Last week in my Intermediate Wheel class, we tackled some decorative carving techniques. So we came into class with some pieces with thicker walls, knowing that we would be carving into the sides…. and I brought down most of my DiamondCore Tools for my students to use. So we sat around the table and just started carving & making random patterns… having fun & trying our best not to cut through the walls!!!

This week in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, my students killed it again… twice! Their first challenge was to take one of the “perfectly” trimmed bowls from the previous week and start carving away parts & pieces to turn it into a kind of basket bowl. They had to have a good design, clean cuts & keep enough structure intact to keep it all together.

The “real” challenge though?… they were tasked with carving away more than half of the original weight of the bowl! Tougher than it sounds… that’s a LOT of clay to take away and keep your bowl still in one piece! Huge congratulations to Claire & Will for making the weight… everyone else got SO close… and we only had one collapse! mwah, mwah, mwah…

Looks like Kristy has made a beautiful vermicelli dinner… and put it in a beautiful handmade bowl!!! Food always tastes better in handmade pottery!!!

After throwing-off-the-hump, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN peeps turned their attention from matching mini bowls… to matching serving bowls! They had three pounds for each bowl, and plenty of time to make them as “perfectly matching” as they could. Plenty of time to throw two bowls… plenty of time to throw a replacement bowl or two… plenty of time to overthink things… plenty of time to push too far until they flop!

They all did a great job… but no winner was chosen! As the “real challenge” is to come back to class next week with two perfectly matching & perfectly TRIMMED serving bowls!!!

While working on adding some details & accents to the bowls from our class demo, I ran across the one that Chelsea did for us… and I didn’t quite know what to do with it. So I started carving… and then THIS happened!

Just spending a little time in the studio today doing a bit of stamping… adding a few more details to the bowls I made during our recent “not-so-basic-bowls” class demo!

I mean, MORE IS MORE, right?!

So this week we made bowls again in my Tuesday night Beginning & Adult Beginning Wheelthrowing class. I always like to show them how to make “bowls on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. We talk about getting a nice smooth rounded interior, no flat bottoms, no beginner’s ledge, and a nice rim.

So I start the class with a quick demo on how to make a bowl on purpose… and how to avoid all of those problems! After my demo, they all go back to work on their wheels… while I continue to throw more demo bowls during class. When I’ve thrown all of my bowls, we re-group and then I start doing some fun demos on how to alter & decorate them. I just want to give them new ideas on how to make their bowls more special… and their own. I tell them that the wheel pretty much makes a round bowl for them… but it’s up to them to make it their own!

Bowl #1 – Four simple fluted edges… one finger inside, one outside and flick.

Bowl #2 – And if four fluted edges are good, eight might be better?!

Bowl #3 – A flared out flange edge… kind of folding the top inch out over a stable finger on the outside of the bowl.

Bowl #4 – And if a small flange is nice, maybe a bigger flange is even cooler???

Bowl #5 – A nice split-rim using the point of my wooden knife. Then I dented in two sides… and we decided to leave it this way as I’ll add an “up & over” handle to make it more like a basket.

Bowl #6 – Another split rim… and then pinched back together in eight place.

Bowl #7 – The same split rim technique… this time more of a lotus style. Four inward indents, and four outward to make the squared “lotus” shape.

So after altering a few of the rims, I moved on to introduce them to adding slip as a decorative technique.

Bowl #8 – We started with a thick layer of think white slip. And then I dragged the rounded end of a wooden knife through to create this spiral.

Bowl #9 – Another layer of thick white slip, this time with a fingertip squiggling through while the bowl was spinning on the wheel!

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip with a chattered surface using a stiff rubber rib, rhythmically tapping while the wheel spins to create this pattern.

Bowl #11 – We started with a ombre’ blend of white & iron red slips. It looked nice enough… but more is more... so I dragged my wooden knife through it to make a cool spiral!!!

Bowl #12 – For our final bowl, my friend & fellow Lillstreet teacher Chelsea “made the mistake” of stopping by my classroom at just the right time. I gave her the final demo bowl for her to do something with it. She didn’t hesitate… instead doing this wonderful “organic” squiggle technique reminiscent of her of style!

And for now they’re all in my studio under plastic… waiting for some more detailing! Perhaps a little bit of stamping, detailing, carving or attachments. And then some trimming of the footring on the bottom before I call them done… then dry… then bisque… the glaze… then fire again… then DONE!!!

And then it was back to the bowls… and they never saw it coming! The Pottery Olympics continued with one player trying to re-create & match the first “perfect” bowl… while BLINDFOLDED!!!! Their partner could advise, discuss, offer tools, measure, etc…. they just couldn’t touch the clay!!! My LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students were “blindly” crushing it!!!

The Pottery Olympics continued… after the “stronger” wheelthrower had made the “perfect bowl”… their team-mate was then challenge in the next round to step it up and MATCH that perfect bowl that their partner made! Another two pounds, and a little longer with 20 minutes to match the same size & shapes of their team-mates’ bowl! Hard enough to match your OWN bowls… let alone matching someone else’s bowl!!! All part of the fun of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN!

Our Pottery Olympic events came fast & furious last night during my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class. We switched back to the wheel where one team member per team was challenged to throw their “perfect” bowl with two pounds of clay… with the parameters of 8″ wide by 5″ tall. So of course each team tried to choose their stronger wheel-thrower to compete here. They had ten minutes to perfect their bowl… smooth curves, not flat bottoms, no beginner’s ledges, nice rim, etc.