So Tuesday night’s class was supposed to be “throwing taller”… everyone’s nemesis.
But with the Bulls game… and the Cubs game… and the beautiful evening weather,
attendance was a little low – understandably! So we decided to put off that demo
until next week. And instead, we went with one of my favorites – “Demo On Demand.”
Basically it’s an open night for students to get whatever demo they need… whatever
they missed, whatever they didn’t quite get, whatever they want to see again. So we did
a few different demos… and ended with another demo on how to make ovals for those
who had missed that demo. Plus, we went one step further… and decided that an “oval”
doesn’t always mean that it needs to be a “plain” oval. And after a little post-class-finishing,
this oval pot is now ready to start drying.

And here’s a new favorite… a simple split rim with tight pinches back together
to give it this sort of “quilted” quality! But not on the “side points” sticking out.
I decided to go with the contrast to help define those areas. And then we’ll need to
come up with a similar glazing solution to help accentuate that design choice as well.

So last night was Week Six in our Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheel class.
Let me just say… MY class is a little more advanced than the other beginning classes.
I have a tendency to push my beginners a little more than most. But it’s exciting to see
how they’ve all progressed and are now tackling more advanced pieces. So exciting.

Last night we tackled some more surface decoration techniques. I love showing off
a lot of techniques to my beginners… hoping that at least a couple of them “stick”
somewhere in their heads. If nothing else, it gets them excited to see more fun things
they can do with clay.

So we did some carving, basic sprigs, more slip, carving through slip and more.
The demo’s turned out to be a little too long for class, so I had to finish them up tonight.
And thanks again to my friend Amy Higgason for inspiring the carved & sprigged bowl.

And then we tackled making ovals on the wheel. And the “illusion” of making them look
like the whole piece may have been thrown on the wheel. So we did “the easy” method
of throwing the walls of a cylinder and attaching it to a slab. But the trick is to throw a deep
spiraled bottom piece, and then to stretch it to make the throwing rings appear oval-ized!
Some scoring & slipping… then some stamping & fluting… and today I finished them off
along the bottom edges and added some handles to the large casserole.
The smaller oval will remain handle-less! But still stamped… let’s not get crazy!!!

Well, it’s Week #4 of the Spring Session at Lillstreet Art Center.
And most of my beginners are doing great… and those who aren’t,
are at least doing good and having a great time! So that counts for something, right?!

Tonight was “bowl night” in class and I demo’d how to make bowls on purpose
instead of a cylinder-gone-bad-and-oops-there-it-is-now-a-bowl. As we make the bowls,
I also encourage my students to design, alter & be creative with their bowls. Sure,
they need to make the typical round bowl. But I also like to open their eyes to some
of the other possibilities. There are a LOT of round bowls out there… why not express
yourself a bit to make that round bowl something special?! So, as part of the demo,
I threw ten “practically identical” bowls and then showed them how to do some quick
alterations, and introduced them to the world of colored slips! By the end of the demo,
the ten bowls were each very DIFFERENT bowls… and quick too!

Bowl #1: Plain — Bowl #2: Fluted rim edges

Bowl #3: Flared flange — Bowl #4: Flared & fluted flange

Bowl #5: Split rim & pinched — Bowl #6: Split rim, pinched & squared

Bowl #7: Flower impression — Bowl #8: White slip spiral

Bowl #9: White slip squiggles & line — Bowl #10: White slip chattered

Every time I do the bowls demo, for some reason every one is impressed by the ease and
simplicity of the little flower impression in the bottom of this bowl. A lot of people assume
that it’s a stamp… but instead, it a few impressions with a simple metal tool to create the
flower. I think I got the tool for a couple bucks at Chinese Clay Art. It always makes a
great “surprise” for someone eating out of the bowl when they get down to the bottom!

So there they are… bunches of bowls ready to set-up for the night, dry to leather-hard,
maybe some stamping, then some trimming before they head off to a bisque kiln.

So we’re in the third week of our new Spring Classes at Lillstreet Art Center.
And my “beginners” are progressing nicely. They’ve tackled the basics of wedging
and centering, basic cylinders and trimming. So tonight we pushed on a little further.
With their new “cylinders with shape,” we trimmed and then learned how to pull
and add handles to make mugs. They’re first mugs ever!!! And it’s only Week Three!

Plus, you know I like stamps… so why not encourage my students to make their own?!
And they did… we sat around the table and discussed stamps, textures, patterns and the
importance of “making their own mark” in the pottery. More fun to come once they’re bisqued.

And snacks… did I mention snacks? We may not have the professional pastry chefs
this session, but we do have some fine snack-makers! Last week we had some brownies
with cheesecake & peanut butter chunks in it from Hanna, plus a wonderful bag of
Garrett’s Chicago Mix Popcorn! My favorite… and SO addicting!!! Tonight we had a
wonderful Strawberry Margarita Frozen Pie Concoction from Sido & Will. So in between
making mugs & stamps… there’s always time for a few snacks!!!

So tonight was the first night of the new Spring Session at Lillstreet Art Center.
I’ve got another great group of wheelthrowing beginners… and some returning students!
Sadly, not a single pastry chef in the bunch. I think I got spoiled last session with so many
great treats every week. I threw out the “treats challenge” tonight…
we’ll see if they got the hint.

