Marcy’s Clayground: Make memorable works of art at paint-your-own-pottery studio
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Marcy’s Clayground

Make memorable works of art at paint-your-own-pottery studio

One of my favorite memories of attending Garfield Elementary School in Medina, Ohio, was when Mrs. Werger brought out big slabs of gray clay for us to fashion into works of art.

In first grade I made a basket that I painted “robin’s egg blue” – that’s what the bottle labeled it. Although my basket lacked luster when I handed it over to my art teacher, it came out of the kiln as a vibrant, colorful object d’art.

Our children recently had a similar experience at Marcy’s Clayground, at 6685 Dublin Center Dr. in Dublin. Marcy’s allows you to select a piece of unpainted pottery off a shelf, paint it and pick it up one week later after it’s been fired.

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There’s no charge to use the space, so you potentially could work on something for weeks, using the space as your studio. We stayed for several relaxing hours. Our daughter selected a piece that portrayed a dragon atop a castle. Our son chose to paint a piggy bank because he loves pigs.

The kids weren’t crazy about the dullness of the paint on their artwork. The real thrill was returning a week later to retrieve the creations. The rich colors and shiny glaze brought them to life, just as I remember with my robin’s egg blue basket.

Our kids proudly display them today on their dressers.

Marcy’s website touts having more than 150 ceramic items and more than 80 shades of paint. Prices range from $3-$50. You’re charged half the cost of the figure to decorate it. So if an item costs $10, it’ll be $15 after you paint it.

For more information, visit marcysclayground.com.

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Glass Axis: Have a ball playing with fire at Franklinton art center
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Glass Axis

Have a ball playing with fire at Franklinton art center

Glass Axis: Have a ball playing with fire at Franklinton art centerIntroduce youngsters to the art of glassmaking at Glass Axis, which offers hands-on workshops to adults and kids as young as 8 years old.

Glass Axis is a workshop and gallery located inside a warehouse in the neighborhood of Franklinton, just west of downtown Columbus. It’s been in Columbus in various locations for 30 years, but the budding arts district feels like home.

I took a beginners’ workshop called a “first-experience” class through my employer. My coworkers and I created spherical glass ornaments. I enjoyed getting a feel for the process without having the fear of getting burned. My experience seemed suitable for children.

One by one, our instructor, Jacci Delaney, guided us through the steps of making an ornament while those not participating watched from the bleachers. My personal lesson lasted about 15 minutes and included twirling a glob of molten glass at the end of a metal rod in a fire pit, dipping the hot glob into two bowls of colored glass bits, and blowing into a tube with a reed-like tip to form my glass bubble.

Delaney performed the more difficult steps, such as gathering the initial glob of molten glass on the rod, shaping the ball of glass and removing the ball by gently tapping a mallet on the rod. She also formed a glass hook so I can hang my ornament.

Glass Axis: Have a ball playing with fire at Franklinton art centerThe experience was just enough for me to appreciate the complexities and fragility of the art form, as well as taste the sensation of blowing my own glass object. I’m excited to display my ornament at home and proclaim, “Yeah, I made that!”

Other workshops include blowing a glass pumpkin, sculpting a paperweight and making a Pandora-style bracelet. Costs range from $39 for the first-experience workshops to $85 for a glass on making a stained-glass heart.

Not ready to play with fire? Observe other glass blowers by attending a free demonstration from the bleachers. While there, check out the gallery, which holds an annual spring sale in mid-May.

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Glass Axis is located at 610 W. Town St., Columbus. For more information, Call 614-291-4250 or visit glassaxis.org.

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Castaway Bay: Cedar Point’s indoor waterpark offers 82-degree escape to Caribbean
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Castaway Bay

Cedar Point’s indoor waterpark in Sandusky offers 82-degree escape to Caribbean

Castaway Bay: Cedar Point’s waterpark resort offers 82-degree indoor escape to CaribbeanWhile driving along U.S. Rt. 250 near Sandusky, we pass several indoor waterparks on our way to Cedar Point’s Castaway Bay. This must be the Vegas Strip of indoor waterparks, I think as I observe colorful tubes snaking out the sides of one hotel after another.

Castaway Bay isn’t the largest, showiest one on the block. With a 38,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, it’s smaller than the nearby 173,000 square-foot Kalahari Resort and bigger than the 33,000-square-foot Great Wolf Lodge.

For us, it was just right. Castaway Bay is perfect for anyone looking for an excuse to don a bathing suit in an 82-degree-controlled environment when Ohio’s outside temps aren’t cooperating. The contrived, Caribbean theme – with painted blue skies, synthetic palm trees and animatronic parrots that squawk and talk – also is convincing enough when you just can’t get to the real thing.

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We ventured two hours north from Columbus to Sandusky on a cold, winter weekend, eager for an excuse to pretend it was summer. If you stay the night, you have access to the waterpark for two days. Check in is 4 p.m., and check out is 11 a.m.

