Fabric Dying -

I must admit that I'm a little afraid of fabric dying...we've run tie-dyes nearly every year with our campers, and I can't say we've had one year where something doesn't go wrong. This year, as a matter of fact, every campers garments were inexplicably, lost. LOST!

Can you blame me for being a little gun-shy?

But I've found a cool blog with all kinds of fabric dying instructions, and I'm particularly interested in Shaving Cream method of dying...neat-o...huh?

Paint your own Pottery - Plaster version

With the popularity of "Paint Your Own Pottery" studios in the last few years, we had every reason to seek out a similar activity for our groups.

Unfortunately, we hit one big stumbling block...money.

Bisqueware, the unfinished pottery pieces you'll find in these stores, is very expensive. To provide these ceramic lovely bowls, vases, boxes and figurines wouldn't be cost effective. Not to mention, they also require a second firing in the kiln, which, if space in your kiln is an issue, might be a problem.

That's why I was so happy to run into the nice people from Millie's Plaster Craft at a recent convention. They offer plaster molded pieces, at a fraction of the cost of bisqueware. They simply need to be painted with acrylic paints, and sprayed with an acrylic glaze.

Instant gratification in just 45 minutes. This project appeals to ALL ages, boys and girls alike, and the final product will look great hanging up in a bedroom, kitchen, or family room.

Beeswax Candles

Working with beeswax has many advantages. We made these lovely candles in our very first week of camp this summer. The campers had an awful lot of fun with "Wikki-Stix", which they used to embellish these works of art.

We allowed each camper to make to candles, each were about 6 inches tall. The sheets of beeswax are fairly pliable, and after cutting a piece, we tightly wrap the wax around the wicking, (leaving about 1/4 inch or so at the top).

My favorite part of beeswax? It has a lovely sweet scent...what could be better?

Extreme Checkers

For each project, you will need:

1 square piece of plywood (I think ours was 12x12)
Sandpaper
Acrylic Paints
Masking Tape
Ruler
Pencil
Paint Brushes
16 Bottle Caps (available online or at craft stores)
2 colors of polymer clay to compliment board colors
Envirotex Lite (or spray glaze)
Jewels, Glitter, Puffy Paint (optional)

1. Sand your board down to eliminate splinters
2. A light base coat can be put down now ( optional)
2. Measure one inch all around, for border and 8 even lines up and down and across.
3. Using masking tape, tape off areas, and paint your first color in remaining boxes.
4. Dry either overnight, or speed up the process with a blow dryer or heat gun.
5. Remove tape, and tape over areas that have already been painted
6. Paint second color in empty areas
7. Touch up any uneven parts.
8. When painting is complete, embellishments can be added, such as jewels, glitter, puffy paint etc. (As long as embellishments are put on outer edges of board, ONLY)
9. Roll polymer clay out, so that it is fairly thick. Using bottle caps, like cookie cutters, slice into the clay, so that the clay sticks into the underside of the cap.
10. Bake bottle cap and clay according to package directions
11. When cool, spray caps with Acrylic glaze or brush clear nail polish on to give a finished look.
12. Following package directions, pour Envirotech Lite on the top of the board. This will give your board an AWESOME shine and very professional finish. (If Envirotech is unavailable, you can substitute Spray Glaze...but seriously, the Envirotech is the BEST!)

Pottery Solutions

Being the Art Lady at camp has its share of advantages (creative opportunities, the happiest job in camp, meeting wonderful campers and staff members, and lots of messy time), but a couple of disadvantages. Being the only Art Lady, sometimes, I (mistakingly) believe that I'm the only one in the UNIVERSE that has a job like mine.

NOT TRUE!

So, when I read this article on the ACA (American Camping Association) website, it felt like finally someone understood my issues!

I thought I'd share this insightful article on running a successful Pottery program in a camp environment.

Link:

Pop Art!

I'm home from camp, and very glad to say I had an extremely successful and fulfilling summer. I was surprised to see how relatively busy the blog has gotten in my absence. I guess simple art projects are always in demand!

Anyhow, I wanted to share a new project today. This was a great idea given to me by Samantha, one of my staff members from Australia. It was wonderful, the kids loved it, inexpensive and easy as pie.

We started out taking photos of each camper, in front of a simple background. We encouraged the girls not to smile with their mouths open, instead, to pose in an "artsy" fashion. We wanted to avoid photos looking like mug-shots or yearbook photos.

