Bowls on purpose… and NOT a cylinder gone bad.
It’s “that” time in the class session for my students to start making REAL bowls on purpose. So tonight we did another demo on how to make a good, basic round bowl. But then the fun part is when I quickly throw a bunch of the “same” basic bowl. And then my students reconvene to see some quick tricks to change those basic bowls into a new & different bowl. Each one of the decoration techniques is quick & simple. Easy enough for any of my Beginners to tackle… and each took less than a minute to do!!!

Bowl A – the prototype bowl… all of them started just like this. Plain & round.

Bowl #2 – A quick flick & twist, giving four fluted points along the rim.

Bowl #3 – And if four fluted edges are good, are eight flutes TWICE as good???

Bowl #4 – This time we flared out the top of the rim.

Bowl #5 – And then flared out even more of the rim… more “canvas” to decorate later!

Bowl #6 – A combination of the flared out rim with the fluted edge detail.

Bowl #7 – A fun little flower detail pressed into the bottom with a dragon-scale tool.

Bowl #8 – A split rim pinched back together in eight places.

Bowl #9 – A split rim fluted to give the round bowl a new shape.

Bowl #10 – Another split rim with a lotus shape – curved out between notches.

And then I introduced colored slips as a decorative option… one more fun tool in the arsenal…

Bowl #11 – A simple layer of white slip, then a spiral dragged through with a rounded tool.

Bowl #12 – Another layer of white slip with bands & squiggles dragged through.

Bowl #13 – A much thicker layer of white slip squiggled with my finger!!!

Bowl #14 – A thinner layer of slip “chattered” with a plastic rib tool.

Bowl #15 – A two-tone ombre effect with white & blue slips.

And for now, they’re wrapped up for the night. Tomorrow I’ll come pack to them and do a little more detailing, stamping & refining. Remember, besides making better bowls… the main incentive for this demo is to get my students to start decorating their bowls. And to remember that they don’t need to be plain & round any more!!!