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Creative Camp set for Oct. 18-19

Judy Hogsett is among instructors at Creative Camp on Oct. 18-19 at the Wood County 4-H Campground on Butcher Bend Road. She will teach a class on making small primitive snowmen from materials readily available. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

MINERAL WELLS — Heritage skills, arts and crafts and educational classes will be offered Oct. 18-19 at Creative Camp at the Wood County 4-H Campground on Butcher Bend Road.

Creative Camp, scheduled for 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and 6:30-9:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, is a craft and educational workshop sponsored by the Wood County Community Educational Outreach Service Clubs.

“This two-day event is such a unique opportunity for people to come together and learn a craft that can change their life,” said organizer Annie Lewellyn. “This year there are 42 different classes with 30 different instructors.

“Last year about 140 people signed up for classes with instructors from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia who come to teach and many of the participants come in from all over.”

Registration is still open for this year’s event.

The annual Creative Camp, Oct. 18-19 at the 4-H Campground on Butcher Bend Road, is a craft and educational workshop sponsored by the Wood County Community Educational Outreach Service Clubs. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“We want people to sign up as soon as possible,” Lewellyn said. “We want to be able to tell the instructors how many people they are going to have so they can get the supplies they need.”

Some of the classes being offered this year include: Basket Weaving, Slate Painting, Knitting, Crazy Patch Stitches, Genealogy, Easy Snacks for Kids, Pot Scrubbers, Antiques, Loom Beading, Weaving, Canvas Painting, Jewelry, Hanging Wood Angels, Essential Oils, Book Club, Leatherwork, Bird House Gourd, Ceramics and more.

“Some of these heritage skills are in danger of being lost without classes like these to carry on what our ancestors deemed so important to everyday life,” Lewellyn said.

Wood County Clerk Mark Rhodes will be teaching a class on how to access county records to do genealogy,

There was a time when people couldn’t just go to the store and get what they needed, Lewellyn said, adding people had to develop the skills to make what they needed and repair what they have to make it last.

“You had to do that,” Lewellyn said.

Some classes deal with things outside of crafts. There will be a “Food Preservation” class and a “Planning The Perfect Party” class done by Extension Agent Jodi Smith.

“We have more than just craft classes,” Lewellyn said. “We have some that are educational as well.”

People will get friends together to come out to Creative Camp.

“Many people get a couple of friends together and spend two days as well as stay the night and have a great time of bonding and fellowship while learning skills that they can pass on to others,” Lewellyn said.

Some people bring members of their family to participate.

“It is a bonding time,” Lewellyn said.

There are many people willing to share their skills with others and instruct the classes.

“I knew there were so many crafters who would be willing to share their talents,” Lewellyn said.

Roseann Taylor, who teaches slate painting and decorative painting, has been painting since 1985. Her class will involve painting on slate with acrylic paints. She gears her class to people with a wide variety of skill levels, whether they have painted before or not.

“You do not have to have a lot of knowledge,” she said. “We can work through it.”

Taylor likes to do tole painting, the folk art of decorative painting on slate, tin and wooden utensils, metal objects and furniture. She also does pen and ink design on a canvas piece.

“We have progressed so much that some of it is now considered fine art,” she said.

She wants people to feel like they have accomplished something.

“I want them to come away with something that is not frustrating for them and they can leave with something they are excited over and want to try it again,” Taylor said. ”When we teach we hope we send someone home having learned something.”

Judy Hogsett, who is teaching a class on making small primitive snowmen out of materials many people have, said she has been teaching at the camp for a number of years.

“I have always enjoyed doing crafts,” she said.

Hogsett hasn’t done the snowmen in a number of years and thought people would like to try it again or discover it for the first time.

“It is the satisfaction of teaching someone else how to do a craft and learn a new skill,” Hogsett said.

Smith said they will be making applesauce in her food preservation class as well as freezing apples, canning them and more.

“They will learn the basics of using a hot water bath canner and review pressure canning tips with them,” she said.

She feels too it is important for people to be taught these skills as many of those involved with the Creative Camp feel these skills are being forgotten.

Still the annual event is a chance for people to get together.

Lewellyn said so many people have fun every year and are so appreciative of what they were taught. For others it is about being able to spend time with their friends and family and having fun, she added.

“It is that appreciation that makes it all worth while,” she said. “With families so spread out if they can just have a couple of days to come together and learn new skills. It is exciting for many people.”

Registration is $2 per person and $5 for people to stay overnight at the 4-H cabins.

For more information about the camp, go to Wood County CEOS on Facebook which has a section for the Creative Camp event or contact Lewellyn at 304-428-8321 or annie.lewellyn@gmail.com or Debbie Gilbert at 304-464-8352 or at debgi74@aol.com.

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