Painted, Glazed and all Fired Up

We brought 15 mugs and plate to the library last Thursday. Each kid got one (and there were enough for a couple of adults to paint too). Then we took our painted dishes and mugs back to the Painted Dish where they were put in the 1,000-degree oven to bake. And they came out looking like this:

Kids’ Day In the Library

Becky and I went to the Painted Dish yesterday. It’s both a store and a craft studio in Santa Fe. When we walked in we saw hundreds of unfinished ceramics – dishes and cups and tiles and pencil holders and large bowls and teapots and then there are dozens of popular items like ceramics shaped like electric guitars and motorcycles and pop-figures. And there are the colors – all the colors in the rainbow and glitter and more. Then there are stencils in hundreds of different shapes and stamps – rabbits and geckos, bears and butterflies and more.

We were there to try our hand at the craft so that we could do a project with the kids at our library. We though it would be a good idea to try it for ourselves first – and we were very glad we did! Merri, the lady who runs the Painted Dish, gave us a quick lesson in the various stages of ceramics: things like glazing (painting on the colors) and firing (putting the painted ceramic in an oven at 1,000 degrees and baking it until the glaze and the ceramic become one). She talked about which colors shine through, and how to layer colors and different ideas about how to decorate our ceramics.

Then Becky and I each picked a bare ceramic and began to decorate our own. I chose a coffee mug and Becky chose a large cup. She began a design of Fleur de lis and I chose a stencil with a landscape of images including a wolf that looks a little bit like my dog Grreta, and some clouds and a big evergreen tree. We thought this was going to take an hour or two to paint, but two hours passed very quickly and soon it was time for us to go and we weren’t even finished with our project!

So we arranged for a Craft Kit of cups and plates to take home with us (and we included our own unfinished projects) and we brought it all home with us to do at this week’s Kids Day in the Library on Thursday. Each kid – or adult – will get a cup or a plate to paint. And at the end of the day, we’ll pack them all up and deliver them back to the Painted Dish, where they will bake them (they say: “Fire them”) in the 1,000 degree ovens until they are transformed into our beautiful ceramics.

Stay tuned – next week we’ll have pictures of our ceramic projects here!

RULES by Cynthia Lord

RULES, by Cynthia Lord, is her first novel, though Ms Lord has been writing since she was four years old, writing fiction since she was in high school. Catherine, the main character, is a 12-year-old who has an autistic younger brother, David. Author Ms Lord and her husband have two children, one of whom is an autistic boy.

Catherine’s life is greatly affected by David. When you get to the end of the book, you can decide for yourself whether it is better or worse because of David. (This is my favorite kind of question – one that has no right or wrong answer!) A new family next door, with a girl Catherine’s age, gives Catherine the possibility of a new friend – and the complications that brings into her life. Jason, a boy who comes for therapy to the same clinic David goes to, also becomes a friend. This is surprising, because Jason’s handicap prevents him from talking.

You’ll find this book in the Irene Sweetkind Public Library. It won’t take you long to zip through it, and I hope you will read it. Let’s talk about it when you’re through with it.

Ms Dorothy

COME ON - I DARE YA!

We're just getting started.

We printed up brochures; we ordered the books; we sent out announcements; we started the blog; and now we're waiting for people to join us.

What book are you reading?
Are you not going to start reading any new books until the new Harry Potter arrives?
What would you rather be doing but it's too hot?

Maybe Ms Dorothy can get us started - tell us about "Rules"

Mark Twain's: The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Welcome to the Kids Read & Blog

~ 2007 Book List ~

Ms. Dorothy Recommends:

Hank the Cow Dog by John R. Erickson
# 1 The Original Adventures of हांक the Cowdog
# 6 Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
# 45 The Case of the Falling Sky
# 49 The Case of the Booby-trapped Pickup
The Good Dog by Avi The Baby Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
A Dog’s Life by Ann M. Martin
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
True Confessions of Charlotte by Avi
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Nancy Drew – A Novelization by D. Burr
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
L8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle
Rules by Cynthia Lord
The Invention of Hugo Cabret a graphic novel by Brian Selznick
Olivia Kidney and the Secret Beneath by Ellen Potter
Missing Magic by Emma Leybourn
Dangerous Book for Boys by C. Iggulden

From “We The People” Bookshelf
Miracle at Philadelphia by C. D. Bowen
Barrio Boy by ernesto Galarza Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The Glory Field by Walter J. L. Latham
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
In the Year of the Boar & Jackie प्लेनेट by Bette Bao Lord
Johnny and the Bomb by Jerry Pratchett
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder