A bright sunrise followed by some bright morning flowers. The zinnias are finally in bloom… and every time I see them I think I need to plant more of these next year!!!

After the storms that rolled through yesterday, it feels like some of the “wildfire smoke” has been washed away. It was so nice to finally see the sun again… bright, clear & shiny while reflecting on the rippled lake.

So I’ve taken the group of class demo bowl up to my studio for safe-keeping… and maybe a little stamping & detailing. Allegedly…

So I did in fact do some decorating… you know… MORE IS MORE!!!

So here are the bowls now after a little surface decoration fun…
with some stamping & some further altering of the rims!

This is how we do it… MORE IS MORE!
Especially true when it comes to National Hot Fudge Sundae Day!!!

Last week in my Beginning Wheel class, we talked about “making bowls on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad.” I dd a demo and we talked about getting that perfect curve on the inside of your bowls… throwing the interior with intention and then trimming the outside to match alter.

Once we had talked about the first bowl… my students then went back to their wheels to start throwing. While they were throwing, I continued to make some more bowls too. After I had made several of them, we re-grouped for another bowl demo.

This time with some tricks & tips on how to make some “not-so-basic bowls”!!! We did some quick alterations, some rim refinements & even some colored slip applications. No one ever said that bowls need to be round, right?!

Bowl #1 – This was the original “prototype”… where all of the bowls began!!!

Bowl #2 – Two simple fluted twists.

Bowl #3 – And if two are good, eight flutes might be better!

Bowl #4 – A thin flare flange.

Bowl #5 – A wider flared flange.

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

Bowl #7 – Another split rim with four areas dented inwards.

Bowl #8 – Another split rim with four areas dented inwards, and another four dented outwards… kind of a “lotus” pattern. Can you tell I’m kinda infatuated with the while split rim process?

After altering some of the basic bowls, it was time to introduce some thick slip as a decorative option. I chose “thick” white slip so I could get some good textures from the slip for the glaze to pool & puddle on later.

Bowl #9 – A layer of thick white slip, with the curved end of my wooden knife dragged through to create the dramatic spiral.

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip covering the interior… with a rubber rib used to drag some lines through.

Bowl #11 – Thick white slip with some rhythmic chattering to create the pattern.

Bowl #12 – An ombre’ blend of thick white & iron red slips.

Bowl #13 – White & iron red slips again… with some rhythmic chartering going through it.

After the demo, we cleaned up & I brought the bowls up to my studio to keep them covered with plastic for the night… as there “just might be” some stamping & detailing still to come!

Beautiful flowers in a square vase… stamped & soda-fired by me!!! The flowers are straight out of Rhonda’s garden… she must have a green thumb, huh?! Thanks for sharing with us Rhonda!

“Second verse, same as the first”… another murky & monochromatic morning.
Looks like the smoky haze from the Canadian wildfires is back with us for a few days… ugh.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Glenview Summer Art Fair this weekend. We had perfect weather both days… with some rain overnight which didn’t affect us at all… whew! So much fun seeing so many people enjoying the weekend & appreciating local artisans. A lot of pots found their new forever homes!

My art fair booth flowers survived the weekend as well… so now they get to hang out a few extra days in a nice stamped & soda-fired vase on my back porch! I love a good oval vase as they spread the flowers out a bit more side-to-side… instead of just slamming them into a circular vase opening.

Another murky & monochromatic Monday morning.
My weather app showed clear & sunny this morning… they lied.

Ah, the “glamorous “ part of art fairs… packing up the pots, taking apart the shelves, tearing down the tent, packing the car… and hoping you remember how it all fit in when your brought it all in the first place. Fingers crossed...

And oh, but wait there’s more… I get to unpack the car again tonight when I get home too. Whew!!!