While down in Chenoa celebrating the New Years, I found out that one of  the kids received a pottery wheel from Santa! And Rosie was anxiously waiting for a private tutorial with her Uncle Gary!!! So we set up her little clay studio… okay, a dining room chair for her wheel, and another dining room chair for her water bucket… err, I man cereal bowl?! And then we had a little tutorial and she couldn’t wait to get her hands dirty!!!

So she started centering and quickly found out it wasn’t as easy as it looks!
But Rosie was a trooper and kept trying…. and trying… and trying…

And then all of a sudden she got it…

Here it is… a centered piece of clay… so NOW what do I do?

So we continued the tutorial and talked about opening the clay, not going down too far (which she did the first time), and making the hole wider.

Once she had the ball of clay opened, it was time to start raising the walls. Two fingers inside, two fingers outside, thumbs crossed, both hands working as one unit!

She kept having trouble with that whole “elbows down” concept…

And then one of her brothers started hovering like a vulture waiting on its prey.

So when Rosie had had enough and saved her first piece of pottery, Finan was quick to swoop in to give it a spin! He jumped right in and gave it a whirl solely based on the online video he watched while Rosie was practicing.

And he did pretty well… except for that whole “elbows down” thing I kept telling them!

His cylinder was looking pretty great… still working on pulling up the walls…

And then… WHOOPS!!!… looks like the clay went one way and fingers went the other!!!

And again, I kept using my favorite classroom mantra…  “It’s just clay.”
Even if it’s all muddy all over your hands!!!

Here’s a wonderful set of bowls that one of my students made. Vanessa was in my class a couple sessions ago and never had a chance to glaze her bowls. Well, she’s back in class this session… and finally glazed her bowls. And for those who might not get it… like me… they imagery inside each bowl is cranial sutures. Kind of scientific. Kind of anatomical. Kind of BRILLIANT!!! Well done Vanessa!!!

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So my pottery students are doing great this session. They’re all returning “beginners” so we’ve been doing a little bit more than a true “beginner’s” class. And I love when we get to this stage of the class. We’re entering Week Eight of their ten week session. So at this point, they’re making a LOTS of pots. And I love seeing them all bring their finished pot to share in class. So great to see them admiring, critiquing, sharing information and being so supportive & encouraging of each other. Such a great group of students this Fall session… all making great pots and having a great time!!!

Since my pottery students are all doing so great this session. I decided it was time for a “POP QUIZ.” I handed out folded sheets of paper. Told them each to choose a number between one and ten… and write it on the outside of their folded paper. After they had all chosen their numbers, I had them open the sheets to find out what their number “decided” their challenge was to be!!! They all tackled the challenge… and they seemed to appreciate being “pushed” out of their comfort zone and being “forced” to try something new that they might not do on their own. I love Pop Quizzes!!!

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Not a “sweet” night for the Cubs last night.
But at least we had some sweet treats in my pottery class last night. Thanks Stacey!!!

Let the games begin… tonight!!!
GO CUBS GO!!!

And now I’m wondering how many (if any) of my pottery students
will show up for class tonight???

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This week was the week where I teach my students to make a bowl on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad. But since I only have returning “advanced” beginners this session, it was a bit more of a refresher course. A basic bowl thrown with intention from the very beginning. No flat bottom. Nice even curve on the inside. A real bowl with a real curve.

And then, as we normally do every session, after the demo I continued to throw fifteen more bowls. A full bag of clay. The plan is typically that once I finish throwing all of the bowls we then re-convene to go through Part Two of the demo. My favorite part where we do some quick fun of altering & decorating each bowl. Showing my students how to “play” a bit more. To design their bowls a bit more. To alter. To re-shape. To add some pattern. Color. Texture. To make it their own!!!

So that’s just what we did.

When we re-convened, I sprung a little surprise on my students.
Since they are all returning “advanced” beginners, I knew that they’ve all seen my usual demo. Fluting. Flanging. Slipping, Altering. But since the whole goal is for them to “make it their own”… I decided to take it literally. So I did the first bowl with a flange bent outwards.

And then I sprung it on them… THEY were going to do the demo!!!

Yes, each of them had to step it up and show off some technique that I’ve done before to one of my bowls. And if they did it, I told them they could keep my bowl. Because now they’ve made it their own. Quite literally.

