Winding down...

We had a couple of days off this week. I made a mistake way back in October when someone booked Monday and later changed that booking to another day. I forgot to unbook Monday and realized Friday that it was open. We had a last minute cancellation for Thursday, so it was left open as well. It was kinda nice to have some time. I did get the basement tidied up Monday, but Thursday was just a decadent day off. I did very little and took the whole day to finish. It was nice.

We had some intense workshops this week... what a rush...a real hoot. I really do love my job. With the two days off this week, we still worked with about 225 students. We worked with a scout troop Tuesday night. We were a little late because we were given the wrong address. It sounds odd to say, but we googled the scout troop on the blackberry, got the correct address, put it in the GPS and were there just in the nick to time. How did we ever get anywhere without technology. We were making snowman winter scenes. Getting 35 children from the ages six to sixteen to focus on the project and finish it in only an hour has a certain amount of intensity. Wednesday was fun as well, we had walked 93 students through a fairly detailed angel. Three workshops of 30 ish students. We met some great kids and they did some wonderful work. I wish we had the camera. We, meaning Jim, will have to start bringing it and taking more pictures.

It always feels so good to give the students the freedom to do what they like with their work. I tell them they can put anything on the work that they think that I would like to see. They have some great ideas. I get a lot of "my" ideas from them.

Tomorrow we have about 45 grade one and two doing Inuit igloo dioramas. We will be done by noon. When we get home we will load the last of the pottery for Christmas orders. We have fired and returned all The Clay Teacher projects. I sure do like the air dry method! Monday all the Christmas stuff will be shipped .... whaa whoooo....

Until the next time.

Cindy

Do Pay Attention!

The hardest part of The Clay Teacher's job is not teaching, but making sure everyone is listening. When we give instructions they are very strait forward and easy to follow. We were more than surprised today when we learned that some of the teachers were the ones not listening and not following instructions.

We have been offering air dry as a method of finishing. It is more economical and the teacher has control of the timing of the project. We tell the teachers how to finish them and then give them detailed written instructions from when the project is first made and the clay is wet, how to dry it and we provide the plastic. The instructions tell the teachers how to tell when it is dry, what paint to use, how to apply the paint, how to seal the project after it has been painted and we provide the sealant. We thought we had it all covered.......However.....if the teacher will not listen or read the instructions provided what can you do. Today we were back at a school we had worked at a few weeks ago and we met the teacher from that past workshop. She hadn't even uncovered her projects so some were still damp. She didn't know what paint to use and when I told her, there was not enough paint in the art room and didn't know how to apply it if there was. At that point I gave her a set of instructions in the staff room at lunch break before her class was starting , she didn't listen to me when I started telling her how to finish the projects or read the instructions I had just handed her. Later on in the art room, I took the instructions from the finishing kit we provided weeks ago and told her to read them. She wouldn't read them and still didn't listen to my explanations. At that point I suggested that if she didn't have enough paint, she didn't know how to paint them if she did and some were still damp that maybe today was not a good for finishing. She didn't agree, so she any went ahead and painted them anyway. She mixed all the paint in the art room to get a swampy beige brown to paint Christmas wreath picture frames. These kids are giving the frames to their parents for Christmas. They worked hard and deserve the proper paint and procedure to make their work the best it can be. They listened it was the teacher who did not.

Now if the projects are not what the teacher had in mind she will see it as The Clay Teacher did not provide a satisfactory service..........Bummer.....

Until next time.

Cindy

We Must be Blessed

We finished a week with St. Maria Goretti School. Now we have a basement full of Angels and baby Jesuses or is that Jesi? I am not sure if I can say that, but few people have in their possession as many little sons’ of God as we do. We did a bunch of Christmas projects with the Catholic school so we have 62 Nativity Scenes and 121 angels. The rest are snowmen and for reasons we are not sure of, we put the snowmen off by themselves in a back room to dry.

It was a fun week. For the most part we are the only three dimensional art experiences the children get and only an hour and half a year. I was there last year and everyone who was there last time remembered me this year. One girl even noticed that my hair was shorter than last year, but she was nice enough not to mention the additional grey. The workshops leave a huge impression on the students and they enjoy the clay so much.

We did little Nativity Plaques with the Kindergarten children this year. I didn’t talk at all about the Nativity Scene or what it stood for. The teacher gave a little lesson. I was not confident enough to teach a religion class in a Catholic school. Some of the little guys were not sure of the name of the project or just what it was about, but they had a general of idea of what we were making. I met one little boy in the hall the next day and he remembered me and making the Nativity, but again he forgot the name of the project. So he just asked me if I was back doing “the God thing” again. I didn’t have time to explain, so I just said…yes I am, smiled to myself and felt extremely powerful for only a brief moment.