The resort offers 237 hotel rooms and suites and several onsite restaurants. Prices for a room-and-waterpark combo start at $149 when I checked the resort’s site in March. Day passes to the waterpark are $29 each.

We stayed in a Starfish Room with two double beds, sleeper chair, private screened balcony, small refrigerator, microwave and coffeemaker. The room accommodates up to five guests and comes with four waterpark passes.

We started our adventure by picking up an “Island Times” at the front desk. The one-sheeter states the times and locations of daily activities, such as decorating T-shirts and bags with fabric paint, and visits with Snoopy and other Peanuts characters.

We made our way to the 6,000-square-foot arcade to play unique crane games. One had us vying for large bouncy balls at $2 a pop. We didn’t win anything.

We spent the majority of our time in the waterpark – nearly seven hours playing and splashing. We bypassed the Toddlers Tide Pool in favor of the following:

Castaway Bay Wave Pool
This 100,000-gallon wave pool periodically produces 3-foot waves. A buzzer signals the arrival of waves that continue for roughly 10 minutes.

Lookout Lagoon Family Funhouse
It’s a multistory, interactive play area with a 1,000-gallon tipping bucket and twisty slides.

Tropical Tube Slides
There are three enclosed, tubular body slides that protrude from the side of the building. One affords a speedy slide through complete darkness.

Rendezvous Run
This 35-foot-high, 520-foot-long water rollercoaster propels riders uphill using water jets. It winds near the ceiling and partially goes outside, and you must be 42 inches tall to ride.

For more information, visit www.castawaybay.com.

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Get Air Columbus

Jump to your heart’s content at Hilliard trampoline park

Opportunities to jump on trampolines were few and far between when I was kid. You had to know somebody who had one and whose parents were willing to let someone else’s kid risk getting hurt on their property.

Nowadays kids can jump to their heart’s content at indoor trampoline parks, including Get Air Columbus in Hilliard. It offers 42,000 square feet of jumpable space and lots of steady ground for parents to lounge around on the sidelines.

Get Air has locations all over the country, including three are in Ohio. The location in Hilliard offers a two-story, full-service restaurant called Boulevard Grill that has windows overlooking the jump zone.

The main area looks like a big quilt of stitched-together trampoline rectangles. There are flat trampolines, slanted trampolines and near vertical ones along the walls.

Watch a video of our recent Get Air visit!

Kids and adults can jump and shoot basketballs through hoops, attempt an obstacle course and play dodgeball. There’s an area reserved for kids measuring less than 46 inches tall, which keeps them from getting trampled and bounced to the moon.

My family liked jumping into a pit full of foam blocks and traversing a slack line over more squishy blocks.

We’ve visited Get Air Columbus several times, once for a birthday celebration in one of the five rentable party rooms. On each occasion there were lines out the door.

Beat the crowd by arriving when doors open, or avoid busy weekends and holiday breaks. Participants need to sign a waiver before jumping. Save time by filling the online form beforehand.

Prices for everyone taller than 46 inches start at $14 for one hour of jumping. Save money on the last Monday of the month when parents jump for free with the purchase of a child’s admission, or get two hours for the price of one on Tuesdays.

Get Air Columbus is located at 3708 Fishinger Blvd., Hilliard. For more information, visit getaircolumbus.com.

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Golden Hobby Gift Shop: Find handmade merchandise by local seniors including apparel for 18-inch dolls

Golden Hobby Gift Shop

Find handmade merchandise by local seniors including darling outfits for 18-inch dolls

Golden Hobby Gift ShopIf you’re the regular recipient of hand-knitted scarves, sweaters and blankets from an older, doting relative, consider yourself blessed.

If not, don’t fret. Local grandmothers and grandfathers aren’t in short supply. Some, in fact, are carving walking sticks and patterning quilts right now to sell at the Golden Hobby Gift Shop in German Village.

The non-profit consignment store offers merchandise handcrafted by folks over the age of 50 and living in Ohio. It’s staffed by volunteers, too, so prices are low.

The shop, operated by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, occupies two stories in a 150-year-old building that previously housed the Third Street School. It’s been going strong since it was founded in 1971.

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I recently paid a visit with my children, who’ve never known a grandmother. We browsed through rooms brimming with carefully crafted pottery, necklaces, wreaths, cutting boards and aprons.

Golden Hobby Gift ShopBut the Children’s Room on the second floor had them hooked upon entry. They found perfectly paired Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, miniature furniture, wooden trains and a rack crammed with fashions for 18-inch dolls.

Because of trademarking, the shop can’t say they’re targeting these fashions to owners of American Girl dolls. But I can, and it’s a must-stop for those wanting to save money while investing in the work of local seniors.

The Golden Hobby Gift Shop is located at 630 S. Third St., German Village. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 614-645-8329 or visit www.columbus.gov/GoldenHobbyGiftShop.