Next, we opened up the photos in Photo-Shop. By converting photos to Black and White, and playing with the brightness and the contrast (and if you are familiar with Photo-Shop, this only takes a tiny bit of practice), we were able to change the picture to look more "cartoonish".

We printed photos onto Transparency Paper, (we made 3 copies of each photo...5x7 sized).

Once photos were printed, we provided construction paper to the campers, which they ripped and cut, and basically made collages, in bright colors underneath the transparencies. We let them make several versions of the same picture, each with different color underneath.

Finally, we mounted the whole creation on black construction paper.

The camper's parents went INSANE, and each parent commented that this project was frame able art. I totally agree.

Bulletin Boards

Bulletin Boards are a perfect specialty project. Over the course of 4 days, we decorate wood plaques, add cork and embellish with gems, shapes and ribbons. If time allows, decorating push-pins with polymer clay is an excellent addition to this project.

Wooden Pens

Our Art Center creates more than your average arts and crafts....check out these pens we make in our woodshop. Campers work on individual lathes, and over the course of 4 days, create these gorgeous pens. We will also be making candle sticks and mini-baseball bats on the same equipment.

Photo courtesy of Sarah C. our especially nice Woodcrafting Specialist

August 19, 2008 - Addendum:

Wood turning supplies can be found here!

Clunkers and Solutions

We are well into our 2008 summer season, and doing very well. It has occurred to me that every once in a while, even when we think everything is planned, we hit a clunker. A clunker is a craft that no matter how good it looked on paper, just doesn't work in reality. Such is true of the Beaded Bottle Craft that I thought was a winner. NOT A WINNER!!! We had a very hard time working with the materials recommended, and we ended up scratching the project from our lessons. So now what do we do with 40 empty little bottles...and look what I found...Polymer Clay People! Can't wait to get started sorting this one out!

Camp Is HERE!

I'm so excited because Camp Orientation has begun!

I just wanted to extend a warm welcome to our staff, and most especially my Arts and Crafts Staff. This is just the beginning of a wonderful journey, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you and sharing the journey.

Good LUCK!!!

Love,
The Camp Art Lady

Scotty DO!

Love this little Scotty dog and it will perfect for our sewing class. How cute!

LINK

String Bracelets

Our campers are OBSESSED with embroidery floss. We buy tons and tons, and then spool the string around scrap cardboard (if we don't we end up with a huge tangled mess).

The campers creations are amazing, and I recommend the KLUTZ book on Friendship Bracelets. We keep it hanging around our jewelry room, and the girls just go to town.

Gimp

What's camp without GIMP??? I never do this as a group project, but when the campers are done with other work, and have finished cleaning up, I offer gimp upon request. I haven't done gimp myself since I was a kid, but my 7 year old daughter is quite adept.

Here's a little tutorial.

Glass Bead Bracelet

From Fire Mountain Gems
LINK

We can add strands, or matching necklaces/earrings to stretch this activity out.

Wow, SAFE Candle Making

Our utmost priority in all of our creative projects is SAFETY. I love the idea of candle making and we have done traditional candle dipping in the past, and truly, it is one of my favorite standard activities.

Beeswax candles are a wonderful alternative to the traditional candle making, and of course we are not working with heat, so they are an incredibly safe and simple and a perfect immediate gratification project...

Oooh, and dig the pretend sushi candles!!! Cool Beans!

Resin BottleCap Craft

C'mon, how cool is this! I'm going to do these as a magnet craft for boys and daycampers, and an earring craft for the girls..

Instructions and inspiration: LINK

Collage with Resin and Found Objects

We haven't worked intensively with resin, but we used a wonderful product last summer called Envirotex lite. It added a sheen to a couple of our projects that was astounding and simple. I'm ordering decorate your own trays from Oriental Trading, and a bunch of fun objects, beads, cool papers, fabrics, and we're going to do a version of the project below. I'm VERY excited about this one!

Fine Art Self-Portrait

I remember doing something very similar to this in my high school art class. I would love to do this project as an elective, and think it would appeal to all ages. It's really beautiful.

I'd like to thank Kathy Barbaro, and her beautiful blog, www.artprojectsforkids.blogspot.com for this wonderful project inspiration.

Paper Lantern

I searched high and low for a paper lantern to decorate, and what do you know...Oriental Trading strikes again!!

Link

Paper Posies

Link
From Accu-Cut

Another nice tutorial - Link
From Gabriela Delworth

Altered Paint Cans

After mod-podge and embellishing, you have a cool container to hold stuff in! Neat-o!

