Not only did I provide bone dry bowls for my SURFACE DECORATION class while I was gone… but I also left them a package of Birthday OREOs for two of my students. Happy Birthdays Maryanna & Sara!!!

While I was out roadtrippin’ in Minnesota… I left my SURFACE DECORATION class in very capable hands. My friend Catherine Tweedie subbed for me with her “ever-popular” water etching demo. Before leaving town, I provided her with enough bone dry bowls for her demo & for everyone to practice on. From the photos & texts I received… her demo was very well-received. Always my favorite sub teacher… I knew she would knock it out of the park!!! Thanks again Catherine!!!

So while I’m out of town… my SURFACE DECORATION class tonight is still going on! I secured them a great sub teacher with a great demo! And I might have done a little “pre-prep” work so they have pieces to work on tonight. Thank you Catherine Tweedie for covering my class… and for sharing all of you Water Etching secrets with them. I can’t wait to see their results when I get back!!!

This week in my SURFACE DECORATION class, we tackled underglaze transfers. I’m not a huge fan of the pre-made & purchased versions… so we “doodled” & made our own! Black underglaze outlines on paper… then filled in with colorful underglazes. Once they dried, we applied them to our leatherhard pieces just like a temporary tattoo! Wet with a sponge & press gently with a soft rib. Peel way the paper gently & the image had transferred to our pots. We had a lot of fun… and saw that there’s a bit of a learning-curve here. Kudos to those potters on Instagram that do this technique so flawlessly… we all have new-found respect!!!

For tonight’s SURFACE DECORATION class, I told my students to have some leatherhard pieces ready to play with. Looks like “someone”… me… might not have done their homework on time. Any wagers on whether I can get these freshly-thrown pieces to leatherhard in time for class??? You know I love a good challenge!!!

This week in my SURFACE DECORATION class, we tackled stamping & sprigging. I showed them the basics of how I approach a pot, how try emphasize the shape & geometry of the pot with my stamps… and the most important part… how to stamp! Sure, not rocket-science, but there are a few tricks!!! I did my demos and then set them loose… with their own stamps they had made the week before, as well as some of my collection. Many of them had made their “homework” pieces to work on, but I was glad I had a made a bunch too so they had more to “play” with! I tried to emphasize how stamping can become addictive… and they heard the mantra more than once…

MORE IS MORE!!!

For tonight’s SURFACE DECORATION class, their homework assignment was to bring a couple soft-leatherhard pieces to class to work on… as tonight we’re focusing on Stamping & Sprigs. Well there’s a chance… hypothetically… that I “may” have made a few extra pieces for my students to work on in case they failed on their homework!!! Allegedly…

After crackling slip, we spent the last half hour of our SURFACE DECORATION class making clay stamps. My goal is to have them bisqued quickly so we can start playing with them in next week’s class… where the focus will be “stamps & sprigs”!!!

Last night in my SURFACE DECORATION class, we played with some different slip colors mixed with a sodium silicate solution to help us create these wonderful crackled surfaces on our wheelthrown pots!!! Exciting as every one is different every time!!!

This week was our final Intermediate Wheelthrowing class… so we celebrated with a “trading-stealing-white-elephant” kinda game. Category being two dinner plates! We had a lot of fun trading plates… some came in as matching sets & others in singles. Including one matching set that came with an added BONUS… two matching mini’s!!!