An early morning in the studio working on a batch of berry bowls…
ten bowls before 10:00am. Stamping & drainage holes to come!

After ten weeks of LILLSTREET THROWDOWN races, challenges, competitions & projects… they were all WINNERS in the end. We all had such a great time as points were accumulated all season long. We had some great competitors, but in the end it was Katie in third place, Ruth in second place … and Sara as the BIG WINNER of Season Eight!!! Congrats to everyone for making this class so much fun… and more importantly, for entertaining ME every step of the way!!!

And our BIG WINNER SARA!!!

My students on the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN were incredible this season! They all worked so hard on their Main Make… a full Tureen Soup Service Set. Complete with a lidded tureen, serving plate, soup ladle, four soup bowls and four soup spoons! Each set was based on a “Best Picture” movie winner from the past. We had some challenges & struggles along the way… who knew the ladle might be the hardest piece to make? And we had some kiln firing challenges… including some that struggled in the end to make it into the glaze kiln in time to get their finished set out to be presented at out final class.

And here are most of the finished results…

And here are some of the tureens for their final Main Make. Each based on a “Best Picture” Winner! Some of them weren’t quite complete… struggles & challenges… as well as fighting a stringent glaze kiln schedule.
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CARMINA – Forrest Gump
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ABENA – West Side Story
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HELEN – Dances With Wolves
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JACK – Casablanca
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KATIE – An American In Paris
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MONSE – Everything Everywhere All At Once
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NICOLE – Shakespeare In Love
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RUTH – Out Of Africa
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SARA – Oliver!
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SOPHIE – Titanic
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TAYLOR – Hamlet
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So last Thursday was the final night of our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN. And if you recall, their final projects were all themed off of Academy Award BEST PICTURE winners across the years. Timely, right?! And you know how I love a good theme… so we had a little “movie night” fun in class!!! And one of my students Taylor volunteered to bring all of the movie trailers to watch before revealing each final project. So much fun!!! Especially when Taylor went one step further… with a soliloquy of her own about her set based on “Hamlet.”

So this Thursday night was our last LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class!!! And there “may” have been a trophy & ribbons after a lot of great projects… and a bit of quick “Gary Math” to calculate the results!!! More to come… I mean, a LOT more to come…

This week in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, we did a decorative platter challenge. Which started with 45 minutes to throw a five-pound platter. Not too tough… until they found out that they had to rotate around to different wheels every ten minutes or so. Picking up wherever the person before them left off. Then after several rounds, they ended back at their original wheel to see what kind of a platter was left for them! Some were very nice… while others may have struggled a bit & ended more with a small salad plate?!

Regardless, the real challenge was to decorate whatever platter was left for them! Embracing the nuances & pivoting as needed in the final minutes. We had some pretty sweet results after a lit of fun rotating & switching!

After all ten THROWDOWN Decathlon events… we ended up with a tie!!!
So we did a quick tie-breaker to figure out our medal winners!!!

Congratulations to our Bronze medalist Nicole… our Silver medalist Sara… and our Gold medalist Helen!!! All three of them survived the Decathlon and made it to our podium!!!

So much fun… a lot to cover in one night’s class!

Squiggles & spirals & slip… oh my!!! Plus I’m old enough to remember a good Spirograph design!!! So why not put it all together? The final event in our THROWDOWN Decathlon!

THROWDOWN Decathlon Event #10 : A groovy slip squiggle design with one pound of clay!

As the good old Dunkin’ Donuts slogan goes… “Time to make the doughnuts!” The next THROWDOWN decathlon challenge was to throw a hollow & puffy doughnut on the wheel in the allotted ten minutes!

THROWDOWN Decathlon Event #8 : Largest doughnut with one pound of clay!

Pinch pots for the win!!! A quickie espresso cup with handle!!!

THROWDOWN Decathlon Event #9 : a pinch pot espresso cup with handle with one pound of clay!