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!!!

As part of my “big” production day in the studio, I threw five more serving bowls with soda clay. I let them set-up for awhile and had the opportunity to stamp them today. Usually I do it the next day, or even two days later. But since I was cranking things out today… it was great to be able to stamp them today!!! I’m kind of rushing to fill a kiln next weekend. The “faster” I can get things done, dried and into a bisque kiln the more time I’ll have to glaze & wad.

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Bowl #5 –

So now they’re loosely wrapped up for the night… and I hope to trim them tomorrow.

It felt great to get back into the studio tonight after this weekend’s art fair in Evanston… and the start of another week of Summer Camp kicking off today. Luckily, the bowls I stamped last week were at a perfect leather-hard state for trimming. So now they are all trimmed, burnished, signed and drying upside-down.

Last night I stamped some more larger, serving bowls. I always love to see the transformation from the “plain” round bowl to the stamped & textured finished bowl. It always surprises me when I see how much of a change can be made with just a couple stamps!!!

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Bowl #5 –

So now they’re wrapped up loosely for the night… hoping to dry them up to a good leather-hard state so I can do some trimming on the bottoms.

This past Tuesday night, I did a demo on making larger bowls. Remember, last week I introduced making “bowls on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. This week we went a little further. And I showed them how to make a larger bowl… with a larger piece of clay! When I took my demo bowl upstairs to store it in my studio, it was still too wet to stamp. So I let it sit under plastic overnight so I could finish off the bowl with a little stamping!!!

Here’s the bowl after the first round of stamping.  Just a single row of stamping around the rim can make a HUGE difference. Suddenly, it’s no longer just a plain round bowl.

Next, I took the rounded end of my large loop trimming tool and did a little decorative curving of the edge. Lining up the curves in between each of the stamps.

And if one line of stamps is good… wouldn’t two rows be even better?! So I added another of stamps with a smaller “detailing” stamp just for fun. And sadly, you can’t see it, but I added another row around on the outside of the bowl too!

So here’s the “finished” bowl after stamping. Now it still needs to dry slowly to leather-hard so I can trim it. Then the usual… trimming, drying, bisque firing, glazing & final glaze firing!

That time of the session again… Last night was the night we tackle making “bowls on purpose” instead of cylinders gone bad that just happened to turn into a bowl. It’s my favorite class to teach of the whole session. Not only is it fun to see the light bulb go off when they realize that they can do it too… but also when they see how much FUN they can have moving their clay around.

So I started with a full bag of clay… cut it up into 13 pieces and started wedging. We then sat down for the bowl making demo. Once we had covered the basics on bowls, they all went back to work while I made twelve more bowls. When I was done throwing all thirteen, I called them back and we went through some quick tricks to make each of the “identical” bowls each a one-of-a-kind piece of pottery!

Bowl #1 – Two simple fluted edges.
A quick flick of the fingers can change the whole profile of a simple round bowl.
Two fingers side-by-side. one inside, one outside. Pinch. Twist. Repeat.

Bowl #2 – If two are good, eight fluted edges might be even better?!

Bowl #3 – No need to leave bowls round, right?!
So I showed my class quickly how to alter the shape a bit. A little pull here, a little tug there, and suddenly the bowl is slightly squared-off. And then I indented the four “straight” sides. I’m kinda thinking that there may be a handle added to this one at some point?!

Bowl #4 – A simple flange flared out along the top rim.
Unfortunately, somehow I missed taking a “Before” picture of this plain bowl. But I’m sure it comes as no surprise that “any” plain bowl needs to be decorated. Last night I threw the bowl, and tonight I added a stamped line around the bowl where the flange meets the bowl interior. So here’s the “After” picture…

Bowl #5 – The same simple flange, but now fluted in four places!
Combine a simple flared flange with four fluted edges. Which then presents itself with a great line waiting to be stamped. So last night I threw the bowl, and tonight I did some stamping.

Bowl #6 – Another simple flange, this time further down & wider! More room to play later…
Again, last night I threw the bowl, then tonight I did a little stamping & white slip decorating for contrasting accents. This time, a little more whimsically stamped… not quite so geometrically repetitive.

Bowl #7 – A quick flower made with a simple dragon-scale tool. Twelve impressions. One flower.

Bowl #8 – A split rim, pinched back together in four places.

Bowl #9 – A simple flange with a quick layer of white slip. I think once this bowl dries & stiffens up a bit, I might do some carving through the white slip to reveal a design and contrast between the slip and then ochre clay body.

Bowl #10 – Simple bowl. Simple slip. Simple spiral. Cover the bowl with a simple layer of white slip, then drag the rounded end of a tool through the slip and upwards as the wheel is spinning. The goal is to reveal the contrast between the slip and the ochre clay body. It’s also a nice bonus that there’s some thickness to the remaining slip to add some texture & pooling-possibilities for the glaze.

Bowl #11 – If a spiral is good, a squiggle might be better?!
And then, as I was carrying all of my demo bowls upstairs, this one bowl bumped into one of the racks in the hallway – denting in one side. It would never be “perfectly” round again, so I did a little creative camouflage… and squared it up!

Bowl #12 – White slip with some rhythmic chattering. I cover the entire inside of the bowl with some white slip, and then take my green rounded rib and tap it through the slip as the bowl is spinning. While it spins, and you’re tapping, you also need to move up the bowl all at the same time! The final result is a combination of all three movements & speed of each.

Bowl #13 – White slip over some newspaper cut-out stencils. I just cut the numbers out of a newspaper, wet the paper and stick them onto the inside of the bowl. Then carefully paint white slip over the letters to make sure they are stuck down well. Then it’s a quick coverage over the whole bowl. The tough part is peeling out the newspaper stencils after the slip sets up a bit.

So there they are… all thirteen bowls. All made from one bag of stoneware with ochre clay. I chose the ochre clay as it fires to a beautiful chocolate brown in cone 10 reduction… which also makes for a really beautiful contrast to the white slip.

Hopefully, my students enjoyed the demo. Not only to I hope they learned how to make bowls “on purpose”… but also to get over the beginner’s feeling that each piece is SO precious. They need to play with their clay and be willing to make a few mistakes along the way. It’s just clay. It’s nothing too precious. And they need to build up some confidence and start making some bowls that express themselves. Not just the basic round bowl that the wheel kinda made for them!