After an hour of sculpting time, my THROWDOWN students had finished their first cereal mascot sculptures. Only to find out that they weren’t done yet… and that they had to do a second one in just 45 minutes!!! They could have traded mascots… but instead, all decided to go with a new cast of cereal characters!!! It was so much fun watching them make these amazing sculptures… watching the parts & pieces come together in the final minutes!!!

This week in my GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged them all with a sculpture challenge! Most of them had never done a three-dimensional sculpture before. And what better way to celebrate NATIONAL CEREAL DAY than by sculpting some of the famous cereal mascots!!! They may have been new to sculptures… but “They’re Grrr..rreat!!!

Sadly, not all of the woven projects survived the THROWDOWN night…
as this one ended up in the swampy bucket of reclaimed clay!

By the end of Thursday night’s class, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWNers had some amazing woven bowls & plates. Some of them were still a bit to wet to pop off of their forms, and some tried too soon… but we all loved the results & they had a great time trying a new process. I think they felt they could do it… especially when I told them that my Summer Campers have done it too. And if the kids can do it… these competitive adults can do it too!!! And they gladly accepted the challenge!!!

This week in our GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, they did a little “Time Warp” again… and then started working with their warp & weft. Yes.. it was Weaving Night!!! They were challenged to make a plate, bowl, vase or whatever form they wanted to… but the “majority” of it had to be woven clay. Oddly, I “assumed” this would be a coil rolling challenge… but almost everyone went with sliced slab ribbons?! Most of them had never done weaving before… so it was a fun challenge to watch as they had to do a lot of problem-solving along the way!

Okay, so I’ve been a little busy lately… and somehow missed posting about our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenge from last week. They were tasked with building a creamer & sugar set. They could wheelthrow or handbuild it… but a half-hour in, they found out that they needed to incorporate BOTH techniques into their project somehow! And then later, with just a half hour left, all of them racing to finish…. they also found out they needed to make a tray to hold it all together!!! They were all surprised to find out that they could make all of this in just 2-1/2 hours… when normally it would take them days or even weeks!!!

Seemed to be the theme for this week’s GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenge… and there was plenty of laughing all night! They started at the wheel with a directive to “throw their own most perfect shape” in just 15 minutes. I think some people panicked & rushed too fast at the beginning, while others had extra soft clay that didn’t work in their favor. So many of their “most perfect” pieces were not-so-perfect. But who cares?… it’s just clay!

Also because the “real challenge” was for everyone who followed to re-create that exact “perfect” prototype as they had to move one wheel to the right and recreate the piece in front of them. Again… and again… and again. Realizing how hard it is to throw with intention… but even worse, to have to copy someone else’s intention… or in this case… “flop-tention”?? The winners were those people who “copied” the prototypes the best. “NAILED IT.”

Another challenge accomplished… after just two hours, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN‘ers all had fun sets of four handbuilt mugs!!! Each of them featuring fun textures & patterns from MKM Pottery Tools … and special congratulations to Emily for winning first place as a first-time handbuilder!!! I think she might be a prodigy… or a Throwdown Ringer???

Next up?… at the end of the class, they were faced with another challenge in another envelope. I gave them the chance to skip the task in the envelope, but if we opened the envelope they would all HAVE TO follow whatever was inside! They discussed the options, but in the end chose to open the envelope!!!

Turns out their next challenge is now to “color-ize” their mugs with colored slips or underglazes… to highlight the textures & patterns!!! They will bring them back to the next class all decorated… knowing that down the road they can only glaze them with clear glaze!!!

With only two hours to create their four “matching” handbuilt mugs, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN‘ers were crazy busy working at tables all around the room. Some had more control of their process… while some were flying by the seat of heir pants while tackling their first ever handbuilding project!!! All in all, they were all quite impressive… even though they were approaching the task from several different directions! So much fun for ME to watch & “comment on” along the way!

A lot of texture rolling & pattern pressing happened in class last Thursday night for the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN. I gave them a task… and my MKM Pottery Tools hand rollers for the night! Some students had never really handbuilt before… but they were all eager to start rolling!!! Such great patterns… thank you MKM!!!