After decorating their tiles, I decided to do some quick demos for them on three basic bowls. I had the best intentions… but this time it didn’t go all that well. Valiant effort… loved one of the demos… ha some slip issues.. and some timing concerns!

Anyways… we started here with three basic bowls…

BOWL DEMO #1 –
My first”plan” was to take a bunch of colored slip and do some well-planned dripping effects on the interior of the bowl. In theory, it’s not that hard. However… the full layer fo white slip was great, the bands of black were good too… bu tthe green slip was FAR TOO THICK!!! It just kinda clumped on in place, and didn’t do any running down!!! And then to make matters worse, the red slip was far too watery!!! Yep, shoulda checked all that out before class, right?! If all goes well, the colored slips “glide” down the side and kinda pushes the colors down along the way. You can see a bit of the black bands being pushed down by the green.

But if you look closely… you can also see that there is a black drip in the lower right corner that is pushing UP!!! Well, after the demo wasn’t going to well, I decided to just push the pedal down all the way and let the slip fly!!! I expected the slip to blend more like old-school spin art… still too thick… but it did splatter & fly. Not into the splash pan… but luckily my shorts were there to catch the flying slip!!!

BOWL DEMO #2 –
My second plan was to do a “tie-dye” effect with colored slip… in honor of PROJECT RUNWAY!!! Yes, seems like this week’s episode of PROJECT RUNWAY was focusing on tie-dye becoming high fashion! Who knew that I’ve been a tie-dyed trendsetter for so many years and never quite knew it?!

Anyway… I should my students how to do some marbling with colored slips…
the closest I could come up with to be a tie-dyed effect! Just pour some “puddles” of colored lsip into the bowl, and then swirl. twist, squiggle and swirl some more… and then pour out the excess. Just that easy… easy-peezy!

BOWL #3 –
My third plan was to do several layers of color slips squiggled & painted on some newspaper. The plan is that the water seeps into the newspaper and lets the slip stiffen up. After several layers of slip, and enough time on the newspaper, you can cut out sections, lift them up carefully and place them onto the surface of the bowl almost like an applique. Sadly, I didn’t start the squiggles & layers soon enough… as I was having too much fun watching them play with their tiles… time got away from me… and my slip never quite set-up enough to cut * apply. So I told them we would try to do it again next week… and I would start a LOT sooner!!

Luckily, my students LOVED the marbled “tie-dye” effect… and all fun & excitement ensued!!!
And they were “tasked” with another challenge…. to decorate their “blindfolded bowl” with one of the tree techniques. And since only one of them really worked… there was a lot of marbling of slip!

While others were too busy finger-painting… and loving it like a four-year old!!!

So here are a couple of our “tie-dyed” bowls…

And one of the dripped slip technique… working a bit better than MY demo!!!

And does anyone see a face in this one, or is it just me?!!!

Unfortunately, one of the “blindfold bowls” didn’t quite survive.
It was far too wet going into the challenge.. and the layers of slip just didn’t help any!

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This week in my Lillstreet Throwdown class, they all returned with their “blindfold-thrown bowls” as they had to refine & trim them a bit. I think most of them thought we would be working on decorating them in class as “part two” of the assignment. Instead, I had them spray their bowls with water and wrap them up with plastic. We “might” decorate them… but not right away!

Instead we switched to tile-making!!!
They were tasked with making nine 4″x 4″ tiles in twenty minutes. The goal was even thickness, clean edges & good corners. So they started by wedging their clay, throwing slabs and then cutting them into flat tiles. It was fun to see them approach the task… most with rulers… none of them considering the slab roller… and Melanie making a template to use to cut them all nice & square!

After we critiqued & judged the tiles, they began to decorate them with colored slips. They had 45 minutes to finish all nine tiles… which sounds like plenty of time, until you start figuring out how many minutes per tile that works out to be! The challenge for this project was that their group of tiles should coordinate with a common color palette. Their tiles should NOT match as they had to utilize a different slip application technique on each tile. We were looking for creativity, technique, style, cleanliness and overall impression. Basically I was looking for people to embrace the spirit of the challenge… and have a good time exploring different slip possibilities!

Just a couple tile close-ups… loving the textures, patterns and techniques!

At the end of their time, we went around and looked at all of the sets of nine. Some people kept it simple with one color, some went for multiple colors. Some when over-the-top while others kept it minimal. Some kept exploring a common pattern in different ways, while others went for deconstructed versions of the same!

Alwasy fun to see how they all approach the project… and then what they come up with. And with a bit of a time-restraint, they also had to work a bit faster and not over-think things too much. Maybe have a little more fun… and trip upon some new, fun decorative techniques!

