In my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class today, I did a little sgraffito carving demo for them… using my favorite DiamondCore Tools! They learned how to throw platters in class two weeks ago… it only seemed right that we “finish” the demo platter with a little “demo” sgraffito!!!

After I stamped the demo platter, Olivia felt inspired… and ready to tackle her first stamping project. So she borrowed one of my “favorite” stamps and made a double ring around her newest mug! I told her to be careful… it’s a very slippery-slope!

And then…. almost as if it were a Martha Stewart cooking show… I switched out the platter to one I had thrown a couple days ago to prepare for the demo. This one was a bit stiffer – the wetter-side of leatherhard I like to call it. And then we did a stamping demo on the platter using one stamp for most of it, and then a couple little details along the rim! Fun demo for everyone!!!

This morning with my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we tackled how to throw good plates & platters. A dinner with a smoothly curved flange, and a larger platter with a flared out rim. One with a nice spiral, the other with concentric circles just to mix it up a bit!!!

This past Tuesday night in my wheelthrowing class, I shared my DiamondCore Tools with some of my students to try out. They loved the sharp-crisp carvings & trimmings that they made. And then Katie tackled a bowl she made with marbled clay of ochre & B-clay. As if the marbled swirl weren’t cool enough… Katie carved a repetitive pattern on the sides to reveal an even cooler pattern within the marble!!! Well done Katie… I love it… as you know, MORE IS MORE!!!

Another entry in the “post-pandemic-shutdown” glazing of Lillstreet Throwdown projects… Christine finally got her colorful bowls back with some mixed results! For many of her projects in my Throwdown class, Christine was experimenting with some colorful underglazes, and slips made with Mason Stains. A bold move without testing the results first. Well, we finally have some of her pieces back to compare before & after firing.

Some of the colors worked well, some of them not-so-much. Orange looks like the big winner… turquoise good… green fired darker than expected but still nice… as well as the purple which actually turned out to be more of a deep blue?! Pretty, but blue. And the yellow?… GONE!

Here’s her set of four matching bowls… with colorful flowers!

And her set of matching dessert bowls…

And her tie-dyed bowls with swirled slip… again, orange is the WINNER!

Pre-pandemic we were just finishing up our Great Lillstreet Throwdown class… just a couple days later the world shutdown! So now, several months later, some of my students are just now getting around to glazing their pieces. These are two pieces by Jacob… a sgraffito carved bowl and his Volkswagon VW flower brick!!!

A far cry from Jacob’s penchant for dipping all of his pots in a plain lavender glaze like he did for the first couple years!

So apparently I touched my face… err, my mask… a bit more than normal in class this morning?! I think it might have been when I had to pop it off for a second when I showed them how to blow into a bottle to “inflate” and enlarge it a bit.

And did anybody notice how I said “mask” and “normal” in the same sentence and it didn’t seem weird?

Okay, THAT’s weird!!!

Today in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class we tackled throwing taller… vase, bottle, whatever. It was all about getting the clay to move up off the bottom, getting it out of the bottom corners and move it up the sides to make taller pieces.

After a demo with a few quick tips & tricks, they were well on their way. I gave them a challenge of at least 9-inches tall with two pounds of clay. Everyone who tried it made it… and some were just a bit giddy!

So our baby blocks finally came out of the kiln…
and I got together last night with Molly & Jacob to drop them off!

Remember, we made these ceramic blocks last session pre-Covid during our Lillstreet Throwdown class. Newly pregnant at the time, but now they’re one month away from their due date! They loved their baby blocks… so ADORABLE… and I loved the Lickety Split frozen custard we went out for afterwards too!