re less than a week away from ART IN THE BARN.
My soda kiln is cooling… so what better time to START making the newest Ghoul to add to the collection?! Could I have put it off any later? I don’t think so…

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!!!