Felting at Camp Judy Layne
I recently told you about preparing for volunteering at Girl Scout camp. I have returned from Camp Judy Layne in Kentucky where I taught eco printing and four sessions of wet felting. It was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and introduced wet felting to camp.
Before we went to camp, Debbie (right) invited us to her cabin on Lake Cumberland. When Susan (left), Dennis and I arrived there was a big sign on the cabin. This is an old joke having to do with plaques at camp where I signed my name really large (even on plaques I wasn’t supposed to be on).
Debbie who is not at all “arts and crafty” made this sign to make me laugh.
We went on Curt’s (Debbie’s husband) boat and had a great time on a gorgeous day.
Dennis (my husband) went fishing with Curt and John (Susan’s husband) and he was the only one who caught a fish. The stay at the cabin was very relaxing in preparation for the craziness of camp the following week.
We all got camp shirts when we arrived and here is the staff and volunteers for the first session of camp on Sunday afternoon.
On Monday morning, staff and volunteers are encouraged to wear muu muus. Here we are on Moo Moo Monday!
After breakfast on Monday, I helped Poecat (the arts and crafts director) and we eco printed some book covers for small books that the campers were creating. I was concerned the eco printing wouldn’t be successful but I was happy with the prints. The campers learned how to make a folded 8 page book (from an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper) and then used waxed linen thread and the pamphlet stitch to attach their covers to the books.
Monday night is crazy hat dinner so here we are in the dining hall with our hats. Look closely to see my hat 😉 At camp we have camp names, mine was Montana, and then we had Mac and Snooz. Mac and Snooz were teaching a unit of girls to play guitar which was called Treble in the Trees.
The next day was crazy sock day. Mac got us matching “friend” socks that hold hands. Ramblr is to the right of me. She stayed with us at the Air BNB cabin just outside of camp.
Then on to my four felting sessions, two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. The first three groups were smaller but then the last group was 18-20 campers (10-11 years old).
I started them out with batts that I had made at home (packed into a large suitcase and brought on the plane) and then had them add the design on top.
I wanted them all to create different designs. The first group listened to music and created a piece inspired by the music. The next was inspired by “fauvist” landscapes as I had a bunch of crazy colors. The third group made portraits and the last group their favorite flower.
We had two hours for each session and the girls did a great job. Everyone ended up with a piece of felt that was holding together. Yay!
Here’s the Treble in the Trees group with their creations.
These are the CIT’s (counselors in training) with their landscapes.
This group was the theatre group who gave a show at the end about llamas.
And here is the final group that created their favorite flower. Didn’t they all do a great job?
For Wednesday night, it was crazy hair dinner. I made these wool dreads for us to wear and we sang a ukulele rendition of Three Little Birds. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a video of our performance 🙁
And don’t the men rock the dreads? Curt and Dennis at the Lake Cumberland cabin.
Snooz and Mac presenting the signed guitar to hang on the dining hall with the first session of Treble in the Trees. Here’s a link to their performance:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234964726359457
And a link to the drama performance:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1002727975461627
If you want to see more photos of what’s happening at camp, you can view them here. You’ll have to scroll down to the first week photos (June 7-12) to see our session.
https://www.facebook.com/CampJudyLayne
Here is an award that we made for Kat, the camp cook. She works so hard to provide meals for all the campers, volunteers and staff. Billie was the cook for many years during the time I was a camper and staff member.
And to show that I was still paying attention to the beauty of nature, here’s a moth I photographed while we were setting up the music performance.
A good time was had by all but we were a bit worn out. Here’s our new shirts for this year. Hopefully, I will be able to go back next summer!
