Camp Thurs/Friday

Thursday morning was a great time for campers- we took the tiles that we glazed on Monday out in to the courtyard to break them apart with hammers and then glued them to then wooden frames of individual mirrors (later on, I grouted them along with one of my HS helpers):

In afternoon, we spent some time adding the last pages to the magazine bowls we started on Monday also (campers have been adding to them all week if they finished other projects early). When completed, we pushed them around foam bowls to make the shape and covered them in Modge Podge gloss medium to set them in place. I think they're really cool!

This morning (Friday), the kids created patterned printing plates and I taught them to make prints by coloring the foam with water-soluble markers, dampening paper in a water bath and then pressing it against the foam. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, as I was unloading the kiln containing the shape-and-fill bowls created on Monday- they dried all week and I fired them last night:

Here are a few photos of our recess after lunch today. All week we've had a half hour sprinkler recess outside and it's been the perfect summer week for it. Some campers enjoyed the water, while others sunbathed on the field:

Many campers wore their tie-dyed T's today and looked magnificent:

This afternoon, the kids created "sun prints" by arranging 'nature' on photographic paper, exposing it to the sun for a few minutes, 'developing' the paper in a water bath and then drying them:

The kids then cleaned their mosaic mirrors with glass cleaner- don't they look GREAT?!?

Lastly, before our time at camp ended, we got creative with ice cream as we created our own sundaes- yum! Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone!!!

Camp Wed/Thurs

We've had a busy two days in camp- here's a recap:

Tuesday morning we took aluminum cans and turned them into animals by adding materials like egg cartons, cardboard and paper mache... We let them sit out to dry for 24 hours. Here are pictures of the campers getting gooey:

This afternoon we tie-dyed our camp t-shirts (which I ordered in white for this purpose). First we soaked the shirts in cold water and wrung them out. Then, we rolled, twisted and bunched the shirts and then bound them with loads of rubber bands. We had to let them soak in this tub of soda ash mixed with 6 gallons of hot water for 20 minutes. When we were done, we went out to courtyard to dye the shirts with squirt bottles of dye. It was MESSY but FUN:This morning (Wednesday), we first glazed the bowls we made on Monday. Campers had to be VERY careful with the delicate greenware as they glazed their pieces, which will be fired in the kiln tomorrow. Here are a few waiting for overglaze:

After that, we painted our can animals with acrylic paint- the results are FANTASTIC! Check them out:

This afternoon we created delicious hamburger collages with construction paper that could make your mouth water:

Meanwhile, our high school helpers helped undo the tie-dye shirts and rinse them- they are awesome, don't you think???

LS Art Camp!!!

Today was the first day of Art Camp and it was GREAT! I have 20 campers this week and, luckily, I have two sophomores from Roland Park Country School helping me out to earn community service hours. First thing this morning, we started to create Recycled Magazine Bowls, a project that will be ongoing throughout the week. It's as simple as rolling colorful magazine pages around an 11"x1/2" piece of cardboard, taping them end to end, and rolling them into a giant spiral. By the end of the week, the pieces should be pretty big and we'll push them out into a bowl shape and cover them with a glossy coating.

After snack, we created clay "shape-and-fill" bowls (or planters, candle holders or whatever kind of vessel you want really). Campers rolled slabs of clay out, cut a piece to fit inside a cut-off paint bucket (lined w/toilet paper to ease removal) for the bottom, rolled a coil to secure the base, and then cut out shapes with cookie cutters to fill the inside of the bowl. I'll force-dry these in the kiln tomorrow and then we'll glaze and fire them on Wednesday...

This afternoon, we glazed ceramic tiles that we will be breaking and using to mosaic mirrors on Thursday. I forgot to take pictures!

Monday- JEWELRY CAMP!!!!

Today was the first day of JEWELRY CAMP!!! I have 13 campers (not surprisingly, all girls!) for the week ranging from incoming 5th graders to 8th graders and I am looking forward to teaching them fun and exciting ways to work with wire, polymer clay, glass, paper mache, recycled magazines and more!

Our first project of the day, an Egyptian Spiral Bracelet, was very detailed and time consuming but the girls did a GREAT job. This is a project I learned when I was working as a teaching assistant in a jewelry class at the 92nd St. Y in NYC while getting my Master's Degree in 2004. It involves measuring out pieces of wire (we used 20 gauge copper and brass jewelry wire) and rolling/bending the pieces with flat-nose jewelry pliers to create links for the chain. Check out the girls in action:

This afternoon's project was to glaze bisque pieces (fired, unglazed pottery) to create earrings or pendants. Glazing such small pieces is quite a process, as each color requires three coats. Here are the pieces before firing, and then after firing in the kiln: