March of 2005

Pottery Class

In a nearby Ormond Beach strip mall, there was a pottery painting store called "Mud Monkey". It is an artist workshop type place where people can go in and pick out a raw pottery piece and paint and glaze it to you liking. Then they take it and put it in the furnace to cure it and you can pick the finished product up in a week or so. Prices are on each piece and all paint supplies and studio time are included in the cost. Takako found this and suggested that we take the kids there on a Friday when they have the kids' work shop and party. It was set up like a day care with painting and activities and food so parents could go out on Friday night. Although parents were not required to stay, we decided to stick around and paint our own pieces and observe what the kids were up to.

Zachary was the only boy in the group but he didn't show any hesitation. After careful consideration, he picked out a tank bomber to paint. Mirrissa, in her typical decisive way, scanned the rows of pottery and quickly picked out a piggy bank shaped like a unicorn for herself.

Zach had a brand new hair cut given to him by Alan. I thought it looked quite silly, bald in all areas except a round island on the top of his head. Takako said it sort of looked like a golf course on the top of his head. Certainly not the hair style I would have chosen for Zach. But I decided that it was a good thing Zach was getting a regular hair cut and Alan was paying attention to him. I suppose Zach is the son to Alan that he never had.

The shop had a shop dog named "Sandy", a very docile creature who hung out around all the pottery safely and you could tell he thoroughly enjoy the company of people and kids in his store.

While we painted at a separate table, Mirrissa came over to see what we were doing. Eventually she asked if she could sit at our table to finish painting her unicorn. She pointed out every stroke of the paint she put on the unicorn and when she saw that we were both engrossed in our own painting, she wanted to sit on my lap. I firmly told her that right now is the time to be painting, not sitting on my lap. I also pointed out some spots she missed and suggested she use other colors for her unicorn. Mirrissa grudgingly went back to work. When she finished, she happily showed us how she had put "eye lashes" on her unicorn. I looked at her unicorn and sure enough there were three black streaks above and below the eyes. She had also marbled some additional colors on its mane. I told her that it was very unique and I was proud of her hard work.

Zachary was quickly done painting his tank and came over to see what we were doing. I asked him to show me his tank and walked over to his table. he had one color for the whole tank and black tires. I suggested he put more detail on it and stuff because tanks usually have a lot of detail that show up. He went back to work. Later, he handed his piece to the lady at the store so she can log it and get it cured. The lady commented on the good job he did on the tank. She compared him to other boys who just "slap some paint on and call it done" and praised him for being a good sport.

After most of the kids were done painting, all the painting supplies were put away and the tables were pushed to the side. It was time for the mummy game. Kids formed pairs and one became the mummy while the other pulled toilet paper around and around the first child. They competed on who would have the best wrapped mummy. After every one was wrapped, they played more music and the mummies came to life!

Zach and Mirrissa paired up and while Zach stood perfectly still, Mirrissa wrapped him up with toilet paper.

Next game involved passing messages down a line by writing on each other's backs. We weren't close enough to the group to see what exactly was going on and it wasn't really clear which group won in the end. But the kids seemed to have fun.

The painted pottery pieces.

After the class was over, all four of us walked across the street to Dairy Queen and had ice cream. Everybody was in good spirits. We giggled and joked around and ate our ice creams outside the store. Good night was had by all.

A week later, Takako went and picked up the pieces from Mud Monkey. This was just a week or so before we moved to Tampa. Now the pieces are displayed in our living room to remind me of the last fun activity we did with the kids.

Final finished pieces.