After Tuesday’s “not-so-basic-bowls” class demo… I felt that the bowls might “need” just a little more embellishment. A little stamping here. A little finessing there. Cause after all… MORE IS MORE. So here are some quick pics of the bowls… and the stamps that did all of the magic!

So for now they’re back under plastic for another night…
back tomorrow to trim the bottoms!

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After posting a photo last night about my Bowl Demo…. the one where Stacey challenged me to do a triple split rim which people quickly referred to as “the churros bowl”… look who started following me on INSTAGRAM. Ha!!!

A quick refresher… here’s “the churros bowl” again…

 

This week in my Tuesday night pottery class, we did my favorite demo of EVERY session! It’s the night when I teach my class how to make bowls on purpose.. instead of a cylinder gone bad!!! We talked about how to make one from the get-go… starting with a nice smooth curve on the inside. And NOT a flat bottom or a gouge in the side anywhere! So they all gathered around so I could do my demo where I make that one “perfect” basic bowl.

BOWL #1 – The basic round bowl. This was our “starting place.”

So after throwing the first bowl… I set my students free to go back to their wheels and start making some bowls. While they were throwing, I was too!!! I continued to throw more “basic” bowls… a full bag of clay-s worth… which turned out to be eighteen bowls. Pretty close to matching basic bowls.

When I was done throwing the bowls, re re-convened for Part Two of my bowl demo. This is the fun part where I show them some fun “tricks” they can use to make their own “basic” bowls not so basic any more!!!

BOWL #2 – FLUTED DUO
Two simple fluted twists, one on each side.

BOWL #3 – FLUTED MORE
And if two fluted twists are good, eight might be better?!

BOWL #4 – THIN FLANGE
Then  we took the top rim and flared it out & down to make a thin flanged rim.

BOWL #5 – WIDE FLANGE
If the thin flange was goo, maybe a wider flange would be better?

BOWL #6 – FLANGED & FLUTED
Folded out to make a thing flange and then added four fluted edges.

BOWL #7 – DOUBLE-DENTED
Who says a bowl needs to stay round?… and I’m thinking this might get a handle over from dent to dent.

BOWL #8 – SPLIT RIM WITH FOUR DENTS
I carefully split the rim using the pointed end of my wooden knife… and then dented it in at four places.

BOWL #9 – SPLIT RIM DENTED IN & DENTED OUT
After splitting the rim, I dented four spaces inwards, and then again four spaces outwards.

BOWL #10 – SPLIT RIM WITH EIGHT PINCHES
After splitting the rim, I carefully pinched it back together in eight places.

BOWL #11 – THE TRIPLE RIM CHALLENGE!!!
So Stacey, one of my former students who has seen the bowl demo before, challenged me to try a TRIPLE split rim!!! And you know I’m always up for a challenge!!! In retrospect, I kinda wish I had left a little more clay up in the rim if I had known I was going to go for the triple. But I perservered… and then pinched & pressed out in eight places.

My students were impressed… and referred to this a the “churro bowl.”

BOWL #12 – DRAGONSCALE FLOWER
Using my metal dragonscale tool, I pressed in the edges to make a stylized flower in the bottom of the bowl

After the first dozen bowls, I shifted gears and introduced my students to colored slip.
Just another fun way of decorating their “basic” bowls… to make them less basic!!!

BOWL #13 – THICK SLIP SPIRAL
I slathered on a layer of thick white slip, and then dragged the curved end of my wooden knife through the slip as the bowl was rotating on my wheel.

BOWL #14 – THICK SLIP SQUIGGLE
A thick layer of slip and then a little finger squiggle through for the pattern.

BOWL #15 – THICK SLIP PATCH
Using four pieces of newspaper dipped in water, I created a stencil by  placing the newspaper pieces in an open square. I filled that open square with thick slip, dragged a tool through it for the ridges, and then carefully removed the newspaper strips to reveal clean edges.

BOWL #16 – CHATTERING
Another layer of thick white slip, with some rhythmic tapping of a plastic rib through the slip as it was rotating on the wheel.

BOWL #17 – NEWSPAPER STENCIL
I carefully cut four letters out of the newspaper… I wet the letters and carefully pressed them smooth to the bowl. I carefully painted over the edges with some thin black slip, and the covered the entire bowl interior. The tough part is finding the newspaper letters to pull them out!!!

BOWL #18 – OMBRE
First a layer of thick white slip covering the interior, and then some thin black slip from the top edge inwards to blend and create the ombre effect.

