An osage-orange (Maclura pomifera)  is a tree not native to Maryland but can be found growing here. My husband remembers having wars with his friends; they would throw them at each other. Boys!

I call this one the Grinch.

I call this one Oscar the Grouch.

I call this one Dude.

Ever come across some clay while on some outdoor adventure and wish you could make some pottery out of it? You can. I love working with clay and have experimented with both a pit kiln and firing pieces over coals of a campfire. Below are tips on the whole process from finding clay to firing your primitive pottery.

This summer I held a workshop for children which included making pinch pots from locally dug clay.

Here are some of the pieces my students made.

This is what they looked like before being fired.

Finding clay and getting it ready to use

Find

You can often find clay along the banks of a river or stream. You can sometimes find it on local beaches. Look for gray or red stuff that clumps when you squeeze it in your hand. When wet, it should also feel slippery. You might also find it dry.

Gather

Bring along a container. Gather clay while trying to avoid surrounding soil.

Clean

Fill the container about halfway with clay and then fill the remainder with clean water. Remove rocks and sticks and other organic matter. Break up the clumps and mix until completely dissolved. Your mixture is called slip. If you collected dry clay, pound with mortar, reconstitute.

Strain

Put a screen (can be made out of hardware cloth or purchased) on the top of a clean bucket. I made a screen out of a wood frame with stapled wire window screen. Pour your slip into the bucket. The screen will take out any unwanted stuff. If after screening it still feels too gritty (sandy), you can strain it again through an old tee-shirt.

Let it settle

Let the clay settle to the bottom. Scoop or pour off the clear water

Dry more

When it is thick enough, put it on a piece of wood to dry in the sun. The wood helps to absorb the excess water in the clay. Check your clay during this drying time because you don’t want it to become too dry. When the clay is the right consistency to use, scrap it up and put in a plastic bag and seal. Your clay will be even better to use if you wait a couple of weeks.

Wedge and knead the clay before using. You may need to add temper (sand, grit, shell, grog (broken pottery), etc. Add 1/5 -1/3 temper, knead, and wedge. Temper is used to open the pores and make them less likely to crack when subjected to heat. Also reduces shrinkage and warping during drying and firing. This is especially important for large pieces.

Drying pieces

3-10 days, depending on the piece and temperature and humidity etc.

Pit Kiln

Dig a pit with sloping sides about 2 feet in diameter and about eighteen inches deep in the middle. This fits the standard round barbecue grill but you can make your hole to accommodate the amount of material you wish to fire. Find a place to put your pit that is away from trees or other plants that could catch on fire. Next, place a three inch deep layer of sawdust and or manure in the bottom. Put the oven rack on top of this layer. Again, you can adjust your design to accommodate your needs. Then arrange the pieces to be fired on the rack so that there is at least one inch of space around all sides of each piece. Fill any bowls or other containers with sawdust. If there are too may pieces on the rack, you can cover the pieces on the rack with more sawdust (4 inch layer). Remember to put the heavier pieces on the bottom to help avoid breakage. Now cover the pieces with at least twelve inches or more of sawdust. You should fill your pit completely. Add twisted pieces of newspaper in a thin layer. These are to be used to set the fire. Place a cover (like an old trashcan lid) to cover the top of the pit. Place some rocks under the edges of the sides of the lid to hold up the cover and allow air to get in. Light the newspaper. After it is burning well, put the cover on. Flames will come out the gaps for a little while and then you should only see smoke. If the smoke soon stops you should relight. Let the pit kiln burn over-night or at least for 6 to 7 hours. It isn’t necessary to stay with the pit the entire time it is burning. Once the flames have died down, it’s safe to leave. For safety, you may choose to post a warning sign. When the firing is completed, remove the lid carefully (it may still be hot). You could use a potholder or a stick. Carefully dig through the ashes to find your pieces.

Firing in Campfire

Place the pieces on a bed of hot coals. Experiment with the placement of your pieces to determine what will give you the best results. I let the fire go out naturally before taking them out of the ashes. Taking the pieces out while really hot can cause them to crack if they cool too quickly.

Obtained information from experience and from:

Make it in Clay 2nd edition by f. Speight and J. Toki.

The Kids ‘N’ Clay Ceramics Book created by Kevin Nierman and written be E. Arima. This is a nice book that has a lot of cool kid project ideas.

Nature Crafts for Kids: 50 Fantastic Thinks To Make With Mother Nature’s Help. By G. Diehn and Terry Krautwurst.

Science Crafts for Kids: 50 Fantastic Things To Invent and Create. By Gwen Diehn and Terry Krautwurst.

After you enjoy eating a bag of cherries this year, amuse yourself and your family too with these Cherry faces. Save the cherry pits and stems to create some amusing faces. My kids and I “painted” these faces using the computer after I took the pictures but all you will need is a marker to draw on the details.

Wouldn’t these be fun to make into cards? Ideas: Birthday card (smile), encouragement card for a friend dealing with stress (stresses out), sympathy card (sad face), Happy you are my teacher card (happy face)…

Glue the pits (eyes) and the stems (mouth) down on a piece of paper if you want to use it as part of your canvas. Alternatively, don’t glue them down. That way you can rearrange them as much as you want as an amusing way to spend some of you summer vacation time. (Eyes can be reversible: draw on both sides.) Here are a bunch of ideas to get you started.

If you are planning to go on vacation to the beach this summer, you might come home with a few shells. Put some of them to good use as beautiful photo holders and more!

Uses:

Label your pot luck contribution.

“crab dip”… for example

Photograph holder

I like to give these as thank you gifts.

Business card holder

I needed a card holder so I decided to see how hard it would be to cut into a shell I found. It turned out that it was do-able.

