Current situation: sitting in a semi peaceful spot, drinking coffee, staring at everything that needs to be done to "wrap" up the season until next year, I find myself reflecting on the past few weeks- weeks filled with excited children counting down the days, making gifts with my art classes, sugar highs, crazy traffic, sweet voices singing at the preschool Christmas program, candlelit service, fun family and friend gatherings, traveling and everything in between. One of the most rewarding projects I've ever done with my classes also took place. The director at preschool had a great idea after seeing an example of an ornament created by children at our pastor's old church home. Once seeing the clay ornament, the three and four olds and I set out to make ornaments for all of the families at preschool as well as all of the families in the congregation of the church where my daughter's preschool is. I knew we could do it, but definitely held my breath between each step hoping the outcome would be positive. Our final count was over 250 ornaments and the kids learned about each step of the clay process along the way- win/ win!
Step One:
We started with raw clay and shaped it into circles and stamped it. Once it was Bone Dry/ Greenware (right), we fired in the kiln to get to the Bisque stage (left). The kids were amazed that the gray clay turned hard and white after being fired.
Next stage- glaze. The were very busy "painting" the ornaments and I assured them that the dull colors they were using would turn shiny and bright once they were fired again.
A box full of ornaments made with love after the second trip to the kiln:
Final product- something each child could be proud of being a part of!!! And continue to be each year when they hang it on their tree.
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