Art Investigations

We've been wanting to find a great place to play with clay, and we are definitely giving the thumbs up to My Masterpiece.  For $12 you get 3 pounds of clay and as much time as you like to experiment with it.  Firing is  included.  When you pick up your fired pieces, you have an opportunity to glaze them with brilliant colors for $3 per piece.  Jasper made an Opabinia, his most favorite five-eyed Cambrian creature, as well as a model of the human heart, and we made a cat and dog on a mat together.  He thought this was awesome!   Ceramicafe, on the other hand,  has a nice selection of pre-fired ceramics ready to glaze.  Kids don't get to make whatever crazy shape they want, but I have to admit the results can be a tad more recognizable.  I must warn you that if your child is also fond of Obabinia (and who isn't?) they don't happen to have those.

Glazing a cat at Ceramicafe.

We also attended a wet felting workshop at Tualatin Library as part of their "Art Works!" series.  LeBrie Rich was teaching kids how to make merino wool roving into lovely mats.  Wet felting is definitely kid friendly and capable of producing some lovely results.  Jasper had a blast, and I decided felting is the bomb!  Felting is very popular in Waldorf circles, since Waldorf strongly emphasizes toys made of natural materials. Wool is naturally antibacterial, so felted toys are a good choice for  teether toys that can be tossed in the laundry.  I decided to take a class myself in needle felting, and found a great one at Pendleton Woolen Mills.  It was only $25, and afterwards they presented everyone with some starter materials and tools, and a coupon for 20% off any others purchased that day. What a deal!  Naturally I decided to make Jasper an Opabinia.  Because you can never have too many!

We returned to the Tualatin Library for a class in pop-up techniques.  We were honestly surprised what a terrific class this was.  Jasper has been fascinated by pop-ups since we saw a show of some really extraordinary pop-up art at 23 Sandy Gallery.  Jasper discovered in this class that you can get some really terrific results from some very simple techniques, most of which required only a few simple cuts and folds.  Three cheers for their children's librarian for teaching this class!