Camp Crafts

As Craft Director for NWCCD (Northwest Christian Camp for the Deaf) I try to provide crafts that stimulate artistic expression, teach new skills and can be reproduced at home for further exploration. I also aim to use up many of the materials I "inherited" with this job 3 years ago, which also supports my goal of keeping within my limited budget.

Since camp is at the beach, I've wanted to do sand candles, but didn't figure out the logistics until this year. I used bagged playground sand so we would not have to wonder about whether any dogs or cats had previously used the granules. To keep things simple and contained, we used styrofoam bowls. Tea lights were the perfect starter for the candles as they have a long wick and also provided a flat base. I had many bags of shells, so it was no problem to let the kids go to town with picking their favorites. After hardening, we dumped the sand and returned the candles to the bowls, then slipped them into zippered plastic bags for the trip home.

Following an activity for making foil patterns in Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam, the campers used foil covered foam core to make their designs. For the banquet, each table would represent a name of Jesus (vine, shepherd, Lord, etc.) so each camper chose a name and created their foil drawing to match. Younger campers colored with permanent markers; older campers with Lumiere metallic paints and Golden fluid acrylics.

This year we received a donation of over 100 water bottles. We had to hide the company logo (black permanent marker, then turning the foam inside out), then let the kids decorate with foam markers, Galaxy opaque/metallic markers and foam stickers. The theme was Jesus giving us Living Water, but they could decorate anything related to Christ or camp.

Each year we make and sign a huge "Thank You" card for our director and speaker. This year, I decided to use up some leftover shirts instead. For our director, I chose a nice blue and wanted to paint a square for signing because I thought the stiffness of the paint would make signing easier. The shirt moved and the paint didn't cover so well, so I took advantage of that by making a more "grunge" texture background. Everyone thought I was such a great artist! I just fancied up my mistakes!

For the speaker, I wish I had time to cover this shirt with Jesus' name. He had all of us signing Jesus repeatedly as fast as we could as part of his teaching during the week. Instead, I made the name Jesus and a heart filled with the the name of Jesus. He loved it! The back of his shirt also had a grungy square filled with signatures.

Northwest Joy

Growing up in southern California, a small box of blueberries would cost $5 or more. Blueberries were precious purple morsels that appeared once every few years in a pancake or muffin. Once or twice I remember having a slice of blueberry pie.

One of the pure joys of living in the Northwest is spending a few hours each July at a local U-Pick blueberry farm. For a few dollars you can fill a large bowl (and a good portion of your belly, if you employ the old "one for the bowl, one for me" method of picking). Then comes the decadence of consuming the berries a handful at a time. Such indulgence was never allowed at the southern California prices.

Of course, one can always add to the joy with a bit of ice cream!

Mosaic - the process

In the beginning there was plywood and pine and primer. I sketched a horizon line and then rough sketched the Twin Rocks. A simple painting in color would serve to guide campers on where to place the various colored tiles. I had to cut 6" off the plywood and cut my 1 x 4 lumber to size before gluing, nailing and screwing the whole thing together.

Once assembled, the campers began placing tiles. My supervisor found some heart tiles and we let the kids write their initials in permanent ink (which held up fine... until grouting - oops!). Then each day campers and staff dropped by to add to the design. Some tiles were put in the wrong place, but I left most of those for character. Some did need to be removed and redone.


As the week went on , I added shells here and there to give some dimension, color and texture.

This curved shell made the perfect big wave. Sadly, it was broken on the last day of camp after it had been presented to the host camp as a thank you present.


Detail of the sky corner. Notice the paper rope braid. Yes, I did do that all by hand! It took over one hour of just braiding and my fingers didn't like it one bit! But the edges of the plywood needed to be finished and that was all I had available. The braid was nailed with my staple gun.It is funny that this mosaic even happened. My original goal was to use up supplies I had "inherited" when I became Craft Director 2 years ago. I hadn't been able to come up with economical crafts and decided to do the large mosaic. I have never tiled and grouted before, but somehow I had confidence it would turn out okay in the end. All those hours of watching HGTV paid off!

For me, it was an exercise in faith and letting go. Any time "problems" came up (like not having even half enough blue tiles to cover the sea and sky - greens and grays filled in), I was able to let go of my wishes and expectations and trust that God would help the process. And, if I totally messed up and it had to go in the trash, I was okay with that. I was able to realize that my identity was not solely in that project and its failure would not mean "I" was a failure. Normally, I attach much of my worth to how well I produce. This week I was free from that worry (for the most part). I am once again amazed by His love and His concern for His children, even in little things like getting a mosaic done.

Getting back...

Wow. My poor little neglected blog. This has been a busy year and seems all my energy has been required in other places, leaving little of "me" left for my art or my blogging. The "big" things are over for now, and with an empty nest looming on the horizon I think I can enjoy my blogging once again!

The most recent distraction was a week as Craft Director at Northwest Christian Camp for the Deaf. This was my 3rd year, so I knew the facilities, general schedule and many of the kids well enough to do efficient planning. It was a long week and I'm exhausted, but I am so pleased with how things went; it seems everyone had a great time with the crafts. I am especially pleased because on my limited budget I have to have crafts for about 100 campers for 4 days plus decorate the large cafeteria (tables, walls and beams) for the big banquet on the last night. This year I opted for a 3' x 8' mosaic as a thank you gift for the host camp facilities instead of the usual poster board card. (Never mind that I've never really done a mosaic and grout before!)

I'll be posting pix soon. I hope you are inspired by things the kids and I have done.