We are making more Nativity Scenes on Monday, so there will be even more Jesi in the basement so with so many Angels and Jesi in the house how could we not be blessed?

I wrote in my blog last week that I was done all my orders…… well… that was short lived. The next day the orders started again. I could say no but I don’t want to. So I have more orders, I will probably always have an order waiting to be made….

The deadline for the Vasefinder competition was October 31, but I asked and Charlie gave me some more time. So the vase is drying and I will still be able to entre. Thank you Charlie!

Until next time.

Cindy

The Jury is Still Out.

I have been playing with the sculptures some more and working with different finishing techniques. This morning when I peeked in the kiln at 500 F I saw this lady and her “skin condition” and I thought she was a dud for sure. When the kiln had cooled to a frosty 400F I took her out and, like a cancer, it kinda grows on ya. At first she was a definite no….. but now…. I am not so sure……

I think the finish deserves some more play and experiementation.....but the jury is still out ...

Until next time.

Cindy

Wrinkles

I finished the forehead of the pot head. The nice thing about pictures are, is you get to see what you have done in a whole different light or perspective.The first shot of this guy, which is not this one, showed me that he had way to many wrinkles. So unlike my own face, I just got rid of the ones I didn't like and published the second set of pictures. I think he is done now. Or done as much as I have the time, or choose to have the time for him. He was fun to make.

Until the next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

A bit of a busy week.

The Clay Teacher is back in full swing. We finished a wonderful and busy week. Jim has been coming with me to all the workshops and it is much easier for two people to do a job than one. The kids get so much more as well. It was a fun and full Friday. We did four workshops at a school that I had been to for the last 3 years. We worked with some kids with “learning challenges”. Those kids remembered me, my silly one liners, and most of the demo from the past. They may have some difficulties, but if they want to learn something they can. They just don’t want to learn the same old same old, and they don’t think the same way most do. One boy was in grade 6 and he works with his dad driving a bob cat. He may not grow up to be a rocket scientist, but he will be fine. I think the hardest thing for most children to learn, when they are working with clay, or anything else, is that they CAN do it. When I hear “I can’t” I tell them you can’t lift 600 pounds, but you can learn how to work with clay. There is a big difference between I don’t know how and I can’t. After they start working and what they are making starts to look like the project, their confidence soars, they do their best and the work is good. They are always sooooo pleased with what they have done. It is so cool to see their faces shine with pride!

I have finished all the pots for my clients … WOOO HOOO…..I like potting but I also like having no responsibility other than The Clay Teacher when we are booked solid. I have been working on a Pot Head for a competition on line called Vasefinder. I don’t have any fantasies of winning but it is fun to play. I want to add a few more wrinkles to his forehead and then he is done. When he is, I will put some pictures up.

It was Jim’s birthday yesterday and I am so mean, that while I was finishing up the pots in the basement, he had to make his own birthday dinner. He made some smouldering chili. We, John, our son, Kaileigh, our daughter that doesn’t live at home and her boyfriend Andrew had a birthday dinner for Jim. It was good. We had chilli, cheese bread sticks, beer and cake. It was a good day. We all get busy with life and sometimes let little things, like a family dinner, slide.

I am going to go downstairs and put some frown wrinkles on my Pot Head.

Until next time.

Cindy

The Clay Teacher

A bit of a slow week...

Clay for Kids wrote on the main page of their Edmonton website that The Clay Teacher was using their materials and ideas. They went on to say we were passing ourselves off as them. With our many years of experience with clay and teaching, I really want everyone to know who we are. I wrote in my last blog that we are very much The Clay Teacher and put a link to this blog on our front page so anyone that might have been confused or had any questions could read it. What I find interesting is that very few people read it. I guess they are not too confused. We are almost booked solid for the upcoming year and it is only September. Teachers know we are The Clay Teacher and they are booking us. We are looking forward to a busy fun year.

I played this week. I did make some new projects earlier in the week, some of them are online and we will get the rest up Sunday morning. Then I took some time and I played in the clay. I have joined the sculpture group at Harcourt House. We meet every Monday night and just sculpt. I really enjoy it. Here are a few pictures of what I was working on. When I made the Indian I was thinking about New Orleans and Mardi Gras and the lady is just a lady that is not all that happy. I will play tomorrow then I have to get to work before The Clay Teacher kicks in. We have two large wholesale orders to get out and three weeks to get it done because once we start Clay Teachering I don’t want to do the production after supper. … "The old grey mare just ain’t" …. well you know the how the song goes. I enjoyed playing with the faces, but they are not quite there yet. I have ordered an instructional DVD from this fellow, now he is a sculptor. http://philippefaraut.com/ Take a moment and check out his site. If you would like to see him sculpting, click through as if you were going to buy a DVD and you will find a series of little movies of him working. It's great to see.

Until the next time.

Cindy