So tonight’s class demo for my Beginners & Advance Beginners was how to make a “bowl on purpose” and NOT another cylinder gone bad! So I did a couple quick demos showing them how to get a nice smooth, rounded bowl interior… without any flat bottoms, bad corners or beginner’s ledges! Once they had the basics… I sent them off to make their own bowls While I threw a few more quickly in class for the upcoming “part two” of tonight’s demo!

Once I had all of my bowls thrown… a bag full of clay… I continued to help my student son their bowls for awhile. With about 45 minutes left to class, we regathered at my demo-wheel and we did some quick alterations & decorations to my thirteen “matching” bowls. My goal is always to show them some quick “tricks” and techniques to alter their bowls… cuz’ the wheel can make them round, but I want THEM to make them their own!!!

So we cruised through all thirteen bowls in about fifteen minutes… quick tricks to make each one different than the one before!

Bowl One – fluted on two opposite sides

Bowl Two – if two are fun, maybe more are better?… fluted edges in eight places

Bowl Three – thin flared flange

Bowl Four – wide flared flange

Bowl Five – flared out flange twisted with four flutes.

Bowl Six – split rim dented on one two sides… most likely where a handle will attach going up & over to make a “basket” handle.

Bowl Seven – split rim pinched together in eight places

Bowl Eight – split rim dented in & dented out… kinda lotus-like.

Bowl Nine – spiral grooves through thick white slip.

Bowl Ten – concentric grooves though thick white slip.

Bowl Eleven – finger squiggles through thick white slip.

Bowl Twelve – swipes with a rib through thick white slip… channeling my inner “Steven Showalter”… if you’re not following him on Instagram, you definitely should be!!!

Bowl Thirteen – chattering texture through thick white slip

And now all of the bowls are up in my studio, under plastic, wrapped up for the night. I’m pretty sure that there “might” possibly be some more stamping, detailing & refining of these bowls before I call them done!

Looks like my friend Jen just enjoyed a yummy lunch.. and decided to share her remains with us! Even food scraps look better in handmade pottery bowls!

And sometimes the bird seed just becomes a BUFFET?!!!

Sometimes even the birds need some fun pottery to eat out of…
stamped, soda-fired & seeded…

Okay, so there’s been a good bit of “buzz” about this bowl around the glaze carts… everyone asking how I did it. And I didn’t… but because my name is in the bottom everyone assumes it’s my glazing too?! But it’s NOT.

Chelsea was looking for some bisqued bowls for her glaze class demos… and I gave her a couple to play with. This one turned out STUNNING!!! Beautifully vibrant colors, incredible ombre’ blends, gravity-defying drips, the WHOLE THING!!!

So here’s the glaze plan…
as best I understand it from Chelsea, Queen of All Glazing…

1. Waxed the bottom with decorative scalloping.
2. Dip fully in Chun Blue.
3. Dip the top rim inside & outside with Galaxy Black.
4. Just below that, paint a thick band of Tom’s Purple.
5. Dip the top rim inside & out to cover those two bands of black & purple.
6. Then add a few splatters of Galaxy Black on the interior.
7. And then fingers crossed for some kiln magic… which she definitely got!!!

A very thoughtful gift from one of my pottery students this week… a handmade soy candle… and a second one as part of our “not-so-basic-bowls” exchange game!!! Extra special as Kelsey made the bowl and the candle… and it won’t be stolen from the freezer!!!

Thank you Kelsey… see you when the next session starts up again!

Last night in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we celebrated the end of another class session with a fun “trading-exchanging-stealing” game with matching soup crocks. One of them even came with an onion & the recipe for French Onion Soup!!!

After our carving demo in my Intermediate Wheel class, it was great to see Christine still at it a week later… still making such crisp & clean lines with a DiamondCore Carving Tool in hand!

After a fun evening of carving with my Monday night intermediate students, we ended up with some pretty groovy textured bowls to send into the kiln. I can’t wait to figure out some glazing options for these to show off the carved textures?! Ugh… everyone knows that glazing is my least favorite part of the whole process!

Here’s a few shots of my students getting started… a bit tentative at first… but quickly got their groove on!!!… and loving the sharp carving edges of my DiamondCore Tools!