Looks like my cousin Kim is starting her day off right with a fresh-squeezed sip of orange juice… made easier with a handmade citrus juicer!

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For subbing Lisa’s class, I like to do “demo-on-demand “…
which means I’ll kinda do whatever they want. So today Jeannine requested some bowl finishing tricks, and Julia wanted me to “throw something too tall to put on her class shelf.” Which turns out to be about 12-inches. So I did four quick bowls, threw a tall vase with just four pulls, decorated the bowls… and then chatted & solved all of the problems of the pottery world. As always, a fun class to sub for!!!

Ready for tonight’s class demo…

What a difference a day makes.
Yesterday was blue skies & bare trees. Today it’s gray clouds & snow-covered.
Winter in Chicago… still beautiful either way, either day!

Just thirty minutes until the start of SURVIVOR : WINNERS AT WAR!!!
Yes, it’s SEASON FORTY!!!

And I’ve watched every single season… and every episode over the past twenty years!!!

To celebrate the big anniversary, they’re bringing back twenty former Survivor winners to battle once again… and this time they’ve doubled the prize money to TWO million dollars!!! Let the games begin… this is going to be an AMAZING season of Survivor fun.
I’m so excited!!!

And just for the record… I picked Parvati for the win!!!
Yes, I know she always has a HUGE target on her back. I get it.
She’s a strong player and they’re all afraid of her cunning ways.
But she is my favorite Survivor player ever… EVER!!!
So how could I turn my back on her now?! I’m loyal to the end…

GO PARVATI !!!

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Another week of pottery fun on “The Great Pottery Throw Down”…
this time very illuminating & illustrative! Plenty of wheelthrowing which I could watch forever… but let’s just say there were some people struggling, some bisque explosions & some poor design choices! Good TV for all !!!

Click here to watch this week’s episode on YouTube!

Because I prefer a flower pot with a separate water drip plate.

As if throwing mini’s wasn’t fun enough… we also went back to basics with some bowls. So they each wedged up two 3-pound balls of clay to throw a good, large bowl. Two balls of clay = two chances. No wedging up more if they both fail.

They were all set at the wheel… thinking we were ready to go…
when I pulled out another envelope… SURPRISE!!!

I also pulled out some bandanas to use as BLINDFOLDS!!!

So we were still throwing large bowls….
and being judged by a measurement of height plus width!
While blindfolded!!!

They all did a great job… pulling it out in the end. Some were slower & more focused…
while others just jumped into it blindly!!! So to speak… all pun intended.
I do think they had fun throwing blindfolded… I KNOW that I had fun watching them!!!

After watching a recent episode of British TV hit “The Great Pottery Throwdown” where the task was to throw some miniature pots… I knew we had to steal that idea and do it again!!! We tried to keep the challenge the same… where they had to throw three pieces each UNDER SIX CENTIMETERS… yes, we’re keeping it metric!!! So they each had to throw a miniature bowl, cylinder and a bulbous vase with narrowed neck. And to go one step further.. they also needed to add some color to their pots!

Now for some reason… on the television reality show, they didn’t allow them to throw off-the-hump?! I don’t think the topic even came up?.. maybe they don’t do that across the Pond yet? So my students didn’t get to either… finding out how difficult it is to wedge, center and throw such a small ball of clay!

After the 25-minute time limit ended, we did a little critique and measured to check that they all made it UNDER six centimeters!

And then we moved onto the next challenge… which was the same…
but now throwing off-the-hump!!!… and with 5 minutes less since it should be easier!

After the 20-minute time limit ended, we went back to discuss and compare the mini pots. And to discuss how they felt, what was easier, what was tougher, and if throwing off-the-hump made much of a difference!