And a huge THANK YOU to my amazing THROWDOWN class…
who got me this fantastic tie-dyed t-shirt as a “Thank You Gift.”

Well, actually they made it… with Monse designing the logo!
It says “Welcome To The Throwdown : Kiln or Be Kilned.” With a nod to my love of tie-dye, reality TV show “The Traitors”… and even some stamping around the tureen image! Monse even pulled one of my own favorite stamp patterns to create the design!!!

This class never ceased to amaze me… THANK YOU ALL!!!

And the nominees are…

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. And that journey definitely deserved RIBBONS FOR EVERYONE!!!

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 a huge THANK YOU to my amazing THROWDOWN class… who got me this fantastic tie-dyed t-shirt as a “Thank You Gift.” Well, actually they made it… with Monse designing the logo! It says “Welcome To The Throwdown : Kiln or Be Kilned.”

With a nod to my love of tie-dye, reality TV show “The Traitors”… and even some stamping around the tureen image! Monse even pulled one of my own favorite stamp patterns to create the design!!! This class never ceased to amaze me… THANK YOU ALL!!!

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.”

Last night in class with my Beginners, we did a fun “white elephant” trading-stealing-exchanging game with handmade mugs!!! I put in a stamped & soda-fired mug… and came home with Michael’s cool striped black mug… made with thin lines of tape as the “resist” for the glazing process to make sleek stripes!!! Nicely done Michael.

This is our final week of classes for the Winter session at Lillstreet… and we like to celebrate with a group potluck. And if you bake a double batch of brownies… you can bring them to both Monday & Tuesday night classes.

Yes… voice of experience!!!

Another “monstrously“ fun night at the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN this past week!!! For their final handbuilding challenge… we took inspiration from Gretchen the “Master Monster Maker”… @biggirlco . I’ve loved seeing her monsters online over the years. So I shared her page with my class… discussed being “inspired” by her work… and definitely making our own versions & not copying hers!

So my class had just over two hours to make their own “free-standing” monster… with a minimum of 12” tall. Not an easy assignment… especially with a time restraint. Handbuilding takes time… as they learned… “wet clay” typically doesn’t want to stand up on its own! Everyone had a GREAT time… thanks again to Gretchen @biggirlco for the inspiration! We hope we did you proud!!!

This week we tried the latest OREO creation… based on the Marvel comics!

But I have a couple questions… like why would I care about Marvel characters on my cookies? Or why would I want GREY cream in my OREOs?? And more importantly… why would I want them to turn BLUE when I lick them??? Well… apparently I was wrong… and we had a lot of fun with them in all three of my classes!!! I fear that the blue dye is still wearing off…

Tomorrow is class registration at Lillstreet Art Center for the Spring session of pottery classes. I will be teaching my usual Intermediate Wheel on Monday nights, Beginning Wheel on Tuesday nights & a once-a-year special Surface Decoration class on Thursday nights. Registration begins at 10:00am… in-person & online. But I will say… that ever since Covid, it seems like registering for a pottery class is pretty tough! My classes will typically fill-up & close in about five minutes! Everyone jokes… but sadly, it’s not very funny… that registration at Lillstreet has become kinda like “The Hunger Games.”

Here’s the online link…. and good luck… www.lillstreet.com

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!!!