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Last night in my Beginning Wheelthrowing pottery class, we had a PARTY so to speak!!! What’s better than a bunch of OREOS’s???… even MORE OREO’s!!! Loving the new party size package!!!

Another warm morning. Another sweaty ride. Another beautiful sunrise.
You could tell by how warm it was so early in the morning, that today was going to be another scorcher. Already so hot & humid!

Woke up this morning and it was raining…. so no bike ride…
and therefore no sunrise! Luckily there was one yesterday that was pretty nice!

Looks like Rick’s African violet garden is growing nicely… handmade flower pots with some young violets adapting to their new homes. Soon enough they’ll be filling out, flowering and ready to propagate some more cuttings! Thanks for sharing your pics!!!

Click here to see more of Martin’s amazing paintings!!!

It was a very HOT day today… 101-degrees after nearly 101-miles through the rural farms in “the land past DeKalb”. Very hot & sweaty, with salt stains on my shorts, what felt like gallons of Gatorade and a few four-legged friends along the way. A very steamy & satisfying Century bike ride!!! Thank you to all of the Beanzie volunteers who kept us well-hydrated today!

It was a warm start to the day… already a bit steamy very early in the morning.
I could feel it as soon as I stepped out the door.
Glad I got an early start before the temps soared into the high 90’s today!

This week in my Tuesday night Wheelthrowing pottery class, we tackled making “bowls on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad.” I like to show them how to make a real” bowl with intenti0n, instead of letting a cylinder get away from them and being okay with the “bowl-ish” shape they end up with. So for the demo, I show them how to throw a nice bowl with a beautifully even curve on the interior. No grooves. No indentations. No beginner’s ledge.

Once we cover that first how-to-bowl… then I throw a bunch more while they go back to their wheels to make some bowls… on purpose. After I’ve thrown all of my demo bowls, we reconvene at my wheel to do some quick altering & decorating. My goal is always to show them how to have fun with their clay, to get over the “preciousness” and to encourage them to do something extra to make it “their” bowl instead of just a round bowl that the wheel kind of made for them!!! This is my favorite demo every session!

Bowl #1 – Two simple fluted edges opposite each other.

Bowl #2 – And if two flutes are good, eight might be better?!

Bowl #3 – A wide flanged rim flared out.

Bowl #4 – That same flanged rim flared out and then fluted in four places.

Bowl #5 – A simple “flower” accent pressed into the bottom of a bowl using a metal dragonscale tool.

Bowl #6 – A split rim pinched back together in eight places.

Bowl #7 – Another split rim, this time pinched & flared out in flour places, and inwards in another four places.

Bowl #8 – Sticking with the split rim fun, but this time doing a “scalloped” edge efect.

And then it was time to introduce colored slip as a design option.
I pretty much stuck to white slip as it has a nice contrast to the darker stoneware I was using.

Bowl #9 – a thick layer of white slip with a spiral dragged through it as the wheel was spinning.

Bowl #10 – Think white slip later with some simple banded accents through the slip.

Bowl #11 – A layer of white slip, with one dramatic brush stroke accents swoop!!!

Bowl #12 – A thick layer of slip squiggled through with a finger… like finger painting!!!

Bowl #13 – Another layer of thick white slip, then chattered through with a rubber rib… tapping up & down from the center outwards as the wheel is spinning.

Bowl #14 – A very simple spiral of white slip made with a slip trailing squeeze bottle.

Bowl #15 – A layer of thick white slip with banding and vertical stripes dragged through.

Bowl #16 – Thick white slip with vertical drag stripes, and then a thick grooved spiral in the center.

Bowl #17 – Getting a little ” crazy” with slip, we added some black slip for an ombre gradation effect, an then a spiral dragged through it.

And for now they’re all under plastic in my studio… waiting for a little more detailing…
and who knows?… “maybe” a little stamping here & there???

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The kids are scrambling and putting the final touches on their Sculpture Art Gallery Show… just about an hour away from the Opening Reception from 3:00-3:30pm at Lillstreet… today only! C’mon by…