Greetings, I know that many of you wonder what happens during a week of teaching at a summer camp. My vocabulary and jokes revert to about 9 years old. What did 0 say to 8? (answer: nice belt). I learned a new word "cringe-y" and re-discovered the power of the phrase "wait, what?" I think I'll use that on some choice bookkeeping clients. Other than that, we did make some baskets. Out of the 23 total students, it seemed only 5 were really interested and they made some fabulous baskets. A few more did nice work, but I'm not sure if they liked the basket making. I would say about half hated making baskets and really wanted to do something else. Maybe the projects were too hard, but I don't think I'll teach this one next year. If asked to teach three weeks again, I will come up with a different third class.
But here are highlights: first day we did paper weaving and Kate was inspired to use a page out of a calendar and turn it into this.
Kate was one of the children who seemed to really like the class and admitted that basket making was her favorite class. She also made this cup and saucer out of coiled jute and yarn.
The coiled jute + yarn project seemed to be a favorite and at the edge of everyone's abilities. Here are more samples from Juliet + Cole. The top picture is Juliet's 1st basket. She started a 2nd basket in class, but didn't finish. The picture following is Cole's first basket. He spliced extra jute to make a larger basket and made a lid. I really appreciated the way he worked - thoughtful, playful, and figured things out as he went.
I initially designed 5 projects for this class. No one did them all, but one student went for the hardest projects of all. Lucy is an amazing basket maker at 8. She focused and figured out on her own shaping, starting, and making a lid. I only had to show her once on most steps and she would very excitedly say "may I try?" Music to my ears. The top picture is her coiled basket with lid. The bottom picture is her first rattan basket. Don't be fooled by the picture - this is a sturdy basket.