Oh, but wait… mid-way through class, Sido “ratted-out” her friend Cate by telling me that
Cate’s first job was making French pastries. Wait?… back it up. Okay, so maybe she’s not a
“working chef”… but who cares if she can make good treats? Sido told me all about some
incredibly decadent chocolate layer cake concoction that Cate has made before. Yummy…
Something about chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate mouse, caramel,
hazelnuts, cake, more layers, more chocolate, ganache, more mousse, more, more, more…
all wrapped in chocolate ganache and coated with some kind of yumminess crumble.

I’m in.
Maybe I need to be less subtle next week?…

Tonight was the final potluck celebration for my Beginning Wheel class.
Yes, after 10-weeks of clay fun, my beginners have all progressed quite nicely
and are now creating their own pots. We celebrated with a mug exchange… where
each student brought in a mug they had made and we did an “White Elephant” type
exchange game. So everyone who brought a mug went home with someone else’s mug!
Great fun… with a lot of sharing, encouragement & sharing!

But then… the highlight of the night???… a LOT of great food!!!
Yes, after weeks of some of the best class treats ever, this potluck did not fall short.
With pasta, spinach salad, homemade guacamole, chips, salsa, brownies, cookies,
caprese salad, scalloped potatoes, fresh fruit, Olivia’s sinful chocolate fudge creations
and possibly the best pasta we’ve ever had at a potluck. Yep, chef #1 brought in a dish
of whole wheat pasta with a pumpkin, goat cheese & sage sauce with spicy andouille sausage!

And what better end to the night than a slice of my homemade vanilla cheesecake
literally dripping in caramel sauce?! I’m just saying…

The Spring Session of pottery classes will being at Lillstreet Art Center in just two weeks.
I checked in tonight and found out there are only five spaces left in my class. Five!!!
Sign up as soon as you can… no one likes to be on the waiting list!

Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing… with me!
Tuesday evenings from 7:00pm-10:00pm.
10-week session beginning on March 29th, 2011
Register online at www.Lillstreet.com

With my pastry chefs bringing sweet treats week after week to pottery class,
I figured it was my turn to step up to the plate and bring something fun!
But I know the competition would be stiff, so I decided to take a different route!
How about a whimsical take on an apple pie… without any apples?!!!

It looked like an apple pie. It smelled like an apple pie.
And it appears as though they enjoyed it! Even though
not a single apple was employed in making my mock apple pie!

Tonight was Week #8 of my 10-week Beginning Wheelthrowing class.
And so far, this class has been one of the “sweetest” ones yet!
With three pastry chefs… and plenty of others joining in the fun, we’ve been
having great snacks every week. And tonight was no exception. We had a lot
of topics to cover in class, but everyone was more interested in the treats!

So, Olivia decided to make treats tonight – and they were FANTASTIC!!!
With her adorable Irish accent, Olivia coquettishly wouldn’t tell us what was in them,
other than chocolate, fruit & nuts. It was incredible. And I had to “make sure”
several times! It was a heavenly concoction of fudgey chocolate, pecans,
raisins, sugar, caramel and “some secret stuff.” After taste-testing it repeatedly,
I think the secret ingredient was some sort of cookie. Someone said “digestables”?
Olivia did say that there was no baking involved… which is always good.
And I told her she can bring them again ANY time!!!

Even the pastry chefs were impressed!

Last night in class, in between the sweets, we talked about surface decoration
and how my students can turn their own “plain” pots into very special pots!!!
We talked about trying a bunch of techniques, finding the one they love the
most – and then exploiting i doing as much as they can with it. So during class,
I started each of the demo bowls, but quickly found out there was not going to be
enough time to finish the bowls during class. So I finished them tonight in the
studio. And now they’re drying overnight. Tomorrow I’ll clean them up a bit,
and brush off all of the little burrs & crumbles on the pots!

First I did a quick demo on basic stamping… my favorite which they expected…

And then we talked more about slip and how you can put it on with a more
“painterly” technique. So I put on a layer of white slip, and then did some freehand
swirls with green slip. I hope my students liked it… when I came back to it tonight
I realized that I didn’t like it all that much. So I carved through it tonight.
Still not sure if I like it any better than just the slip?! We’ll see…

Then we moved on to carving, and we discussed the work of my friend Amy Higgason.
She stopped by last session for a class demo, and some of my students were there for
that. Unfortunately, Amy wasn’t in town last night – so I had to do my best to attempt
to carve the pot… in something slightly similar to Amy’s beautiful style. One of Amy’s
“disciples” from her demo last session was there as well… and Pam was excited to show
my class one of her pieces that she was currently carving ala Amy Higgason!!!

The next bowl was carved again.. and then we added sprigs. Another Amy trick!
Amy does this incredible work, and I hope she doesn’t mind that I tried to emulate
her style for the benefit of my class. I know they LOVED seeing the demo again!
Plus, one of my concave stamps worked perfectly as a sprig mold.

One more bowl… what to do?… what to do?…
So the last bowl is surprisingly plain & smooth on the outside… let’s work inside!

So I covered the inside of the bowl I covered with a layer of black slip. And then began
a discussion of sgraffito with my class. I started to carve through, but only did a couple
swipes – before I realized that I needed to focus a bit more on my own… and my students
needed to get back to their own bowl making!!!