For the in-class challenge, they found out it would be a surface decoration challenge.
Easy-peezy… especially when I passed out some already-thrown cylinders for them to work on. So all they needed to do was decorate them!

Oh, but there’s a twist!
They needed to do their entire surface decoration using just one tool.
And it was NOT a tool of their choice…

They found out quickly that that one tool was going to be a basic DIE…
yes, DICE for everyone!!!

After their 45 minutes for the challenge. we gathered to look at each of them. It was fun to see how they had each approached the challenge differently. Some went straight for stamping, some for drawing with a corner, some with colorful underglazes or slips using the die as the paintbrush!

At the time, we discussed their newly-decorated cylinders… with them “thinking” that THIS was the challenge! We talked about texture, pattern, and approaches to the challenge itself. But then they found out that this was not a judged challenge for points… but instead a stepping-off point for their next challenge!

So their homework for the week is to create a new vase that is a minimum of 9-inches tall that has surface decoration made again with that ONE TOOL… the dice! Their new cylinder does not need to match exactly, but instead be “inspired by” the original cylinder. I told the to think of that original cylinder as the “maquette” for their larger vase. So now I’m looking forward to next Thursday night when we get to see their newly created vases with DICE DECORATIONS!