Clay And Glass Please Don't Break Anything Gallery

Our city has an Activities Guide that tells us about various happenings in our area. I am such a nerd that I look through it to find interesting things for our family to do. Then I write them down and make a schedule of how we will fit them all in. This makes "fun" sound like a lot of work, and a little regimented, but it really isn't :)

 

One of the things I found for us to do was "Play With Clay" at The Clay and Glass Gallery. After visiting the gallery, Dave decided it should really be re-named "The Clay And Please Don't Break Anything Gallery" especially when visiting with young children. The description for "Play With Clay" said that it was "for all ages" and I did check if Rachel was too young. The people in charge assured me she wasn't.

We were given a little instruction but not a lot of direction. Sam and Rachel decided they wanted to make "smoothie cups." A few months ago Janice and I had been browsing in a store and we'd seen these little vases all attached to the same base. We both fell in love with them. I saw some similar pieces at the gallery and was inspired to try to make some of my own. Dave worked with Rachel on her piece.

Sam did okay rolling out pieces for his cup, but soon lost interest. Rachel had fun just poking at the clay and doing her own thing. She especially loved using the toothbrush to brush water onto the clay! I was impressed that Dave basically created a smoothie cup (or possibly a vase) for Rachel and a little snowman, all with Rachel sitting on his lap. Also the people who assured us that this was a good thing to do with a 3 year old lied, although I guess Rachel did technically "play with clay."

Sam gave me a lot of direction and so, while I did most of the actual work on this cup, the design is all his idea.

And I created this:

 

It is not the most elegant, or delicate piece of artwork ever, but I am very much looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it's fired and glazed. Some of the instruction was how to add texture to our work so I used some of the materials available to add a little interest to my piece. This was my inspiration. I came close, right?!? Maybe the glazing will help...

We're hoping to go back on Sunday to paint them. I think Sam and Rachel will get more out of glazing their pieces then they did out of creating them. Realistically though, I think this would be a great activity for our family two years from now, when the kids are a little older.

Note to my readers: Tomorrow I am beginning what many of you may find the most boring week ever on my blog :) Yes, it's time for "Day In The Life" for a week. I love looking back on my annual documenting of a week and seeing how much my life changes from year to year. And how much doesn't change too! After that I will be giving you a word break and only posting a photo a day for a week. I'll be back to "regular blogging" in two weeks.