And so it begins… tonight was the first night of our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class!!! Their first challenge was to “recreate” two drinking glasses in clay. Matching sizes, proportions, angles, textures & styles. Easier said than done!

Part two was to choose one of their new two cups… which then became their new prototype to make three more to match. Ultimately ending with a matching set of four.

Everyone did pretty good… with many of themselves even impressing themselves. So many cups made in not a lot of time. So much fun with a great group of students… some new “throwdowners” & some repeating for another season of pottery fun!!

Here’s one of my class demos on carving & surface decoration that I finally got around to glazing… been a while. The platter has white slip on the flange rim that I dried a bit before carving the leaf pattern. And then I added little “berries” using a darker clay body. A rich green glaze makes it perfect for the holidays! Kinda now wish I had carved holly leaves instead?… ah, next time!!!

Anyway… this platter will be there for one lucky customer
this weekend at my SECOND HOLIDAY HOME SHOW!!!

A couple sessions ago, my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class all made snowmen for the holiday fun of it!!! Looks like Tina’s snowman has found one of my green trees for his neighborhood!!!

Who knew this was a thing?… today is NATIONAL GARY DAY!!! So it’s all about me?!… kinda. According to Google… “National Gary Day” is celebrated each year on November 20, and is a day to show appreciation for people named Gary in your life.

As a teacher and “self-proclaimed & unrequested life coach”… I’m always willing to tell you want you should be doing!!! Even if it’s just for my own entertainment! Kinda like today’s holiday… just a little extra FUN FOR ME!!! But trust me… it’s real thing!!!

Last night in my Intermediate Wheel class, we celebrated the final class of our Fall session with a fun potluck & trading/stealing game. The category was handmade pie plates… with your potluck food baked inside! Needless to say… we had PLENTY of pie… and I was one happy camper with the palate of a four year old. No such thing as too many pies!!! Chocolate Cream, Spiced Pumpkin, Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cream & more. I made a Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Pie in my red stamped pie plate… which Claire won & took home along with the yummy leftovers!

Hard to believe that it has already been three months since my Alaskan adventure!

Traveling to Fairbanks to teach a two-day workshop with the Fairbanks Potters Guild. We had such a great weekend playing in the clay together. It was such a great group of potters all ready to share ideas, tips & tricks! We had a great time… and I’m looking forward to “taking my show on the road” more often in the future.

If anyone else is looking for a Chicago potter to come to your studio, art center or pottery guild… keep me in mind! We made so many pots in just two days. We made stamps… made mugs… made platters… made bowls… and made memories for a lifetime!

Last night in class, we broke out the new 10” decorating disk from MKM POTTERY TOOLS. Darcy was trying to draw a mandala pattern & wanted to space things out perfectly. The decorating disk made it so easy… and the new 10” size was perfect for decorating her pie plate!

Sharing my DiamondCore Carving Tools helped make the carving fun too!!!

Just a quick flashback… to last week’s demo fr my Beginning Wheelthrowing class. Where we worked on making “bowls on purpose and not cylinders gone bad”. Towards the end of class, we spent some time altering some of the bowls & adding some surface decoration. So this is where we left them last week… ready for just a bit MORE!!!

Part Two of my class demo last night was to turn all of my simple round bowls into some “not-so-basic” bowls with simple alterations & surface decorations. Just encouraging my students to start decorating… to push their clay a little further… and to more HAVE FUN!!!

And then THIS happened!!! While my students went to practice making their bowls… I made “a few” more too!!! Just one bag of clay quickly turned into bowls. All waiting to be altered & decorated as Part Two of the demo!!!