Always fun to see one of my students wielding her DiamondCore Tools in class! Like last night when Darcy was carving cool starburst patterns on some cylinder cups… soon to be filled with wax for some beautiful candles!

Last week in my Intermediate Wheel class, we decided to tackle wheelthrown Christmas trees… as they seem to be all the rage on Instagram! So we started throwing and soon enough had a forest of groovy shapes & styles!!!

And here are my class demos… more trees & more styles to come…

For the final class of my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we decided to up-the-game by going with THREE “matching” mugs. We started with all of the mugs in brown lunch bags. Then we drew numbers to randomize the choosing of mugs… followed by some fun trading, stealing & switching games! No mug was “safe” until the mug trading hijinks were over!

As the bags were opened, we all got to see each other’s creations… along with a little discussion of technique & glazes… combined with a little bit of critique & the appropriate amount of gushing!

Somewhere along the way, someone picked the brown bag that had Christine’s first mug for the game. Tina opened it up… and the game went crazy! Suddenly the game took a turn… as it suddenly became all about ME… and one of my favorite mottos!!!

Gotta love it!!!
So excited that my pottery mantra has been forever memorialized in clay!!! The fact that “my mug” graces the other side of Christine’s mug is just crazy!!!

We each ended up with a nice trio of mugs! Such a fun way to share & trade… and start-off everyone’s Mug Collection!

In preparation for the final Intermediate Wheelthrowing class last session, I made three “matching” mugs our final trading-stealing-exchanging game! Sure, they may not be TWINS… but they are at least very close cousins! My trio would make a nice set… similar size, similar stamps & similar glazes fired in my last soda kiln. So fun to see them go off to someone’s new Mug Collection!

At the end of the Fall session of my Beginning/Advanced Beginning Wheel class, we did a fun trading-stealing-exchanging game with mugs! We each put in one handmade mug… and came away with someone else’s mug! I got this beautiful porcelain cup with subtle details… and a bright red bottom from Catherine!

Possibly the cutest little cup & saucer ever… part of my class demo last week about “throwing-off-the-hump.” Where you start with a large lump of clay, center just the top nugget and throw smaller pieces off the top.

Just finished stamping, trimming & adding colored slip details to the lidded jars I started as part of a demo for my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class last week. Always feels good when everything fits together… and you set them aside to start drying!

Just another quick class demo… showing them how to throw a bit taller, get the clay to move up off of the bottom… and how to get some even wall thickness. Unfortunately, sometimes you gotta cut a few pots to show your students what you’re talking about!

Last week during my Tuesday night pottery class, my teaching assistant Susan did a little sgrafftio demo for the class. We made “bowls on purpose” the week before and introduced colored slips as a decorating option. This was one of those bowls… continuing the week a week later! So Susan explained what sgraffito is… basically decorative carving through a colored slip to “reveal” a design using the base clay color as a contrast. She showed our students how to do it, and then continued during class to make this beautiful “rose” pattern around the interior rim of the bowl.

To see more of Susan’s sgraffito work, follow her on Instagram! – @susanslogoff

Sometimes they’re just perfect for that special occasion!
We “may have”… “allegedly”… “hypothetically”… “quite possibly” enjoyed these in class tonight… “maybe.”

Shhh… don’t tell anyone, ‘cuz we’re not supposed to have shared snacks in class any more… darn Covid precautions!