Last night was my “bowl-making-on-purpose-instead-of-a-cylinder-gone-bad” demo for my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing Class. It’s my favorite demo every session. I start by showing them how to make a nice bowl with a well-rounded interior. Throwing the bowl on purpose and not allowing it to “just happen.” After I show them how to make that one “perfect” bowl, I send them back to their wheels to practice. Meanwhile, I throw eleven more bowls of a similar size & shape. And then we all regroup at my wheel so we can do some quick alterations.

Some quick “tricks” to make each bowl different from the others.
Encouraging my students to do something fun with their clay, to experiment, to play
and to make it their own. Trying to get each of my students to push it a bit further…
and to have fun with their clay!

Bowl #1 -The basic bowl. All twelve of them started just like this.

Bowl #2 – Two twisted flutes on opposite sides.

Bowl #3 – And if two flutes are sweet, maybe eight are even sweeter?!

Bowl #4 – A simple flared flange.

Bowl #5 – And if a little flare is nice, maybe a larger, wider flange is even nicer?

Bowl #6 – A split rim with some pinches around the edge.

Bowl #7 – A split rim pushed in and pushed out for a lotus-like shape.

And then, once I have them adequately overwhelmed with making bowls… why not throw them all the way over the edge by introducing colored slip?!

Bowl #8 – White slip on a simple flared flange.

Bowl #9 – A spiral dragged through white slip to reveal a spiral of the clay color using the rounded end of my wooden knife.

Bowl #1o – A chattered pattern by using a rounded edge rib and doing some rhythmic tapping through the white slip while the bowl is rotating.

Bowl #11 – A couple simple slices of newspaper used as stencils in the white slip.

Bowl #12 – A simple ombre blended color gradation using white & delphinium blue slips.

So for now, they’re up in my studio wrapped in plastic. Waiting for them to stiffen up a bit so I can do a little more detailing. Maybe some stamping. Maybe some carving. Maybe some add-on accents. And then at some point… trimming will commence!

Last night was the final class for my Beginning Wheelthrowing Class.
Hard to believe that 10-weeks has flown by already?!

In addition to a great potluck, we also did a fun “White Elephant” trading-exchanging-stealing game with bowls they each made. Everyone put in a bowl, and left with someone else’s bowl. I came home with this beauty by Catherine Walker… a porcelain bowl with some “slightly-dehydrated” black slip layered in for a beautiful marbled effect. She was all concerned about the slight oval-ness of the bowl. But that’s part of what I liked about it… it fits in my hand perfectly!!!

After my class demo last Tuesday night on making bowls, I finally got around to finishing them up tonight. I did a bit of stamping, a little embellishing, and a little refining. I also trimmed all of the bowls so they are set for the night. Drying for the next bisque firing.

One of the bowls during the demo was a flared out flange with a layer of white slip.

The bowl had dried to leatherhard so I trimmed the bottom first, and then I set into a bit of sgraffito. Now I don’t do this technique too often… but I thought it would be a good example to show my students. By the time I had finished carving it though, I must admit I might “need” to do this a bit more often…

Last night in my Beginner & Advanced Beginner Wheelthrowing Class, I showed my students how to throw basic bowls on purpose, instead of a cylinder gone bad. To start by creating the bottom curve of the bowl right from the start. To compress the curve. To avoid that little “stair-step gouge” that happens to a lot of beginner’s bowls.

After I had done the first bowl demo and answered questions, my students then moved on to work on their wheels while I threw eleven more bowls. It was basically a full bag of clay, cut into 12 balls of clay… to become twelve bowls!!! After I finished throwing them all, the class joined me again for Part Two of the demo. My favorite part – where I show them some quick “tricks” to alter & change each bowl so none of them look the same. It’s a fun demo, with the addition of colored slip for some added surface decoration.

Bowl #1 – Two simple finger twists on opposite edges.

Bowl #2 – And if two twists are good, then eight twists might be better?

Bowl #3 – A simple flange flared out with a little groove line to delineate inside from outside.

Bowl #4 – And if a thin flange is good, a wider one might be even better?!

Bowl #5 – A split rim… pinched in places and then squared off a bit.

Bowl #6 – A split rim pinched in places… then curved in & curved out.

Bowl #7 – A quick slip demo… showing a simple “covering” of white slip to make a two-tone bowl.

Bowl #8 – Some white slip on the flange… waiting to be carved through later.

Bowl #9 – More white slip to cover the inside, then a simple swirl dragged through using the rounded end of my wood knife tool.

Bowl #10 – More slip… and a spiral, and some banding, and some squiggling!

Bowl #11 – More white slip… this time using my green plastic rib to do some chattering through the slip as it is spinning.

Bowl #12 – And if one slip is good, maybe two blended together would give us a nice ombre effect… but then I couldn’t resist another spiral-swirl through the slip!!!

So all twelve of the bowls are now under wraps in my studio.

When they stiffen up a bit, I’ll do some more decorating & refining. Some stamping. Some carving. So more shape altering. And then of course, trimming of a good foot!!! Twelve different bowls… that all started out as a simple round bowl.

Although I was startled awake this morning with wind gusting through my bedroom window, the weather in Hinsdale looks beautiful now and we’re ready to kick-off Day Two!!! Hoping to find a good home for this set of four turquoise bowls today!!!

I unloaded my cone 6 glaze kiln last night… just a couple, last-minute pieces that will be headed to the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival this weekend. Here’s the top layer with lots of colorful promise…

Layer two didn’t look too bad either… a new batch of textured tiles!

I stopped into the studio early this morning to unload my second cone six kiln.
Yes, two kilns in five days… with a cone 04 kiln squeezed in between! Not bad.
And again, I’m pretty pleased with these new glazes!!!

Although I did have a bit of a “learning curve” with this firing. I tried doing a couple glaze overlapped-combinations based on the test tiles in my last kiln. And for the most part, they didn’t turn out all that well. Seems like these glazes work much better when they’re a thinner single dip. Good to know… moving forward… Some of them did turn out pretty sweet though!

Today I trimmed all of the bowls from my class demo last Tuesday night. The fifteen bowls have all been decorated, altered, stamped and detailed… the last thing to be done before bisque firing was to trim a good foot on each of them. Done.

Tonight I loaded another bisque kiln. And as usual, I tried my best to pack it tight. I think I did pretty well this time… and sadly, a few bowls & an oval casserole did not make it in!!! Good thing I have another bisque kiln scheduled for early next week. For which I need to make a LOT of work to fill that one too!!!

Kiln Layer #1 – flower pots, tumblers, salt & pepper shakers

Kiln Layer #2 – oval casseroles, flower pot drip plates, salt & pepper shakers & tiles.

Kiln Layer #3 – oval casseroles, spoon rests, flower pot drip plates & salt & pepper shakers.

Kiln Layer #4 – bowls, flower pots, salt & pepper shakers… and two adorable terra cotta mugs made by my little friends AJ & Lizzie… who I’m sure have been waiting anxiously to get their masterpieces back!