When we last visited this class demo project, I had thrown these silly little spiky things off-the-hump in class as part of a “challenge”… thanks Christine!

Since then, I started to make pinch pots with the extra clay at the bottom… creating some SPOONS!!! I may have left the clay dry up a smidge too much, as the pinch pot clay was a bit harder to move around than expected.

But after a little “persuasion” the spoons started coming together nicely. I got them “mostly” formed, but then decided to let them sit & stiffen up a little bit more before finishing them.

A beautiful swirl of marbled clay! A small dessert plate by one of my students who has been playing with marbled colored clays! Nice swirl Katie!

Speaking of class demos… here’s my first bowl using the water erosion technique! Remember, I used shellac to paint on the pattern and then wiped away the surface of the background… leaving the protected areas a little raised from the background. I then glazed it in a forest green celadon glaze that turns blue when the soda atmosphere hits it. So the wide range of colors that go around the bowl are all from the “magic” of the soda kiln firing… not me!!!

Last night we unloaded the soda kiln, cleaned, scraped, etc… and then took some time to admire our newest treasures! My students were excited to see their new soda-fired pieces – and the randomness that happens during the firing! There were some pleasant surprises… and some not-so-pleasant surprises! But here are just a few of the pieces that came out of the kiln last night. Kudos to my students on their beautiful pots!!!

After they had all the FUN of unloading their newly soda-fired treasures… they also got to experience the “FUN” of cleaning the kiln, scraping & kiln washing the shelves, and making the kiln room better than we found it – ready for the next loading team to come in. So they learned a lot in this workshop… and they also got to participate in this sweaty GLAMOROUS side of soda-firing!!!

Once the door was finally taken off, my workshop participants got to see all of their freshly soda-fired pots! Some of them had never soda-fired before… some had never even loaded a kiln before! So this workshop was a great “taste” of the soda-firing process in a short time! Lots to learn. Lots to experience!

Tonight was the final night of our SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP at Lillstreet. My students finally got to unbrick the door of the soda kiln to see their new treasures inside! Its always an “emotional-adventure” when you start to see your new pots “revealed” as the door comes down row by row by row! Lots of oohh’s & aahh’s along the way… and a few ughh’s as well. I always tell students that just because it may not have turned out how you “expected” it to be… doesn’t mean it’s bad. Sometimes they just take a little longer to win your lovin’!

As part of last week’s class demo of “throwing-off-the-hump” we tackled a few Christmas ornaments. It’s never too soon, right?!

Looks like Rikke has continued her adventures with texture using one of my carved rolling pins from Stodola! We started this in our Thursday morning class when she wanted to go bigger than her textured rubber mat would allow. The carved rolling pins from Stodola allow her to go as big as she can! The texture & pattern is working well… and we’re both loving the “wood texture” inside some of the pressed squares!

Click here to see more from STODOLA!!!