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For subbing Lisa’s class, I like to do “demo-on-demand “…
which means I’ll kinda do whatever they want. So today Jeannine requested some bowl finishing tricks, and Julia wanted me to “throw something too tall to put on her class shelf.” Which turns out to be about 12-inches. So I did four quick bowls, threw a tall vase with just four pulls, decorated the bowls… and then chatted & solved all of the problems of the pottery world. As always, a fun class to sub for!!!

Ready for tonight’s class demo…

As if throwing mini’s wasn’t fun enough… we also went back to basics with some bowls. So they each wedged up two 3-pound balls of clay to throw a good, large bowl. Two balls of clay = two chances. No wedging up more if they both fail.

They were all set at the wheel… thinking we were ready to go…
when I pulled out another envelope… SURPRISE!!!

I also pulled out some bandanas to use as BLINDFOLDS!!!

So we were still throwing large bowls….
and being judged by a measurement of height plus width!
While blindfolded!!!

They all did a great job… pulling it out in the end. Some were slower & more focused…
while others just jumped into it blindly!!! So to speak… all pun intended.
I do think they had fun throwing blindfolded… I KNOW that I had fun watching them!!!

After watching a recent episode of British TV hit “The Great Pottery Throwdown” where the task was to throw some miniature pots… I knew we had to steal that idea and do it again!!! We tried to keep the challenge the same… where they had to throw three pieces each UNDER SIX CENTIMETERS… yes, we’re keeping it metric!!! So they each had to throw a miniature bowl, cylinder and a bulbous vase with narrowed neck. And to go one step further.. they also needed to add some color to their pots!

Now for some reason… on the television reality show, they didn’t allow them to throw off-the-hump?! I don’t think the topic even came up?.. maybe they don’t do that across the Pond yet? So my students didn’t get to either… finding out how difficult it is to wedge, center and throw such a small ball of clay!

After the 25-minute time limit ended, we did a little critique and measured to check that they all made it UNDER six centimeters!

And then we moved onto the next challenge… which was the same…
but now throwing off-the-hump!!!… and with 5 minutes less since it should be easier!

After the 20-minute time limit ended, we went back to discuss and compare the mini pots. And to discuss how they felt, what was easier, what was tougher, and if throwing off-the-hump made much of a difference!

So after tackling some basic handbuilding skills last week like rolling coils & throwing slabs, my THROWDOWN students were challenged to handbuild a decorative flower brick. It was so much fun to see them as they were “unveiled” from under their plastic wrappings. Each one was so amazing… and I loved seeing how each person interpreted the challenge, and designed their own version of a flower brick!

And what’s a proper flower brick without some flowers???…
so I brought in some fake flowers just to see how they looked in each person’s vase.

Sadly, I had two students who didn’t quite get to finish their pieces… one for a flu illness, and one for a family obligation. But the rest of them ROCKED IT OUT!!! They were so amazing… that we decided as a group that they were ALL WINNERS this week!!!

HELEN
We all loved the shape of Helen’s flower brick… and how it so perfectly splayed out the flowers. Along with textures & carved patterns… including textured straps across the top!

NORAH
A whimsical twist on the flower brick with a nod to a honeycomb.
Texturally “influenced” by one of my Stodola rolling pins!

TAYLOR
Our only wall vase… along with a removable lid that helps with cleaning!

JEN
A wonderfully textured vase with swirling rim-openings to help hold the flowers…
extra amazing as this was Jen’s first handbuilding project!!!

MOLLY
A textured square box with a removable lid for cleaning… and perfectly crafted flowers on the side. Plus, as I was taking these photos, I picked it up to move it over… and it was amazingly light!!! About half of the weight that I was expecting to lift up.

JACOB
A very smooth & groovy “flower power” brick on wheels!
NOW I see what all of that orange masking tape was used for…
to get the fine black lines detailing every side!

CHRISTINE
Such an amazingly clean & purposeful flower vase with a removable lid for cleaning purposes. A more than amazing entry from Christine… as this was her first handbuilding project… ever! I think she’s onto something!!!!

TRACY
With an amazingly colorful & fanciful patterned flower brick of terra cotta. And quite a few different decorative techniques layered & working together throughout all sides of the vase.

MELANIE
With a “quilted” basket look full of textures & patterns… and underglaze transfers.
Textures “courtesy of” my textured rolling pins from STODOLA!

So there they are… another AMAZING PROJECT that my students just KILLED!!!
This season’s group of Throwdown-ers is amazing!!!

After class last night, I happened to see two of my THROWDOWN students working on feverishly on their homework project in another classroom. I tried my best not to peek… not to see… not to get a glimpse… I tried, really I did... but I LOVED this pile of orange masking tape that Jacob was using to help with his detailed underglaze applications. Okay, I will say this… from what I “didn’t see”… these two projects are going to be AMAZING!!!

