Saturday, March 13, 2010

Frugal Family Fun Day

 Today was a day with the boys.  We first went to Lowe's and Knox made a table top basketball game while I cut myself on the tiniest nail you have ever seen!  This was a great free and fun activity.  We also bought the supplies to start a fresh greens garden--a later post will go into this in detail!

On the way home we went by the local thrift stores.  No wasted trip here!  I found a great pair of overalls for Knox for $5.00 and some great car seats to look at for later.


We then went to our friend's house, Jarad (Spike) and Janet Kaup.  They have started their own pottery business called Lifefire Pottery.  They were firing Raku Pottery today. They were letting people glaze their own pots and watch them be fired in the outdoor kiln they had set up.  Knox picked out a small vase.  He dipped it in the glaze and waited for Spike to get the kiln ready to load his pot.

Spike loaded in Knox's little vase and fired up the kiln.  He heated it up to around 1800 degrees!  It went in looking like the picture to the left here and came out this beautiful cooper color but very hot!

Spike took the vase and the other pots out of the hot kiln and placed them directly into trash cans filled with shavings and newspaper. 
This was to blacken the pot and bring out the colors in it.  After a few minutes in the trash cans, Spike brought out the pots and Knox was able to wash up his vase to make it shine.

For a small fee, we had a great afternoon of creativity and adventure!  Knox hasn't stop talking about his vase and just how beautiful it turned out!  Look around your community for these small businesses that cater to teaching you new and fun things to create.  They make such an impact on your children and expose them to things they may not get to do otherwise.  Their smiles repay the fee you pay 10X over!  We plan on coming back for the next firing!

You don't have to spend a fortune to have a Fun Day!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Frugal Tractor Mom Headline Animator

Feed Counter

Visitor Counter

Search Engine

Custom Search