Creations that look like characters from a Dr. Seuss book, gourmet Fimo food - the students just go crazy, in a manner of speaking.

Located in the Art building, the new Jewelry and Small Sculpture Fabrication class provides a quiet, calm environment in which students can create mini works of art. Instructor Jeff Kent, who also teaches Black and White Photography, leads the class in projects ranging from clay working to creating silver jewelry.

Students seem to enjoy Mr. Kent’s teaching style - he provides instructions, then lets the class go to create their works.

The first class on Monday began with an introduction to different mediums and a lesson in working with clay. Then students began to create a variety of Fimo clay forms, from beads to buttons to an assortment of strange animals. On Tuesday, the class continued their work on their clay and sent it to be fired in a kiln. Wednesday, the class completed more clay works and also worked on different forms of rope braiding. They also began working on Art Clay Silver.

According to art-clay.com, “Art Clay Silver is a pliable, aqueous clay that is transformed to pure silver by heating.” Art Clay Silver starts as a grayish colored clay, then becomes hard and white after being baked in a kiln - the silver shows through when polished. It is possible to create 99.9 percent pure silver jewelry, according to a video watched in class. It’s amazing, but very expensive. Prices at art-clay.com range from $14.90 for 10 grams to $125.60 for 100 grams.

The class watched an instructional video on how to create a pendant, and returned to the art room to begin their work. Because of the prices, each student was only given a very small amount to work with. “It wasn’t enough to make a ring,” said Andie Chapin.

Terra Potts said that she thought the class was fun. “I do like it,” she said.

Campers taking this class had various reasons for taking it. “In my spare time I work with Fimo. It’s not like certain rules…you just make pendants and beads,” Chapin said. Ben Schwyn commented on the use of Art Clay Silver. “It’s really cool to be able to work with silver,” he said.