In my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we’ve been talking a lot about developing a personal style, throwing with intention & design continuity for making sets. So last night I “challenged “ my students to make one full placesetting during class. Dinner plate. Salad plate. Side bowl. Serving bowl. And a tumbler, cup or mug. Once thrown, they now have a few weeks to decorate, trim, fire & glaze before bringing them back to class in Week 9 to show-off their placesetting. And of course I “had to” participate with my own challenge!!!

Tonight in class, my Beginning Wheel students trimmed & added handles making their first mugs of the session!!! Not too shabby for Week Two!!! Well done team!

Last night in my Intermediate Wheel class, a few of us finished our lamp “assignment” for the last class of the session. A few more were stuck in a glaze kiln cooling… while others struggled with not having all of the correct lamp parts & pieces. I can’t wait to see the rest of them… but until then, here are mine, Tessa’s & Bruce’s lamps. And I do believe it was the first handmade lamp for each of us!!!

While playing with “slip inlay” last night in my SURFACE DECORATION class, I also did a demo for simple banded stripes with slip inlay. While trimming, I carved a few thin lines into the clay. Then filled them with slip… and a little bit more to cover them. Then, when the slip dries to leatherhard, you can trim off the top surface flush to the pot to reveal these colored bands… perfectly smooth to the surface.

Last night in my SURFACE DECORATION class, we did a bit of “sanggam” on these tiles to demonstrate the Korean decorative technique. I had prepped the tiles with stamps & slip ahead of time. And then my students “shaved” away the extra slip to reveal the pattern of now “slip-filled” stamps. It was a lot of fun as the images revealed themselves with continued scraping.

Scrape more Taylor…

EVEN MORE TAYLOR!!!

That’s so much better Taylor!!!

In preparation for last night’s class demo with my SURFACE DECORATION class, I made a bunch of stoneware tiles with stamped impressions. I then filled the stamps & slathered on some thick white slip ahead of time to get it all to stiffen up to leatherhard. The plan is to discus “sanggam” as a technique where they will “shave off” the top layer of slip to reveal the stamped pattern… leaving it filled with slip & flush to the top of the tile! More to come…

Last night in my Advanced Beginner’s class, we closed out the evening with a little stamp-making demo & interactive making session. Hopefully I can get these stamps bisque-fired soon enough for them to start using before the class session ends!!!

So last week in my SURFACE DECORATION class, we focused on Mishima. Basically coating the pot with wax, and then carving through with sharp tools… like our favorite DiamondCore Tools! Then you fill the carvings with some underglazes… inlaying the carved patterns. The wax allows you to wipe away the “background” area more cleanly & easily. Then during bisque, the wax disappears & then it’s ready for glazing!!!

So last week I did another “quick” throwing session making a bunch of basic cylinders. I had a plan… and I knew that some of my students would have fun “playing” with them!

This week in my classes we taste-tested the newest OREO flavor… Chocolate Covered Pretzel !!! And we were all pleasantly surprised… the cookie actually tastes a bit like a pretzel… complete with a hint of salt!!! And the chocolate filling?… yummy as always!!!