By the end of Thursday night’s class, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWNers had some amazing woven bowls & plates. Some of them were still a bit to wet to pop off of their forms, and some tried too soon… but we all loved the results & they had a great time trying a new process. I think they felt they could do it… especially when I told them that my Summer Campers have done it too. And if the kids can do it… these competitive adults can do it too!!! And they gladly accepted the challenge!!!

This week in our GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, they did a little “Time Warp” again… and then started working with their warp & weft. Yes.. it was Weaving Night!!! They were challenged to make a plate, bowl, vase or whatever form they wanted to… but the “majority” of it had to be woven clay. Oddly, I “assumed” this would be a coil rolling challenge… but almost everyone went with sliced slab ribbons?! Most of them had never done weaving before… so it was a fun challenge to watch as they had to do a lot of problem-solving along the way!

Okay, so I’ve been a little busy lately… and somehow missed posting about our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenge from last week. They were tasked with building a creamer & sugar set. They could wheelthrow or handbuild it… but a half-hour in, they found out that they needed to incorporate BOTH techniques into their project somehow! And then later, with just a half hour left, all of them racing to finish…. they also found out they needed to make a tray to hold it all together!!! They were all surprised to find out that they could make all of this in just 2-1/2 hours… when normally it would take them days or even weeks!!!

So apparently THIS is what happens when you do a platter demo for your Tuesday night wheelthrowing class… you don’t wire it off the bat… you run it upstairs to your studio to get it out of the way… planning to wrap it in plastic after class… back to more teaching & helping people in class… get busy… get distracted… hoping to remember the platter… but you don’t?!!! A few days later… finding it… and it looks like this!!! HA!!! Who knew?… well, all of us! But it happens… luckily, “it’s just clay”!!!

Last week our snacks were “outta this world” as I shared the new limited edition SPACE DUNK OREOS with all of my pottery classes… and the soda-firing workshop too!!! The cookies are very brightly colored, with some snapping PopRocks mixed in. Overall… good reviews & empty packages at the end of every class!!! But then again… why do the packages just keep getting smaller & smaller??? Do they think we don’t notice?!

Look art Maya’s MASTERPIECE!!! She’s been in my Intermediate Wheeltrowing class for a couple sessions… entering with a plan to make this wonderful collection of platters for her wall at home. We worked on improving her platter-making techniques, as well as surface decorations & glazing. It was a labor of love for Maya… and now I LOVE IT TOO!!! Well done Maya!!! You’ve outdone yourself!

Class registration opened at 10:00am this morning at Lillstreet for the Spring session of classes! Good to see several of my “regulars” at the front of the line trying to register in-person… instead of battling online to snag a spot!!! Good news for me… all three of my Spring classes sold out in less than six minutes!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

Huge congratulations to Taylor in my THROWDOWN class… as this is her very first plate AND her first time doing slip trailing!!! And look how great her very first plate turned out!!! Well done Taylor!

And sure, kiln loading can be a long-drawn out process… but it always helps when there are good snacks! Special THANKS to Martin for baking us some amazing Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with a sprinkle of sea salt on top!!! Amazing as always Martin!

So much fun watching Kelsey get so enamored by the flashings & patinas on some of the crusty kiln door bricks. Sure, it might have slowed down our process a little… but Kelsey is right… some of the bricks are GORGEOUS!!!