LINK

Donkey Beads and Bells

From Dick Blick
Link

Pillows

From Dick Blick
Link

We did these two years ago, and though the campers had a little trouble with the sewing, I think the end result was well worth it. Absolutely gorgeous pillows. We stamped them using acrylic paints and then simply painted the dye over the fabric.

Carnival Scratch Mask

From Blick Art Supplies
Link

Heavy Metal Book

From Blick Art Supplies
Link

Earrings with Power Cord

From Fire Mountain Gems

Link

Book Mark

From Fire Mountain Gems
Link

Mother of Pearl Earrings

FROM FIRE MOUNTAIN

LINK

Bracelet with Glass Beads and Memory Wire

From Fire Mountain Gems
Instructions

Crystal Bracelet

From Fire Mountain Gems
Instructions

Daisy Bracelet

From Fire Mountain Gems
Materials Needed: click here

We offer a jewelry program at camp. Along with the requisite "gimp" and "friendship bracelets", I have hopes of offering our campers experience in beading skills. Beading can be challenging for a camper, who only has 45 minutes to complete a bracelet (or earrings), particularly when part of that challenge is selecting beads for their project. (I know that I could spend hours upon hours just rummaging through bead bins!)

I've simplified it, a bit for the girls, by providing specific beads for specific projects. The final outcome is always more impressive, and again, it's that immediate gratification that we are going for!

This project, from Oriental Trading (of all places, they have an extensive variety of craft supplies and within the past couple of years, they have great craft ideas as well), look simple and cute...I like 'em.

Instructions

Buggy Hut

It's always a challenge to come up with cool projects for boys. Maybe it's because I'm the ultimate girly-girl and I'm drawn to the more feminine projects. Nevertheless, we see boy campers once a day. The boys I see are 6-10, so Bug Catchers are a staple.

I found this one today, and I love it especially, because, I get to use our Ellison Die Cutter, which, by the way is THE COOLEST piece of equipment in the art center.

Instructions

Cornflower Sculpture

I don't watch a lot of episodic TV. Therefore conversations about Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy completely go over my head. I do however enjoy HGTV. Recently on Landscape Smarts, they redid this backyard. What I loved the most about this was the metal sculpture in the foreground. It's made with a flexible copper (the petals) and a toilet bowl thingy (the round part). I think it's somehow attached to a dowel, but the best part is that it twirls in the wind.

It's so beautiful, in fact this photo doesn't do it justice. My only issue is that the website didn't provide specific instructions, and frankly, The Camp Art Lady isn't all that clever without a "recipe". So guess what...I e-mailed the artist who designed it, and he responded! So I'm awaiting his instructions...hooray!

This is the artist...

Nick Legeros
Sculptor
Nicholas Legeros Inc.
Website: www.nikosculpture.com

Sculpture

Fairy Wand

This would probably not go over well with our older campers, but I think our younger girls would enjoy making their very own magic wands. Okay, actually, I want MY very own magic wand.

I have shyed away from this project in the past, since I wanted to appeal to all ages, but I think this could be a really fun activity for our junior girls...and also...me.

Instructions can be found here.

Sunflowers

Our Art Center offers Craft Activities such as Jewelry Making, Rocketry and Ceramics. Now and then, I love to offer lessons in Fine Arts, and I am always amazed at what our campers produce. One of my favorite lessons was based on Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers. We set up a vase of silk sunflowers and offered the campers acrylic paints. The finished products were varied and amazing. Even the youngest campers created impressive works.

More information on this project can be found here.

An Oldie But a Goodie - Paper Clay Bowl

This was our first project EVER at camp. In fact, the bowl pictured above was created by my daughter when she was 8 years old. It is so simple and useful, and considering this one was made in 2003, it has held up pretty well after all these years.

The bowl above was made with Paper Clay, we softened with our hands, and then folded in glitter specs. We eventually started adding tempera paint right into the clay. When you work the paint into the clay, the clay changes color. Super cool. We rolled the clay out and molded around little plastic bowls from the dining hall. They dry overnight, feather light, yet surprisingly sturdy.

I found instructions for a similar project from Crayola.com

You can find project instructions here.

Now This Looks Like Fun! Packing Tape Casting

I just found this amazing project at TapeSculpture.org.

If you Google "Packing Tape Casting", there are a ton of websites that give instructions. In a nutshell, you basically wrap any figure or object in packing tape, cut it off and then repair the seam.

This will be a huge hit with the campers, and I think a worthy exception to my "It should be useful" rule of thumb. This is one project that's just fun.