Can’t wait to see them “finished” tomorrow night in class!
Because I didn’t see them yet… much… maybe… okay, just a little… how could I not?…

Okay, so I’ve been trying my best to follow the new “standardized & mandated” syllabus for all Beginning & Advanced Beginning Classes at Lillstreet. So we did the demo for throwing a taller cylinder as listed.

And then we were also supposed to introduce colored slip as a decorative technique.
Maybe the assumption was that we would slip paint the demo cylinder???…
but I think it makes a lot more sense to demo some fun, quick tricks inside bowls.
But with bowls now being the Week One demo… I guess my big “Bowls On Purpose” and multiple rims & decorative techniques demo doesn’t quite fit the new syllabus???!

So I scaled it back a bit… only eight bowls with some slip techniques as “mandated”…
and a couple rim techniques as requested by my students! Which is a shame, because I’ve always thought that demo was one of my best ever… and my students were always WOW’ed by it!!! Hope they liked the shorter, smaller, scaled back version too?!

Bowl A – A simple flared flange rim.. with a thin layer of white slip.

And then there were a couple requests from students who have seen “the full” bowl demo before… and they asked if I could do the split rim bowls again.

And who am I to say “NO”?… even if it’s NOT on the “standardized syllabus?

Bowl B – Ashley’s requested split rim bowl with some quick pinches back together!

Bowl C – Another split rim fluted in and flared out…
kind of a lotus “squared off” bowl as requested by Michelle.

So then I got back on track… and back to the slip demo as “prescribed” by the syllabus..

Bowl D – I was going to paint on a full layer of white slip on the interior… but once I put that one first paintbrush swoosh…. we all kinda liked it and decided we should leave it there! So NOT my normal style, but they all voted to keep it this way! Especially because of that one “perfect” round drop!

Bowl E – This time I did fill the interior with thick white slip,a nd then dragged the rounded end of my wooden knife through the slip as the wheel was spinning… ‘cuz everyone loves a good spiral.

Bowl F – Another bowl covered with a layer of thick white slip…
and then squiggled & wiggled through with my fingertip!

Bowl G – After a layer of thick white slip again, I used a rounded rubber rib for some rhythmic chattering trough as the bowl was spinning.

Bowl H – Another student request… “Can you mix or blend two colors?”… so we did!
A nice ombre blend of white to black… and then a squiggle spiral through it.

After class I brought them all up to my studio and put them under plastic. I want to keep them soft… because there may just be a little stamping & detailing to be done to them still before trimming. Maybe?… Hypothetically?…

So far the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN has been mostly focused on wheelthrowing projects… but this week it took a turn into handbuilding!!! To ease our way in, we started with a few smaller challenges!

CHALLENGE #1 –
The were challenged to cut-off two “perfect” one-pound balls of clay. They could not use a scale, just their gut for weighing them blindly. Tougher than it sounds. After they each “thought” they had the one-pound balls… we went to actually weight hem with a digital scale! For most of them, they over-estimated the amount of clay. But we had two people who were shockingly spot-on!!! Tracy & Jacob were a tiny but under on one ball, and an equally tiny bit over on the other ball of clay… evening out to two “perfect” balls when averaged out.

CHALLENGE #2 –
The next challenge was to take those one-pound balls of clay and do a bit of coil-rolling. Some of my students had surprisingly never really rolled coils, so I did a quick demo for them. They then rolled coils trying to get them as long as they could in three minutes. The catch was, that if their coil broke at any point they could not put it back together… and their challenge was over as we would measure their longest segment. We had four “winners” in this challenge… one from each table… with Jacob, Taylor, Stacey & Dana. But they weren’t done yet…

CHALLENGE #3 –
The four “semi-finalists” carried on for another coil challenge! This time we doubled the amount of clay, and doubled the amount of time… and cut the number of hands in half!!! Yes, they could only use ONE HAND to roll the longest single coil that they could in six minutes!

But it was Dana who literally “rolled over” her competition…
and practically took over the entire table with her one-handed coil.

CHALLENGE #4 –
After coiling, we moved on to slab throwing. Again, we started with a quick demo… and then they started pulling their slabs. No slab rollers. No rolling pins. Just throwing them by hand!!! The goal was to get the largest continuous rectangle of clay… no folding over edges, no patching of holes, no fixing of tears… just one big solid rectangle.

After they pulled the clay as far as they thought they could,
I trimmed off the raggedy edges to reveal their inner-rectangle for measuring!

THE HOMEWORK CHALLENGE –
So now that they’ve warmed-up their handbuilding skills… it was time to give heir their next THROWDOWN CHALLENGE… and their first handbuilding challenge!!! For next week’s class, they need to construct a handbuilt flower brick. Keeping in mind their structure, stability, functionality and creativity! I showed them some examples of various flower bricks to inspire & get their creative juices flowing… and I also offered up my STODOLA textured rolling pins in case they wanted to use them?!

I can’ t wait to see what they come up with for our next class!