Quills
Yesterday was a really busy day. As well as continuing our work on our wildflower meadow and having lots of fun with the sprinkler, we also learnt to quill. This was all Jenson's idea after he found a feather at Park Campus on Wednesday.
We first had to nip to the shops to buy some ink. When we got back we had to sharpen the tips of our feathers. I did a quick Google and came across this image. Armed with my craft knife, we soon all had razor sharp nibs on our feathers.
We also looked up the definition of the word quill, though Jenson seemed to already know what one was and the fact people used them before the invention of the pen.
It was really rather pleasant. Both Jenson and Wren sat outside contentedly quilling away. It looked a lot of fun so even I had a go. It felt very therapeutic. The feather gives a wonderful variety of line weights and thicknesses. Perhaps it was the sun shining down on us, or the fact that both children were peacefully engaged in an activity, but I felt quite the accomplished home schooler! Certainly Simon was impressed when I texted him a picture. His response simply read: "WOW".
This is Jenson's first ever quill and ink drawing and I'm really rather impressed with it!
Needless to say that after half an hour of sitting sensibly, the children's attention turned towards other things you can do with ink. This mainly involved water and much mess!
Wren in particular made a wonderful dark concoction! She offered me a drink many times, but I politely declined, suggesting she might like to offer some to her baby instead. Sorry baby!
Jenson meanwhile concentrated on trying to paint his stones with the diluted ink and water mix. The colour change was barely noticeable which made his next game fairly challenging. He carefully went around the garden hiding his 'painted' stones for an 'Easter Stone Hunt'. When it came to finding them it was hard to distinguish the painted ones from the normal ones! It was fun nonetheless and Jenson had even hidden a prize with the final stone: two cereal bars for him and Wren!