I can't wait!

Here's a Youtube video that shows exactly how it done.
I can't wait! (Did I already say that????)

Topiary, I Want One!

Not sure that 14 year old girls would appreciate a topiary, but, once again this is something they can make look beautiful without having to be terribly talented artistically. Fake-o flowers from Walmart are inexpensive and a perfect addition.

These could be made in one class or 4, depending on how elaborate we would want to get.

The instructions call for Topiary forms, but I would opt for a foam ball attached to a wooden dowel.

Ribbons and pretty paper embellish this.

Instructions can be found here.

Gel-ly Bowls

Dick Blick does it again. What a beautiful project! This is constructed with wire mesh, collage materials (i.e. tissue paper) and "gel medium". I wonder if you could simply use mod-podge (I love mod-podge)...I'm going to look into that.

I got to meet the creative forces at Dick Blick at a recent conference. Once again, I was not disappointed. They have a boatload of amazing projects that they haven't even posted online yet...I'll have to keep checking back...but they never fail to inspire me.

Again, I love this because it is useful, fairly inexpensive to construct, and a camper doesn't need to be Picasso to end up with a thing of beauty.

Instructions can be found here.

Tick Tock Block Clock

Hello! How adorable is this. We have done clocks in the past, but this one is so original. The colors on the blocks are actually paper which is decoupaged on. And if Mod-Podge is involved, I'm totally into it.

I can see using different coordinating patterns to get a really cool effect, or we could simply paint these.

This is a great older girl project, though I think the younger girls would probably do well.

We need clock works, wooden blocks, mod-podge (of course!) and general embellishments.

From the geniuses at www.DuncanCrafts.com
Click here for instructions.

3d Chalk Drawings

Okay, I'm pretty sure we are NOT going to do this project, but oh my, it is incredible.

Home Made Checkers

I love when projects are USEFUL. Something that our campers will use during the winter and think about warm summer days. Something that their moms won't want to toss in the trash the minute they come home.

Several summers ago, we made our own Checkers Sets.

The campers painted checkerboards with acrylic paint on wooden boards. We sealed the paint with acrylic spray, or we could have used Envirotex for an extra shiny finish.

My daughter made hers in pink and green by first painting with the lighter color, and then masking off the areas to be checkered and then painting the darker color.

Checkers were made out of Sculpey in complimentary colors. It was just precious, and I think its time to pull that project and put it back into circulation.

Sculpey Swirley Frame

We have used Sculpey clay every year. The colors are vibrant, the clay is easy to work with and the funnest part is when you can mix the colors to make new beautiful marble-y patterns.

Sculpey has come out with a new product called "Studio" by Sculpey. The colors seem richer, the finish is suede like, and they say that the finished product is more durable than projects made with traditional Sculpey.

Picture frames are always divine, everyone can use and enjoy them, and this project seems simple enough. Even though this is shown with the new Sculpey, I'll bet the good old classic Sculpey will work just fine.

Instructions for Sculpey Frame

Nature Necklaces

Family Fun Magazine and website has a very clever array of original craft ideas. I kind of like this one, part nature, part jewelry.

The campers could spend the first ten minutes of their class hunting for beautiful stones, and then the balance working with wire to turn their finds into cool necklaces.

I think the younger campers would find this particularly appealing, and think this would be one of the few jewelry projects that might appeal to younger boys as well.

At our camp, we hold on to all projects until visiting day. I think our biggest challenge with this one will be keeping the campers from sneaking these back to their bunks!

Nature Necklace Instructions

Just for Monkey Girls

We have offered a sewing class at camp for one season. Last year we made a lot of pillows, pillows, pillows. I'm hoping that we expand our repertoire this year, and thought what could be more appealing than the classic sock monkey.

I'm thinking this might be appropriate for our older campers only, since the younger girls might not yet have the fine motor skills needed for this craft.

My measure of a good project is whether or not I can do it. Sounds silly, right? Not really. I am a craft lover, not afraid to get messy and open to trying new things. But, I'm not patient! My skills aren't much different from our older campers...and believe me, some of the girls talents far eclipse mine!

So this one, I'm going to attempt myself...I'm a sucker for stuffed animals, and I have a soft spot in my heart for monkey girls. Assuming I finish, I'll post the results...and if it's really cute, there's a certain New York City Monkey Diva that'll get to keep it.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SOCK MONKEY CRAFT

NEW! Carol Duvall Video - How to make a Sock Monkey!