In my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class we had a CRAZY NIGHT OF OREO’s!!! It started with a collection of Chinese OREO’s…. brought in by Catherine! As with most non-American OREOs, they were a bit drier, chalkier(?) & not quite as sweet. So we had some kind of plain yogurt OREOs, mango cream OREOs, cherry blossom OREOs & peach with oolong tea OREO’s.

Let’s not get crazy… we also had American Mint OREO’s to wash them all down!!!

After they knocked out the lidded jar project, I knew they would be up for an even bigger & better challenge! So I pulled out the blindfolds (and towels?) and I challenged Summer Campers last week to wheelthrowing while blindfolded. I think they were a little anxious at first, but quickly realized it’s not as hard as it sounded. As long as you take it step-by-step, you realize that you can throw just my touch & muscle-memory. And they all did a GREAT job… and had so much fun that they asked if they could do it AGAIN!!!

Of course I said YES!!!

Last week at Summer Camp I had a group of teenagers. All of them had wheelthrown at last once before… so I knew it was going to be a fun week. They re-learned & practiced throwing on Monday & Tuesday, trimmed & decorated on Wednesday. But it was Thursday when I challenged them to making lidded jars! Yep, full-on lidded jars… complete with caliper-measured lids AND throwing off-the-hump. And they totally rocked it out!!!

Last week in my Beginning Wheel class, we talked about “making bowls on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad.” I dd a demo and we talked about getting that perfect curve on the inside of your bowls… throwing the interior with intention and then trimming the outside to match alter.

Once we had talked about the first bowl… my students then went back to their wheels to start throwing. While they were throwing, I continued to make some more bowls too. After I had made several of them, we re-grouped for another bowl demo.

This time with some tricks & tips on how to make some “not-so-basic bowls”!!! We did some quick alterations, some rim refinements & even some colored slip applications. No one ever said that bowls need to be round, right?!

Bowl #1 – This was the original “prototype”… where all of the bowls began!!!

Bowl #2 – Two simple fluted twists.

Bowl #3 – And if two are good, eight flutes might be better!

Bowl #4 – A thin flare flange.

Bowl #5 – A wider flared flange.

Bowl #6 – A split rim with eight places pinched back together.

Bowl #7 – Another split rim with four areas dented inwards.

Bowl #8 – Another split rim with four areas dented inwards, and another four dented outwards… kind of a “lotus” pattern. Can you tell I’m kinda infatuated with the while split rim process?

After altering some of the basic bowls, it was time to introduce some thick slip as a decorative option. I chose “thick” white slip so I could get some good textures from the slip for the glaze to pool & puddle on later.

Bowl #9 – A layer of thick white slip, with the curved end of my wooden knife dragged through to create the dramatic spiral.

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip covering the interior… with a rubber rib used to drag some lines through.

Bowl #11 – Thick white slip with some rhythmic chattering to create the pattern.

Bowl #12 – An ombre’ blend of thick white & iron red slips.

Bowl #13 – White & iron red slips again… with some rhythmic chartering going through it.

After the demo, we cleaned up & I brought the bowls up to my studio to keep them covered with plastic for the night… as there “just might be” some stamping & detailing still to come!

This past Monday night in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we discussed how to throw with a bit more “intention”… and how to approach throwing “matching sets.” I offered up a few options… as one of their class challenges is to bring two “matching” bowls to our final class as few weeks from now! One of my best suggestions is to throw a few extras that are “similar” and then decorate & trim them to make them match even more… and then pick the two that match the best!!! I went with four… hoping to get two that match!!!

Last night my Wheelthrowing Beginners trimmed & added handles to make their first mugs with me! Not bad for their second class of the new Summer session, huh?!

We started a new session of my beginning wheelthrowing class tonight! New session, new students… new flavor… same “yellow towel situation”!!!

While the new class session starts this week, I found these pictures from last session… when one of my Intermediate Wheel students was working on decorating this large platter. Maya has been working on making a collection of large platters to install on her wall at home. They all have a “leaf motif”… like this one with fresh oak leaves pressed onto her platter, painted with thick white slip… and then the leaves removed to leave natural impressions & patterns. Beautifully done Maya!!!

After wiping away the excess underglaze, my SURFACE DECORATION students were left with cylinders with great “illustrations” incised into their cylinders highlighted with colorful underglaze. These will now dry & be bisque-fired… and then glazed. It was a great way for my class to wrap-up after tackling several different techniques over the past 10-weeks. Thanks for playing everyone!

After letting the underglaze set-up a bit in the carved areas, we gently wiped away the excess that was sitting on top of the wax resist… carefully leaving as much underglaze in the carved lines as possible.