Not just blueberries, but some wonderful cherry tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market too. Perfect as part of my Summer Camp lunches! Love the assorted colors & sizes… looking great in a stamped & glazed bowl… even if I do say so myself?!

On my way home tonight, I stopped off at my local Farmer’s Market. Grabbed some fresh-picked blueberries & more. Beautiful in the late afternoon sun… but even prettier in a handmade pottery bowl!

Just a day later with some “creative” drying under some loose plastic, my latest batch of bowls was ready to stamp. Cute little bowls with cute little stamps!

WHEW!!!… A bunch of mini bowls thrown & ready to be covered with plastic for the night. I wouldn’t want them to dry out tonight while I teach my class.

After summer camp, but before teaching tonight… and I think I can crank out a quick batch of mini bowls. Fingers crossed…

So I’ve taken the group of class demo bowl up to my studio for safe-keeping… and maybe a little stamping & detailing. Allegedly…

So I did in fact do some decorating… you know… MORE IS MORE!!!

So here are the bowls now after a little surface decoration fun…
with some stamping & some further altering of the rims!

This is how we do it… MORE IS MORE!
Especially true when it comes to National Hot Fudge Sundae Day!!!

Last week in my Beginning Wheel class, we talked about “making bowls on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad.” I dd a demo and we talked about getting that perfect curve on the inside of your bowls… throwing the interior with intention and then trimming the outside to match alter.

Once we had talked about the first bowl… my students then went back to their wheels to start throwing. While they were throwing, I continued to make some more bowls too. After I had made several of them, we re-grouped for another bowl demo.

This time with some tricks & tips on how to make some “not-so-basic bowls”!!! We did some quick alterations, some rim refinements & even some colored slip applications. No one ever said that bowls need to be round, right?!

Bowl #1 – This was the original “prototype”… where all of the bowls began!!!

Bowl #2 – Two simple fluted twists.

Bowl #3 – And if two are good, eight flutes might be better!

Bowl #4 – A thin flare flange.

Bowl #5 – A wider flared flange.

Bowl #6 – A split rim with eight places pinched back together.

Bowl #7 – Another split rim with four areas dented inwards.

Bowl #8 – Another split rim with four areas dented inwards, and another four dented outwards… kind of a “lotus” pattern. Can you tell I’m kinda infatuated with the while split rim process?

After altering some of the basic bowls, it was time to introduce some thick slip as a decorative option. I chose “thick” white slip so I could get some good textures from the slip for the glaze to pool & puddle on later.

Bowl #9 – A layer of thick white slip, with the curved end of my wooden knife dragged through to create the dramatic spiral.

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip covering the interior… with a rubber rib used to drag some lines through.

Bowl #11 – Thick white slip with some rhythmic chattering to create the pattern.

Bowl #12 – An ombre’ blend of thick white & iron red slips.

Bowl #13 – White & iron red slips again… with some rhythmic chartering going through it.

After the demo, we cleaned up & I brought the bowls up to my studio to keep them covered with plastic for the night… as there “just might be” some stamping & detailing still to come!

You know I love a good national holiday… and would feel remiss if I didn’t celebrate appropriately! Especially when today is NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY!!!

Last night was EMPTY BOWLS at Lillstreet Art Center. Huge thanks to everyone who participated… whether by donating your handmade bowls, or by coming to Lillstreet to buy them! All proceeds from the evening went to Common Pantry to help combat hunger & food insecurity in Chicago. Thanks again!