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The Pizzuti Collection: Explore 18,000-square-foot gallery space for free on first Saturday of month
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The Pizzuti Collection

Explore 18,000-square-foot gallery space for free on first Saturday of month

The Pizzuti Collection: Explore 18,000-square-foot gallery space for free on first Saturday of monthThey say art is in the eye of the beholder. And when that beholder’s eye belongs to your own child, it’s fun to see her facial expressions when roaming around a contemporary art museum.

I saw awe, joy and utter befuddlement upon my daughter’s face as we explored the Pizzuti Collection in Columbus’ Short North Arts District. Rosie’s unique eye for art influenced my own, as I found new appreciation in quirky pieces, such as a headless, silver figure made out of a tube of paint, as we explored the museum on the first Saturday in October.

“This is my favorite,” Rosie said of the paint-tube man at Pizzuti’s monthly event called the Family Day Series. On the first Saturday of each month the museum is open free of charge to families, who also can partake in an art-inspired scavenger hunt from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Guided tours are offered at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

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“I think it’s a great opportunity to take the family out to see and do something new and exciting,” said Mark Zuzik, programs coordinator.

The first Saturday of the month also is the Gallery Hop in the Short North, as most in Columbus know, making Pizzuti’s event the perfect prelude to a full day of exploring dozens of galleries along High Street.

The Pizzuti Collection, which opened in 2013, offers rotating exhibits of works belonging to real estate developer and art collector Ron Pizzuti and his wife, Ann. The couple has amassed thousands of pieces over four decades of collecting. The non-profit exhibition space spans three floors in an 18,000-square-foot revamped building, with more art outside in the sculpture garden.

The Pizzuti Collection is located at 632 North Park St., Columbus. For more information, visit pizzuticollection.org.

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The Smithery: Make memorable, metal trinkets at Grandview shop
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The Smithery

Make memorable, metal trinkets at Grandview shop

The Smithery: Make memorable, metal trinkets at Grandview shopI find the most memorable adventures to be hands-on experiences. And, they’re even more memorable when I get to make a keepsake along the way.

Such was the case when I tapped the letters of my family members’ names onto a bronze heart while making a necklace for myself at the Smithery in Grandview Heights. The shop offers metal-smithing classes for adults and children, as well as has a gift shop full of neat handmade creations by local artisans.

The Smithery: Make memorable, metal trinkets at Grandview shopI participated in a “Make and Take” workshop that included choosing a charm, stamping it with decorations and threading it onto a chain. It took about 30 minutes to complete my project, and it cost less than $20.

I chose to embellish a precut heart charm for a necklace. Other options included making a pet tag or a key chain.

Once I selected my charm, I was instructed to tape it to a metal block to prevent it from slipping. I used a brass hammer to firmly tap the ends of metal pegs that had raised shapes and letters on the opposite ends. Doing so left imprints on my metal heart.

I picked from a variety of metal stamps including letters, numbers, punctuation marks and familiar shapes.

The Smithery: Make memorable, metal trinkets at Grandview shopThe hardest part was deciding what to create. I decided to squeeze three names onto my charm. My first attempt revealed a crooked “m.” But I quickly decided that any imperfection added personality and confirmed that it was handmade.

I finalized my piece by adding a few flowers. I also learned I could quickly make my piece look aged by filling in the indented metal with black, permanent marker. I was pleased with my final product, now one of my favorite pieces of jewelry.

The Smithery is located at 1306 Grandview Ave. For more information on workshops, visit shopthesmithery.com or call 614-867-5780.

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Paper Moon Art Studio: Put your imagination to the test at interactive gallery
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Paper Moon Art Studio

Put your imagination to the test at this interactive gallery

Paper Moon Art Studio offers art classes for adults and children in the Columbus community of Clintonville. I found out about this fun studio while attending a children’s birthday party with my kids.

Owner Kristen Marra Marek led party guests in the making of a variety of crafts, including paint-splattered posters and cardboard puppets. Marek, who has a degree in art education from Ohio State, has a knack for engaging children in the creative process.

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One craft had the children circling around a piece of poster board. Each child held onto a section of the board as Marek squirted on colorful globs of paint. The children were challenged to cover the surface of the board without letting any paint spill off.

Squeals of joy ensued as the children moved the board around, and the result looked like the spin-art creations I made as a child at the fair.

Another craft had them dressing cardboard puppets in fabrics and objects found around the studio, such as bells, beads and buttons. My daughter chose to dress her puppet in summery fabrics. She drew a face and glued on a necklace. My son made his look like a robot by gluing on lots of tinfoil. The projects tested their imagination and their ability to use a glue gun, which they easily mastered.

A great way to sample the studio’s offerings and supplies is at a monthly family event aptly called “2nd Saturday Family Nights.” Parents and kids can stop in from 5-8 p.m. to work on a themed art project. The cost is $25 per family. Advanced registration isn’t required, but calling ahead to reserve a spot is good idea since space is limited.

The Paper Moon Art Studio is located at 4145 N. High St., Columbus. For more information, call 614-332-9149 or visit papermoonartstudio.com.

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