With my second Holiday Home Show this coming Saturday,
I’ve been getting a few new pieces out of the kiln just in time… limited quantities!
This last batch of glazed pieces comes from a cone 10 reduction gas kiln.
Some of them have some pretty sweet glaze runs & chemical interactions.

You can grab one of these beauties this coming Saturday at my place!
The SECOND Holiday Home Show
Saturday, December 14th from 10:00am-6:00pm.
If you need home address specifics, just send me an e-mail or Facebook message!

A quick glimpse “before & after” a cone 10 reduction glaze firing…
just in time for this Saturday’s Holiday Home Show.

Here’s a stamped platter leatherhard “before”… and glazed “after.”

And here’s a stamped bowl leatherhard “before”… and glazed “after.”

Thrown one night. Stamped the next. Sure, they were a little squishier than I would normally like, but I had to keep them moving forward as I’m kind of rushing to get everything done. I’ve got another bisque kiln in a few days, and then my soda kiln a week from tomorrow. So I’m trying to rush a few last pieces through the process to get these bowls into both kilns… and done in time for my Holiday Home Show which is two weeks from this weekend!

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Bowl #5 –

Bowl #6 – Somehow I forgot to photograph this one before I stamped.
Suddenly it was just done?!

It was fun to come into the Lillstreet Gallery this evening and see a great table setting FULL of dinnerware by my friend & potter Delores Fortuna. It’s not every day you get to see so much of Delores’ great pots all in one place!!!

Tuesday night I showed my class how to make larger bowls and platters.
I made three pieces for them… but I felt two of them needed a little somethin’-somethin’.
Tonight I pulled out some stamps and did a bit of decorating. So here goes…

Starting with the plain bowl that I threw Tuesday night. It was wrapped up under plastic and tonight it was on the “wetter-side” of leather heard. Perfect for stamping!

Once the bowl was all stamped, I moved on to stamp the platter too. So I found the stamp I wanted and began indenting one by one by one… all the way around!!!

Eventually both of these class demo pieces were stamped and done for the night. So I put them both back under plastic so they can dry a bit slower. I’m hoping that tomorrow I might be able to trim both of them.

Tonight’s class demo was larger bowls & larger platters from a larger ball of clay. Trying to get my students to push themselves a bit and try some bigger pieces. Looks like both of these might need a bit of stamping soon…

Then I did a quick two-tone slip squiggle demo on a second platter. I tried to blend some white slip with some ivy green slip… and dragged a round rib end through. While spinning the wheel. While squiggling back & forth. And voila!

Tonight I stopped in the studio to do a little “refining” of some of my class demo bowls. They were still a little wetter than I would normally like, but they were “almost” ready to be stamped. So I stamped a couple of them… and the others will need to wait a little longer for attachments & trimming.

Bowl #3 – With a simple, single row of stamped impressions just below the flange.

Bowl #4 – And if a single row is good, a lot more of stamps would be a LOT better, right?

Bowl #6 – I took the four-pinched bowl and “ovaled” it a bit, and then stamped two sides opposite each other.

Bowl #9 – Each of the eight pinched points were accented with a single stamp. I’m not a huge fan of actually seeing the pinch marks, so there’s a very good chance that there may be more added to this bowl before we call it done!

Tonight in class we covered throwing bowls… bowls on purpose & not cylinders gone bad!
It’s my favortie demo every session. I start be doing the demo on how to throw a basic bowl. Explaining the difference between a bowl “on purpose”… with a nice smooth curve on the inside of the bowl. Not a flat bottom, corners and straight sides like a cylinder. Once we cover the basics of throwing a bowl, my students return to their wheels to give it a try. While they are tackling their first bowls… I sat down and continued to throw more bowls. It’s a full bag of clay… this time it came out to 15 bowls!!! Looks like Alexa was pretty excited!!!

After throwing the full set of bowls, I have my students come back for Part Two of my demo. That’s the part where I try to “convince” my students to play with their clay a bit more. To squish it, move it, bend it, alter it… and to realize that “it’s just clay.” So I show them some really quick tricks to make each of the round bowls somehow altered and somehow more special.

Bowl #1 – Two Fluted Points
A simple finger flick & twist… one finger inside, one finger outside and twist.

