Let me first heartily apologize for taking so long to put up this post.  I’m going to blame it on the vast number of crafts I produced at camp, and the daunting task of cataloguing them all for you nice readers.  Either that or the rain.  Girl, you know it’s true.  We’ve been home from family camp for over a month, and all the crafts I’ve made have found a home.  Some in more visible places than others, and you’ll see why.

I’ve finally gotten over the sadness of the fused glass debacle, so I can show you those photos.  You already saw the brilliance that was my designs, sitting in the kiln waiting for inevitable disaster, here.  After firing?

People, LOOK at what happened to my awesome garden chime!!!

Ugh, it was tragic, my friends, TRAGIC.  So I didn’t put it on the wind chime.  The others turned out pretty nicely.  The wind chime itself is kind of… well, kitschy might be the best word.  But you really have to do what the craft instructor has planned, since that’s what they have supplies for and she watches you like a hawk.

There were all these crazy wood pieces that provided the main holder for the chimes, and then she had a box of flattened silverware with holes drilled in them.  Weird.  I think it’s cute, though– at least cute enough to hang in an inconspicuous part of the garden.  Main issue?  It never chimes.  Huh.

I painted my hand-thrown bowls with this cool glaze that has little chunks in it, so that when you fire it, the chunks melt and create a nice pattern.  They looked terrible before firing:

But, after firing, they were ROCKIN’.

Cool, huh?  We use them for the kids’ cereal.  They are the perfect size for a child’s serving.

I also used that glaze on the slab pottery succulent pot I made.  I kind of love it.

It’s bananas, right?  Can’t wait to plant it.  I have to find some really special succulents, though.

I also completed a bunch of traditional campy (in both senses of the word, I suspect) crafts.  The obligatory “friendship bracelets”:

I like the Chinese staircase pattern.  Actually, I came to really like the friendship bracelet thing.   The main issue I see with them as an adult is that you really have to wear them constantly since you tie them on.  Shower, sleeping, the works.  But I’ve devised a method for making them with a clasp, so you can take them on and off.  Would you wear one?  If you have an opinion, let me know in the comments.  I’m also trying to figure out a way to incorporate some beads into the pattern, but it’s proving difficult.

And, of course, the ubiquitous lanyard:

This is now my keychain.  I also made one for each of the boys that they’ve attached to their backpacks.  I like it.

So, all that added up to Master Crafter!  The craft girls made each of us (the Master Crafters, that is) a little tile:

Oh, I am so proud.

I think the only craft I haven’t covered, then, is raku.  I’m saving that for its own post, since I think it deserves the space.  So look for that coming up this week!  I promise.

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