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!!!

After stacking the kiln full of pots, it was time to close the door last night… brick-by-brick, one at a time. Luckily, I had some eager volunteers to help with the process. The bricks of the kiln door have been well-used & well-worn through MANY soda-firings, so stacking them is an ever-changing challenge. With that, a little sealing of the bigger cracks with some wadding always helps. They all persevered and we finally got it closed up & put to bed for the night.

It was a LONG night of loading, with my SODA WORKSHOP students learning a lot & did a lot of the work! They did a great job collectively… working together to make some loading decisions & working together to get all of their pieces in! Most of them had never loaded a kiln before… so this was.a great learning curve for them!

Last night we started with an empty kiln for my 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. So my “workshoppers” started their evening with glazing & wadding their bisqued pieces. The goal for last night was to FILL this kiln… and they did!!!

After some time under the plastic, these class demo bowls were brought out in my studio for a little more detailing. A little stamping here, a little rim indenting there. Here they are side-by-side in my studio! Just a few super bowls for “Super Bowl Sunday.”

Before…

After…

This week in the GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN, my students presented their colorized mugs from last week’s handbuilding challenge. The goal was to add enough color & style tot hem that they can just be glazed in clear later… and still be colorful & striking!!! They all did a great job trying to accentuate the texture patterns, without totally covering them up! Sadly, we had one “implosion” as Ellen was trying to several layers of underglazes & underglaze decals for a quilt-like effect. But found out there might have been too much water & pressure used on her bone-dry porcelain mugs?! Luckily, she has plans to use those shards for making some small jewelry pieces later.

Let me introduce you to Martin… spoiler alert… winner of the most recent “Great American Baking Show”… and potter in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class! You may remember him from all of my posts about the snacky-games & finale party we played while he was in my class & his show was airing on TV.

Not only do his pottery skills continue to impress us… his baking does too! Like this yummy Lemon Lavender Cake he brought in for class snacks this past Monday! It sure was yummy… past tense… burp!… but it does also look GREAT on the stamped cake plate I made for him as his “trophy” for winning the show!!! They look great together!

You can always check-in on Martin’s baked goods… including the recipe for this cake… if you follow him on Instagram!!! – @martinsorge

And… oh, but wait there’s more… you can still csatch-up and watch “The Great American Baking Show” for FREE online. Sure, it might be on The ROKU Channel… but you don;t need ROKU to watch it on your computer!!! Just click here.

This week in class with my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing students we tackled making bowls on purpose, and NOT cylinders gone bad! I started the demo by throwing one bowl for them… explaining the process & what to watch out for. How to start out with a nice rounded bottom right from the start. How to avoid getting a “beginner’s ledge” about an inch up from the bottom. How to use a rubber rib to refine the interior curve of the bowl. How to focus on throwing the interior of the bowl to be the shape they want… knowing that they will trim the exterior to match later.

So here’s the first “prototype” bowl…
Bowl #1 – plain, round, simple rim… and my favorite spiral in the bottom!

And then I set them off to go back to their wheel so they can start practicing.

While they’re throwing, I continue to throw some more bowls while my assistant Susan and I help them along the way. Once I had a bunch of bowls done, we reconvened for Part Two of the night’s demo.

So we gathered, and the goal for Part Two is to show them some quick tricks & techniques to alter the looks of each bowl. Some simple things to make the bowls more “their own creation”… instead of the just round shape that they wheel kinda did for them!

Bowl #2 – two simple “flicked” & fluted twists on opposite sides.

Bowl #3 – And if two flutes looks good, maybe eight fluted edges would look better?

Bowl #4 – A simple flanged edge… folded out over my exterior finger to create this “ledge” area.

Bowl #5 – A much larger flanged edge… kinda like the fancy restaurants that put on tiny little scoop of food in the bottom of a large-flanged bowl and charge BIG bucks for it!!!

Bowl #6 – Combined flange and fluted flares!

Bowl #7 – A split rim pinched back together in eight places.

Bowl #8 – A simple split rim, then we dented in on two sides using the side of my wooden knife. We kinda liked it like this… and there’s a good chance that a handle might go up & over the top from dent-to-dent to make the bowl a bit of a basket.

Bowl #9 – Another split rim with four dents… kinda squaring-up the bowl.

Bowl #10 – The same dented-in bowl as #9 with the split rim, just four more flutes going outwards in the four corners… giving it kind of a lotus look.

After the first set of “altered rims”… we switched to colored slip as a decorative option.

Bowl #11 – After a layer of mazarine blue slip, the dragged the rounded end of my wood knife through the slip while the bowl was rotating on the wheel… revealing the clay-colored spiral through the slip!

Bowl #12 – After a layer of thick white slip, I just wiggled & squiggled my index finger through the slip for this wavy effect.

Bowl #13 – After a layer of thick white slip, I dragged the edge of a rubber rib upwards to create the effect.

Bowl #14 – Another spiral through thick white slip… with tighter spirals to create more of a “ledge” of slip spiral.

Bowl #15 – Chattering through thick white slip… using the edge of my rubber rib with rhythmic tapping up & down, then outwards while the wheel is spinning!

Bowl #16 – A simple ombre’ blend of white slip & mazarine slip… simple & clean…. although there’s a good chance I will do some sgraffito carving through this when it’s a bit drier!

Bowl #17 – Another ombre’ blend of white & mazarine blue, but then dragging a rounded tool end through the slip to create this spiral.

By the end of the class we had a table full of altered & decorated bowls. These went up to my studio to be wrapped under plastic for the night… as there might just be some more stamping, detailing & trimming later as they get to leatherhard.