Hold reminder notes…

Place card holder

For your next dinner party, set the table with shells holding the names of all your guests.

Personalized messages

How to:

Find shells. (Finding the shells is half the fun.)

Use a hack saw to cut a slot in your shell. Use a saw blade with fine teeth. It isn’t too difficult to cut this grove but chances are your hand will get tired.

This is a craft that is good for large groups of kids like school classes because the mushroom trays can be saved by the parents and the overall project will be very inexpensive. The handle for your “basket” can be made with a lot of different materials but I like the natural ones best. The photos show a basket handle made with a twisted piece of drift wood. You can grow grass seeds or wheat grass berries.

I waited too long to take these pictures: the grass is getting too tall. When we are done enjoying our grass baskets, I let my chickens enjoy the greens ! No wasting.

Note: This project is meant to be a centerpiece and is not meant to be carried around by the handle.

Follow this link for tips on growing wheat grass.

One more note:

I like growing wheat grass because it doesn’t take a huge amount of planning ahead. The plants will sprout in just a few days. When I grew the wheat grass in these mushroom trays, I soaked the seeds overnight and then put them on top of the potting soil, watered it, covered the tray with plastic for the first day or two and then watered only as needed. -Very easy child project.

A few years ago, my daughter brought home a piece of bark she had carved a design in. I liked the idea so much that I thought wouldn’t it be cool to carve a valentine out of a piece of bark. I like the way it makes you think of the sweet affections of youth carved in trees. However, I don’t really like the idea of scarring a tree.  They can be used in a variety of ways from napkin rings to Valentine ornaments.

You could also carve things like: T.B. + N.R., U R Sweet, Hot stuff, or Kiss me. I used a metal barbecue skewer to scratch out the letters. Bark pieces can be found on the ground around some pine trees or possibly around a log pile.

Napkin rings are made from a slice of a toilet paper roll with the bark Valentine glued on.

Hand carved tree bark Valentine ornament.

Leave a secret love note for someone special to find.

These love notes are carved into tree bark but not into living trees. 

Assortment of hand carved tree bark love notes.

This I heart you message was made to decorate a gift box top.

Something as simple as covering a plastic nursery pot with bark can have wonderful results.

Adding a ribbon around the pot is a nice touch.

Nice for a house-warming gift or teacher gift.

Beautiful for a wedding or dinner party.

Add bark in a horizontal pattern or a vertical pattern.

We have a wood burning stove so I’m able to gather bark from around our log pile. Alternatively, you can harvest some from fallen trees. Using a hot glue gun, attach strips of bark. I used a pair of pliers to break the pieces to the appropriate length. Work your way around the pot: adding strips as you go. Reuse plastic pots you have hanging around your garage or find some secondhand. This blog is about wise use of resources so ask around and reuse items as much as possible.

I used 3 inches tall pots with square tops for a windowsill herb garden and I used a 4.5 inches tall round pot for a centerpiece.

When I think winter, I think evergreen trees. Here are some easy to make stylized evergreen trees made out of fabric. They can easily be made by children and given as a charming Christmas gift.

Here are some of the trees done by one of my students from my winter sewing/crafting workshop 2010.

Make the tree stump(s)

Find a tree branch of the desired diameter. Cut tree stumps using a miter saw if you have one.

Keep in mind, if the stumps are too small in diameter, the trees will fall over.

Make the tree top

1. Cut Fabric

Use a plate to mark a circle on your fabric and cut out. Next, cut the circle in half. Each half can make a tree.

2. Sew

Fold the semicircle in half with the good side of the fabric facing in. Use a sewing machine or hand -sew a straight line up the side as shown in the photo. Make your cone wider or narrower by adjusting your sewing line.

3. Turn and Stuff

Cut off the extra fabric. Then, turn the cone right side out and add stuffing.

4. Stitch

Using large stitches sew all the way around the bottom of the cone.

5. Gather

Pull the thread from both ends until the fabric is gathered together and the hole is gone.

6. Tie A knot

Knot the thread.

7. Glue

Add glue to the stump and glue in place.

8. Let Dry

Use a glass or another object to weigh down the tree top until the glue is dry.

9. Done

10. Make More

Make a whole forest of trees!

Flower crowns are beautiful and your little pixie or princess will love it.

Make a bunch for a fairy party or just enjoy a little mother and daughter time.

How to:

Cut a vine and remove the leaves. I used a wisteria vine this time but you can use whatever you have on hand. Cut and bend it into a circle. Check the size of the hoop by putting it on the child’s head. Use a piece of wire or a string to hold the vine. Use flowers and leaves that are available in your garden. Use a wire or string to wrap around the hoop securing more flowers as you go around.

Pretty little pixie girl wearing a crown of fresh flowers.

During a recent “green” sewing and crafting workshop I was giving to children, these fairy houses were made. I’m continually impressed by their collective creativity. Now the woods surrounding our house are filled with welcoming homes for visiting fairies. Don’t you want to go out and make your own?

Let these pictures inspire you but not limit you in your building. Start by taking a walk and gathering supplies along the way. Scout out good locations for your fairy home. All manner of natural materials make good additions to these structures: flowers, feathers, leaves, sticks, bark, moss, pine cones, rocks, acorns, berries…

*Be sure not to overharvest living materials. Moss for example is very slow growing.

Moss table with pinecone seats for fairies.

Moss chair cleverly designed by 10 year old for the comfort of her fairy friends.

Fairy doll in her garden.

Doll was a gift made by a talented friend.

Artist at work.

Welcoming fairy accommodations.

What fairy could resist?

Don’t forget a stash of food to offer visiting fairies.