Looks like Matt & Kristy are getting ready for the big game today! Chips & salsa in the “super bowls” for the SUPER BOWL!!! Thanks for sharing your bowls & snacks with us!

Looks like a yummy & healthy breakfast to start the day. Oatmeal & blueberries in a soda-fired bowl… by you know who! Thanks for sharing your morning with us Allison!

Sure, I probably could have thrown these gourds away off my back porch months ago! But I just couldn’t because they look so cool… and I was hoping to plant the seeds this spring. Didn’t plan on them getting covered with snow though!!!

Well, the snow has started to come down… and it looks like my friend Rosene has settled-in with a warm bowl of homemade soup to get her through the snowstorm! At least they’re “predicting” a good amount of snow… we’ll see if they got it right or not?!

Spent some time in the studio this afternoon working on my class demo bowls from Tuesday night. A little bit of stamping & detailing can make a big difference. You know I’m a member of the “MORE IS MORE” club!!!

And back under the plastic they go… so they can dry up a bit more before I trim the bottoms. This last one “might” even get a handle over the top to make it like a little “basket-bowl”!!!

Decorating bowls with some thick colored slips…
you know how I LOVE a good spiral… and a squiggle… and chattering!!!

Last night’s class demo how to throw basic bowls.
And that’s basic bowls on purpose… and NOT cylinders gone bad. I like to teach my Beginner’s how to throw a bowl from the start with a nice smooth & even curve inside. No flat bottoms. No beginner’s ledge. No divots. So I do a demo for the with one bowl – and then set them off to work on their own bowls!

While they’re throwing their bowls, I continue throwing more basic bowls. After I finish making them all, we re-group for Part Two of the class demo. For this part I like to show them some quick & easy ways to alter & decorate their bowls. I tell them that “The Wheel” pretty much did all of the work making a round bowl. Now it’s up to THEM to do something to it to make it their own! And encourage playing with their clay. To try something new. And if it doesn’t work… no biggie. Just squish it up, wedge it and throw it again!

So here are my bowl demos from last night…
each with some simple decorative alterations!

Bowl #1 – Two simple fluted edges

Bowl #2 – Eight fluted edges

Bowl #3 – Flared-out flange

Bowl #4 – Flared flange & four fluted edges

Bowl #5 – Split rim with eight pinches

Bowl #6 – Split rim with two indentations… waiting for an “over the top” handle to make it like a basket.

Bowl #7 – Split rim with four side indentations

Bowl #8 – Split rim with four indentations IN, and four indentations OUT.

Bowl #9 – A thick white slip spiral.

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip finger squiggles.

Bowl #11 – Thick black slip chattering with a rubber rib.

Bowl #12 – Ombre’ black -to-white slip with a spiral dragged through.

Bowl #13 – Thick white slip on a flared flange then wiped through with a rubber rib.

And for now they’re all under plastic… as there’s a “pretty good chance” that there might just be some stamping & detailing of these bowls before I need to start trimming the bottoms.

So here are some new berry bowls…
next up, some little drip plates to go under them!

After Monday night’s class demo with a power drill… yesterday I cleaned-up the insides of my new berry bowls. The drill is quick & clean, but it leaves these burrs hanging out inside. The good thing is that when they dry up a bit, they simply brush away easily. I also take a green scrub pad to smooth out any edges, and then use a wooden tool to refine any of the holes that need some smoothing.

After my class demo last night, Christine stepped up to give it a try. She “struggled” a bit with the spontaneity of it all… not having a plan as she picked up the drill. But my MKM Decorating Discs helped with new “insta-plan” as she pulled the trigger on the power drill.