Tonight was the final class for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students. So of course I had to come prepared. What’s a challenge-contest class without prize ribbons?!!! Not under my watch!!! They’ve been accumulating points all session… so there just had to be prizes… personalized of course!!!

As we get close to the end of the Winter session at Lillstreet Art Center, another “season” of my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class is quickly coming to an end. This past week was Week 9… and the last class for a bunch of crazy-fun competitions! Twenty to be exact!!!

So I set -up the room before everyone got there… separating the tables into challenge” clue & presentation” areas. Each section also had a folded clue attached. Hidden clues… no peeking!

So they all paired up into teams. Each player blindly choosing a different challenge clue. And then they could discuss their strategy & determine who would tackle each of their challenges. When they finished one task, they would then choose another clue and continue on. They had two hours to complete as many of the challenges as they could while working together or separately. There was a LOT of production going on all over the room… lots of handbuilding, lots of wheelthrowing… LOTS OF FUN!!!

As they finished a task, they got to choose their next challenge. Maybe with a little strategy… pick a new one…. or choose a challenge that someone else has already done, but you think you could do even better? Remember, only one winner per category!!!

Let the games begin!!!

Number One : Make an “ostrich” egg

Number Two : Replicate the glass bottle shape… disregarding the texture on the sides.

Number Three : Replicate the oval bowl.

Number Four : Make a free-standing cylinder 15″ tall

Number Five : Throw an 11″ dinner plate on the wheel

Number 6 : Make a pair of dice.

Number 7 : Matching coils each 24″ long

Number 8 : A hand-pulled slab at 15″ square smooth, flat & even.

Number 9 : Match the red votive cup three times throwing off-the-hump.
whoops… missed a photo?!

Number 10 : Make the :”best” spiral.

Number 11 : Recreate and OREO cookie

Number 12 : Create a chain with at least 20 consistent links

Number 13 : Create some cutlery – make a knife, fork & spoon.

Number 14 : Make a wheelthrown one-piece citrus juicer

Number 15 : Roll a coil and then tie a traditional Celtic knot.

Number 16 : Throw a 12″ wide serving bowl with a well-defined interior curve

Number 17 : Make at least 21 pieces of “Lucky Charms” cereal

Number 18 : Create a perfect sphere with a 22″ circumference.
whoops… my bad, no photos?!

Number 19 : Make a miniature bentwood cabaret chair at least 6″ tall
what was I thinking?… missed another one?!

Number 20 : Wheel throw a Christmas tree… and decorate it too!

And that’s that… okay, so I missed a few photos along the way. Sue me.

At the end, we discussed them all challenge-by-challenge. Determining as a group who the winning team for each challenge. Lots of points awarded tonight leading into the Big Finale this week when they present their big “final” project… the full teapot set based on their chosen Fairy Tales!

We’re nearing the end of the Winter Session at Lillstreet, and I love when it all starts to “click” with my beginners, the proverbial “light bulb” goes off… and they start making some really great pots with intention. Like last night when Nick made this great platter… his biggest piece EVER!!!

Last week in our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to build lidded boxes. While many of them have rather limited handbuilding skills… they still tackled the challenge head-on! They worked on their boxes during class last week… with slabs that were wetter than ideal. At the end of class, they found out that they had a deadline “extension”… as well as a twist!!!

Their lidded boxes were to be finished & refined during the week as “homework”… and they also had to add partitions inside to create at least three compartments!!! So much fun to see their assembled boxes last night at the start of our THROWDOWN class! Very creative & well done!!!

This week in our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to replicate three distinct forms in one hour. They had sixty minutes to make all three. And they couldn’t move the examples off the table. With very little guidance, it was fun for me to watch how each of them approached the task differently. Most quickly jumped on the wheel… one handbuilt them all… yet size & shape were still a challenge for everyone. But it was the “oval” vase that proved to be the real challenge. With a wide range of “success”… some used the wheel while others handbuilt the shape. It was a great challenge for everyone.

Although I will say, I was a little “disappointed” that no one thought to paint them all with the new orange slip we have in the classrooms now! Given another five or ten minutes, maybe someone would have gotten there?! I mean… the examples were ORANGE, right?!

So the “real” challenge this week for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWNers was to throw the largest platter they could with 6-pounds of clay… and then decorate it to “match” or coordinate with their perfect dinner plate! We were looking for well-thrown plates & platters, as well as well-applied surface decoration that pulls them both together. Yep, they didn’t see that one coming! And yet they all did FANTASTIC… quite impressive!

After throwing their “perfect” dinner plate… my LILLSTREET THROWDOWNER’s were then challenged to make the largest platter they could with 6-pounds of clay! Remember, some of them had never made a plate… let alone a huge platter… let alone handling six pounds on a wheel!!! I did a quick demo for them… which they fully appreciated… and then I let them loose!!! And they all did AMAZING!!! Even surprising themselves with their newly-found platter-making skills!

This past Thursday in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to make that one “perfect” dinner plate. Well-thrown & decorated in just 45 minutes. Several of them had never even thrown a plate before. Let alone decorating a freshly-thrown plate that is already wet & squishy!

Little did they know that there was still another “twist” to come…

I just unloaded a “quickie-bisque” kiln that I loaded & fired for my Lillstreet Throwdown students. They’re all working hard on their fairy tail themed teapot sets. And I figured their pieces would be “safer” after bisque firing… and it might give them a jumpstart on their glazing?! Especially if they hope to get all their themed sets done by Week 10!!!

And this is where we ended Tuesday night after my “bowls-bowls-bowls” demo with my Beginners. We talked all about altering shapes & added some decorative flourishes to their pieces not make their pots more unique. Basically… I just want them to have fun, express themselves & PLAY more with their clay!

Here we go…

Bowl #1 – Plain… the “BASIC” bowl fresh off the wheel. This is where they all started!

Bowl #2 – Two little fluted flips!

Bowl #3 – If two are nice, maybe eight fluted flips are better?

Bowl #4 – A flared flange.

Bowl #5 – A wider flared flange

Bowl #6 – A combination flared flange & fluted edges.

Bowl #7 – A split rim with two dramatic indents.
This one will get a big “up & over’ handle to make a basket-bowl.

Bowl #8 – Another split rim… this time with eight pinches to the rim.

Bowl #9 – A split rim with four indents to “square-up” the bowl a bit.

Bowl #10 – A split rim with four dents in & four dents out… kind of a lotus effect.

Bowl #11 – A “surprise” flower-snowflake-design in the bottom from a dragonscaler tool.

After the first few bowls, we discussed colored slips to add some design & detail to their bowls.
I personally like thick white slip a lot… adding texture & subtle contrast to the clay body.

Bowl #12 – Thick white slip with a simple spiral dragged through.

Bowl #13 – Thick white slip with some bands dragged through…
leaving a “canvas” area for carving in the future when the slip dries up a bit.

Bowl #14 – Thick white slip with some finger squiggles going through it while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #15 – Thick white slip with some rhythmic chattering with a rubber rib while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #16 – An ombre’ blend of white & black slip… which will probably be carved through later!

So for now all of the bowls are under plastic in my studio…
waiting for a little more… perhaps some stamping & detailing???