By Steffanie Dotson | Project Lead
Happy summer!
We've just stepped into summer and are currently in summer camp heaven! Lots of children are coming to learn and practice craft at our studio. We spent the spring going in to Title 1 schools and teaching woodworking, embroidery, weaving and sewing. Title 1 schools are schools that receive federal funds to support low income families. ALL of these schools are completely devoid of craft, which is devastating to us because through craft, we can teach so much of the curriculum schools are required to offer! For example, weaving and woodworking are wonderful ways to teach math.
What's more is that weaving has been shown to reduce anxiety, and a shocking number of children are suffering from anxiety for a number of reasons. According to the CDC, 9.4% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 5.8 million) had diagnosed anxiety in 2016-2019. These numbers are so scary and this is why we work hard to bring craft to children. We work to create an environment where children can disconnect from any stressers in their surroundings and focus on making something meaningful with their hands.
Our spring interns, Leticia and Riley, did a wonderful job of creating two new craft kits. One pictured here, created by Riley, is a fused glass butterfly project. She also created an alternate design: a spiral. These kits are the most complicated that we've offered yet... logistically. Here's how it works for the Fused Glass Butterfly or Spiral: the Craft Kit gets delivered to the children. They follow the instructions and create their fused glass composition. The project needs to be fired in our kiln, so transporting the glass pieces without them moving around was something we had to think about! We found that small amounts of white school glue will burn off in the kiln, so glue and a toothpick are included in the kit. This keeps the glass pieces in place until they reach us in the studio. Once fired, we re-deliver the finished pieces. They can even be mailed to the school or the student directly.
The second kit is a clay kit-- another complicated kit! But we're up to the challenge. So many children are interested and inspired by working with clay. Leticia did a fantastic job of explaining how to create a pinch pot. A pinch pot is a hand building method of working with clay where the maker manipulates a ball of clay into a bowl or other form by pinching with thumb and fingers to create walls and a bottom. This kit also requires us picking up the pieces ready for fire. Then we fire them in a bisque kiln, glaze them, and then put them back in the kiln one more time for a glaze fire. This project requires extra labor on our end with the firing and the glazing. The students choose what color glaze they would like, and one of our staff glazes it for them. If there's an opportunity for us to have the students glaze their own projects, that would be our preference. We will keep this project flexible to meet the needs of our students and the school or organization we're working with.
We have a new goal on the horizon... a mobile craft bus! The vision is to bring craft into any neighborhood that needs us. Help us keep reaching children and helping them through craft. Thank you so much for your support!
By Steffanie Dotson | Project Lead
By Steffanie Dotson | Project Lead
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
