Next up in our THROWDOWN Olympic challenge…

THROWDOWN Decathlon Event #2 : Longest coil with one pound of clay!

Last week in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, we celebrated a little Olympic spirit with our own “Pottery Decathlon!” Ten “events” using 10-pounds of clay… one pound for each event!!! And only ten minutes per challenge!!! Kinda tough… but so much fun as winning points were accumulated through all ten events!!!

THROWDOWN Decathlon Event #1 : Tallest cylinder with one pound of clay!

Just unloaded two bisque kilns for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students. So much fun seeing their “Main Make” pieces coming together. Lots of soup tureens, bowls, ladles & spoons comin’ out of the kilns this morning. Now they’ve got a lot of glazing to do!!!

After last night’s THROWDOWN challenge, we had only four people who made the weight restriction! Beautiful designs & careful craftsmanship. We were all so impressed by these Top Four… but even more enamored by the great shadows they were casting upon the table! Well done Taylor, Katie, Ruth & Jack!

We had some AMAZING carved bowls… now “baskets?”… last night in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class. The challenge was to carve away more than half of the weight with a decorative design of cut-outs & piercings… keeping the rim & footring intact. Great work by all & some some fine learning moments along the way. Some people succeeded… while others didn’t quite make the weight… and others “may have” had a few breaks & implosions along the way!

Like Jack’s bowl that started with a great geometric pattern of diamonds & triangles… but a couple broken cuts & weight restrictions forced him to go all willy-nilly breaking out more support-connectors all around. Much to all of our surprise… his bowl remained intact, standing by itself & oddly beautiful in its free-form craziness… and now the lightest bowl of the evening by far!!! HA!!!

After trimming & weighing their “now perfect-ER” bowls…
the real THROWDOWN challenge last night was revealed.
And they never saw it coming!!! HA!!!

Since I had the weight of their bowls already written down, their final challenge was to carve a decorative design of cut-outs & piercings while keeping the rim & footring intact. But the real kicker?… they had to carve away at least HALF of the trimmed bowl’s weight. A much harder challenge than many of them expected. So much fun to see how they each approached the challenge… both creatively & technically. They only had about 90-minutes… so there was not a lot of free-time for planning. And then to see how they needed to pivot when they weighed for the first time and realized they weren’t even close to half of the weight!!! Creativity, craftsmanship & time-restraints meet structural integrity!!! More to come…

Last night during my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I had my students do a little trimming challenge. Taking their “perfect” three pound bowl from last week’s class and trimming the “perfect” footring on the bottom… making it an even “perfect-ER” bowl! We were also looking for a more refined & even wall thickness from top to bottom… giving them a chance to take off some of the extra weight they may have left at the bottom while throwing.

Out of curiosity, we also weighed them all before & after to see how much clay they trimmed off… or at least they thought that was why we were weighing their bowls!!! HA!!! More to come…

Last night in my THROWDOWN pottery class, I challenged them all to make a “perfect” bowl using three pounds of clay. We were looking for a nice round interior with no “beginner’s ledge” or indentation from a flat bottom… and a nice rim. It was fun to see all the different “versions”… the size differences… and the one that flopped at the very last minute.

And now we’re all “waiting” to see what happens next week…
for the continuation of our THROWDOWN bowl project!!!

Well, it’s cold & flu season… so last night in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, the handbuilding challenge was a decorative Kleenex box cover! Many of my students are “not” handbuilders, so this pushed them out of their comfort zones… that and the time constraints. I also brought in my collection of textured handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools in case they wanted to try them. With just 90 minutes for this task, there were some great learning moments, some frustrated re-starts & eventually some great box covers! Well done team!!!

But then this happened?!

After a fun night with friends, I somehow decided to back out of her curved driveway “straight” into the culvert ditch NEXT TO her driveway!!! With the snow blowing all around us, slippery conditions & no tow trucks available… I spent the night at “Chateau Monroe.” This morning it was still snowing… but I got towed out, all good, drove home safely on the roads & am now how safe & sound!!! Coulda been so much worse… luckily we were safe at her house & the bed in her guest room is very comfy. Thanks again Melissa!!!