Camp Tales - A Girl & a Drill Press

One of the benefits of working at camp as an Arts& Craft Instructor, was being able to teaching basic woodworking to kids 9-14, a good portion of them never having any previous experience with it. This was especially true with many of the young girls. It was nothing too difficult; hammering (for string art), wood burning, sanding, and the drill press (for wood games using golf tees and wooden squares pre-cut for them). I had safety lines, safety goggles, and strict rules about no one using the drill press without my supervision and wood burners needing my supervision or the supervision of one of my counselors or other staff.

I was exposed to woodworking young through my grandpa and 4-H, debating in Middle School of becoming a Shop Teacher. I took woodworking projects in 4-H and even built a cedar chest that went to State Fair (for another story). I even helped with 4-H woodworking judging at State Fair one year (a great story for another time). I wanted my campers to be safe, but I also wanted them to know that the basics were attainable.

One sunny afternoon, I had the usual mix of boys and girls in the Craft Hall ready to take on the drill press. A little girl of about 9 or 10 crossed my red line into the drill press area, safety glasses on, her sanded & marked piece of wood in hand. She didn't act too sure about the powerful machine she had watched others use & was now standing before. I went over the basics again, encouraging her that she was just as capable of this as anyone else. There was no rule that said girls couldn't do woodworking or handle power tools. We lined up the first hole to be drilled as she took a hold of the handle, slowly and gingerly pulling the drill bit down into the wood, making the hole. As she raised the handle and released, I watched her change as her face lit up. In an instant, something changed and suddenly the little girl timid about a power tool knew that she could do it and knew that she had done it. There was excitement and a realization that come about in drilling that first hole as well as a truth that she was truly just as capable as anyone else. That day a little girl was introduced to woodworking and maybe to the power she was a capable of.

Perhaps, it's the feminist in me or a reminder of the little girl I was, going to woodworking judging surrounded by boys, but that afternoon a little girl realized that girls can and being a girl shouldn't stop her. That afternoon, I got to be make a difference in one little girl and I got to watch it happen.

Hippy Themed Chess Set

A Hippy Themed Chess Set

There is something that sometimes happens when one is working and living at a camp, depending on living arrangements... a lot of quiet time. This was especially true one summer when I was living at a camp in which I had a cabin to myself and my little dog (much of the staff actually had dogs that lives with them on site). I was living in the middle on nowhere, surrounded by an on-site staff that had a lot of range in ages, with no cable, no Internet, and limited cell reception (which usually resembled me on a hill trying to find the right spot to get the best service and resembling a cell phone commercial). I wrote, I watched moved on my portable DVD player, I cooked, I took walks, I hung out with staff, and I found ways to keep my hands busy (I'm the type of person who usually can;t just watch tv, I have to have my hands busy doing something). Over this summer I took various crafting projects, including designing and creating my own themed chess set.

King, Queen, Bishop

I grew up playing chess as a kid and over the years have seen a ton of themed chess sets from King Arthur to 'Gone With the Wind' to 'The Simpsons.' What I had never seen was a 60's Hippy theme. (Maybe there is another one out there, but I hadn't seen it.) I thought about carving the pieces, but my limited carving background includes a nativity scene I carved one year out of bards of soap and pretty much nothing else. I'm not afraid of new challenged, but that is a big one to take on involving a knife and limits on how to fix ut ohs. I decided on sculpting it. While I didn't have a lot of experience here either, I knew if something wasn't turning out the way I liked I could always smash it back into a ball and start over. 

For more on these board: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/handmade-clay-hippy-themed-chess-set

I brainstormed tons of ideas for the pieces, including making a few phone calls to friends for ideas. I had some interesting feedback, but some seemed way too complicated for my limited sculpting background (Like Paul McCartney as a knight or a gun with daisy hanging out the end) & I still wanted to keep this accessible to my abilities. After a few trial attempts with clay I decided on the pieces and set out with some white Sculpty Clay to create the entire set over a few evenings in my cabin. (While I did not have a full kitchen, preparing most meals in a communal kitchen across the way, I did have a toaster oven in my cabin that I could bake the pieces.) Each piece was hand sculpted, baked, and painted. Instead of going with a tradition black/white theme I chose a fire/water theme with a marbled/tie dye appearance with flesh tones as needed. The board was made from a scrap of something leftover from some house renovation and painted with the same color theme. Once painted (acrylic paint was used for this project) and dry the pieces where sprayed with an acrylic sealer and let dry again.



The finished set got a lot of attention from some of the staff who had seen them drying or being worked on and a few campers. There was a teen girl who wanted to learn how to play chess after seeing them and I was ready to teach her, unfortunately schedules just did not work before she headed home. Hopefully, her desire to learn led her to someone else who could teach her.

For interested parties the pieces were as follows:
King - A long haired hippy male complete with head band, outstretched arms, bell bottoms, a beard, and a peace sign on his shirt.
Queen - a long haired hippy mama with flowing hair, a long flowing dress, headband, and outstretched arms.
Bishop - A shaman themed old man with long flowing beard and hair. (I fought the urge to put a joint hanging out of his mouth.)
Knight - My version of a VW bug. (This was really probably one of the hardest pieces for me to make.)
Rook - A psychedelic mushroom. (These probably turned out the coolest.)
Pawn - a dove (and boy did I make a lot of these).

For More Information About Chess


For instructions on how to play:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_chess
http://www.chessguru.net/
-OR- find do a simple internet search
-OR- find a friend or relative who can teach you.