For now they’re all under wraps in my studio. I’m pretty sure there’s a “good chance”there might be some stamping & detailing still to come before I trim the bottoms.

So it was another fun night – I LOVE this demo!!!
It’s so much fun to see the lights going off in my student’s heads as their eyes light up during the demo. A great combination of shock & awe as they start to see some of the possibilities. I know I might have overwhelmed thenm a bit… but my goal is that they got my main point…

Have fun.
Try something new.
Make your basic bowl not-so-basic.
Decorate it. make it yours.
I don’t care how.
But just HAVE FUN… it’s just clay!

 

 

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And if you want to see how I prefer to make a SUPER bowl…
click here for a stamping process video on my YouTube Channel.
But if you want to see some teaser photos first…

Now here’s MY version of a Super Bowl. Just sayin’…

Someone is already “thinking green” during the cold whiteness of winter. My Peoria friends showing off more of their pottery collection… including some very “vintage” pottery I made way back before I “met” stamping… notice the layered slip decoration on the set of bowls in the bottom right corner! I remember being so proud of those bowls back in the day. Ha!!!

This week my students really worked it in the Lillstreet Throwdown class. They came into class with their “two matching bowls now trimmed” from last week. Thinking we were going to start with those right away… Oh, but wait… I had another game plan!!!

First we did a quick challenge at the handbuilding tables. I had them each pull a 2-pound slab of clay to make a rectangular slab. The they were challenged to FREEHAND cut with an Xacto four basic shapes. No rulers. No stencils. To templates. Just the Xacto and their best guessimating skills! They were challenged to cut a 5-inch circle. a 4-inch square, a 3-inch equillateral triangle and a 2×10-inch rectangle. Closest ones win points!

Then we pulled out their bowls from last week. Ah ha... back to the expected challenge. They pulled out their “now matching more than before” bowls. We all looked at them, compared them and critiqued some of their strengths & weaknesses. We picked to winners… and then I surprised them with another twist!!! They were to choose one of their bowls to carve a pattern through creating a basket of sorts. They had about an hour and a half for the challenge… which sounded like a lot of time but it flew by fast!

And here’s the REAL challenge…
they had to carve away at least half of the bowl’s weight.
And yes, we actually weighted them before & after!

Grab your tools… grab your bowl… and GO!!!

And then they started carving… and carving… and carving…

And they just kept cutting… just kept carving… so quiet… so focused…

Some of them even pulled out their “fancy” carving tools from DiamondCore Tools. Jake & Dave first tried these in my class when I shared them… and they QUICKLY fell in love with them!!! So now they’ve really “stepped-up their carving games” and now are enjoying the sharp, clean line quality of Diamond Core Tools. Dave may have stepped-up his game… but he also sat-down for the challenge… ON THE FLOOR!!!

And then the carving continued… many of them checking their progress on the scale. Only to find out that they haven’t taken out nearly as much clay as they had thought!!! Realizing that they still have a LONG way to go!!!

Just a few moments before the buzzer went off….
just a few more cuts… just a few more holes…

And then we put the finished bowls down on the table for discussion, critique, judging and admiration! The carved bowls were AMAZING… but I was truly mesmerized by the shadows they created on the tables!

And then the comparison & show-off contest began… as everyone brought their bowls to the table and the class discussion began. Everyone loved the challenge even though it really pushed them out of their comfort zones!!!

A wonderful collection of freshly-carved bowls!!! So many great designs, so much effort & patience. So much for ME to watch all of them working their way through the challenge!

And the Top Two winners?…
Teresa with her elegant “octagonally-carved” bowl…
and Ryan with his bowls full of holes! Not much soup is going to stay in either one?!!!

So that’s it for another wonderful Throwdown class… and it’s only Week Two!!!

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When cleaning up after Christmas, my “very first art fair friends”
decided to streamline their cabinets and display a portion of their pottery collection.
Hmmmm?… that all looks very familiar!!! Thanks Gerry & Rosene!

Tonight was the kick-off of the Second Annual LILLSTREET POTTERY THROWDOWN class.
I have a great group of students again this time around. Three repeat “throwdown” students and nine new to the challenge!

Tonight’s challenge was to throw one “perfect” bowl in 30 minutes. They thought that was it… but of course it wasn’t. The “twist” was that they needed to throw a second “perfect” bowl to match! Same height, width, diameter, curves, profile, everything! Not as easy as it sounds. Ryan & Jacob walked off with top honors tonight!

Ryan’s matching bowls – one of the TOP TWO sets!!

Jacob checking out his entries in the matching bowl challenge… another TOP TWO winner!