Bowl #2 – Eight Fluted Points
If two points are cool… maybe eight would be cooler?!

Bowl #3 – Flared Flange
Simply taking the top part of the bowl and bending it outward to create the flange.

Bowl #4 – Wide Flared Flange
If a flared rim is cool, maybe a wider flared rim would be even cooler?!

Bowl #5 – Combined Flared & Fluted
Flared first, then fluted at eight points.

Bowl #6 – Split Rim with Four Pinches
So I started by carefully splitting the rim in half with the tip of my wooden knife. I then pinched the split rim back together in four places. Conveniently, lined up with the four corners of my plastic bat for even spacing!

Bowl #7 – Split Rim with Four Pinches… and then re-shaped!
Another split rim, pinched in four places and indented to alter the shape.

Bowl #8 – Indented Rim at eight points… for a floral feeling.
Evenly indented in eight places to give the bowl a softer feeling.

Bowl #9 – Split Rim with Eight Pinches… and curved between pinches!
Another split rim, pinched together in eight places. And then pressed outwards between the pinched points to give a slight curved & undulating edge.

Bowl #10 – Split Rim with Eight Pinches… then indented and “out”dented.
So if it looks good to indent & curve the rim… maybe it would look cooler to add some indentations going the other way.

Bowl #11 – Slip Spiral
I covered the inside of the bowl with white slip, and then dragged the rounded end of my wooden knife through the slip while the wheel was spinning.

Bowl #12 – Slip Spiral, Banding & Solid Sections
Another layer of slip. Another “canvas” to drag my tool through to reveal the original base clay color. Sometimes a spiral, sometimes just banded. Both easy to do while still centered on the wheel.

Bowl #13 – Flared Flange with White Slip Decoration
More white slip around the flared flange. And then decorated by dragging the rounded end of my wooden knife through the slip.

Bowl #14 – Slip With A Stencil Design
A simple shape cut out of the newspaper. The dipped in water and carefully placed on the bowl interior. Gently pressed into place to seal the edges in place. Then covered with slip… and then the newspaper stencil piece is carefully pulled out.

Bowl #15 – Slip Chattering
This one’s my favorite! A simple coat of white slip. And a rythmic tapping of my curved rib as the bowl was spinning to create this groovy pattern. Once you start, you’ve got to commit and keep going!!!

After class ended, I carried all of the bowls up to my studio. Fifteen bowls balanced up a flight of stairs.
They pretty much filled my work table. Good thing I didn’t make more?!

I then wrapped them up with plastic to keep them damp. I will come back in the next day or two to add a few more details & stamping. And then they’ll all be trimmed, dried, fired, glazed & fired again. But for tonight… another fun demo for my beginning students… and another fun batch of BOWLS!!!

It’s always refreshing & encouraging to find out that someone out there is actually reading my blog. And that somehow, in some small way, my endless ramblings & photos might just be inspiring someone to play with their clay. I received this very sweet e-mail yesterday from a fan in Colorado. Warm fuzzies and visual proof that she’s tried some of my bowl demos! Thank you Roberta for reaffirming the reason I keep blogging! Here’s her letter…

Hi Gary! My name is Roberta. I live in Colorado. I am not even certain how I happened upon your blog, but I did, and I am so impressed with your positive energy and joy for everything you do. (I have it bookmarked now!) Because I am trying to learn everything I can about clay, I decided to try some of your rims that you had your class doing in the pictures.

I hope you don’t mind if I play with some of your ideas, and try to learn from you. If I were in Illinois, I would be in one of your classes! And yes, it probably looks like I took these pics on the hood of the truck! It was right next to the shop where I fire and glaze!! I also have to say I am a big fan of your photography!

Thank you for your uplifting presence on the Internet and the clay world!

Roberta

My studio was more than full of stuff today. Wet pieces here. Drying pieces there. Stamping going on at the table. Things stacked on the floor. As usual, I was stuck looking for more space to work. Lucky for me, my studio neighbor Karen Patinkin has a large table that she wasn’t using… and I knew she was gone for the afternoon. And when opportunity knocks… I’m more than willing to answer. And more than willing to take over her studio too!!!