Unfortunately, I was quite prepared to catch them all on film… but I missed a few. But here are the most of them. Bowls that I threw but my students did a bang-up job of doing the demo, sharing with their skills and techniques with everyone else.

April added some angular flair to her bowl. She curved in the lower half from the outside, and then gave some definition to the change of angle.

Tony did his first split-rim EVER!!!
The first attempt didn’t quite work so well. So we had him re-compress the rim and try again. The second time was perfect. And then he did a couple finger pinches for detail.

Natalie took her round bowl and squared it off a bit… and then added some French Green slip to the interior.

Grace used two different colored slips blending them in a spiral pattern. Once the interior was covered, she dragged a tool through the slip while the bowl was spinning to create this wonderful ombre spiral effect.

Taylore did a flanged rim… and then added a layer of colored slip. She used white slip, so it is a subtle change from the color of the B-Clay. Hopefully it will show up even more when it’s glazed & fired.

Katie wanted to do a finger-fluted rim. A couple little flip & squish accents… whoops!!!…
okay, so maybe she squished and flipped just a little too much?!!!

And so she tried again… lucky we had an extra bowl already made…

And a layer of French Green slip along the fluted flanged rim.

Patty decided to go for a split rim. And then flute it both inwards & outwards to give her bowl a sort of lotus pattern.

Stacey coated the inside of her bowl with French Green slip. And then did a fun chattered pattern through the slip… her first attempt ever! It’s the combination of rhythmic tapping of a rib through the slip while the bowl is spinning. Stacey was quite pleased with her first attempt at chattering. I think she might be addicted now?!

Catherine took her bowl and divided it into five sections with a MKM Spacing Wheel. She then gently shaped the five sections outward for a gently undulating rim.

Melissa went all out and did the newspaper stencil trick. She cut a pattern out of newspaper, wet it, and then smoothed it gently onto the interior surface of the bowl. She then carefully covered the interior with French Green slip. After some good coverage, she gently pulled out the newspaper stencil to reveal the pattern.

My teaching assistant Susan took care of the last bowl. She pulled out four side points, and then shaped them into points.

So there it is for another session… the same old Bowl Demo with a wonderful twist. So much fun to see my students step it up… to show off a bit… to see what they’ve learned… to see them make some great bowls!!! A wonderful twist. And I think they might now have a little more appreciation for what I go through doing every demo every time. About time they tables were turned on them. And they did an incredible job!!!

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My wheelthrowing students keep asking how they can improve. They want better control of their clay. They want to get the shapes they’re hoping for. So in this week’s class, I offered up my “Throwing With Intention Challenge.” So we started with a discussion about how important it is to know what you want to make from the very start. As early as cutting off the right sized piece of clay. And then centering it into a good shape. I encourage a taller ball of centered clay if you’re going to throw a vertical form. Whereas a lower, flatter centered piece of clay is ideal for plates & platters. We then discussed how they should have a “design”in their mind of what they want their form to look like. And the benefit of sketching pieces first, or keeping a scrapbook of images & forms.

And then the challenge began. They each drew a piece of paper which had a challenge on it. They needed to throw the shape on the sheet as best as they could. Keeping in mind edges, curves, proportions, etc. I purposefully put a thin grid behind the drawings to help point out the geometric-ness and proportions they should strive for. They then sat down to throw their “chosen” cylinder with intention!!! With a good plan from the start… instead of slapping down some clay, spinning the wheel and seeing what you get!

Most of them enjoyed the challenge. And each of them struggled, but succeeded in their own way. It was great to see them embracing the challenge and refining their skills. Little do they know… but this challenge will most likely be repeated again… and again… and again…

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Last night was another “sweet” night in my wheelthrowing class. My teaching assistant Stacy found the elusive Swedish Fish OREO’s!!! They were a fine compliment to our weekly “sugar overload” with Key Lime Pie OREO’s and Halloween OREO’s!!! We were throwing pots all hyped up on sugar!!! Wow that class went fast!!!

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Last night was the kick-off of a new session of classes at Lillstreet.
My class is full of returning “beginners” so this session might be a bit more challenging… for them. Ha!! At least we had some OREO’s “returning” as well. Pumpkin Spice and the new “Choco Chip” which oddly tasted more like maple than chocolate chip cookies?!

And we are still on the quest to find the latest new flavor “Swedish Fish Oreos.” We can’t find them anywhere here in Chicago?!!! What’s up with that?

With the Rio Games coming to an end, it seemed only appropriate that we “celebrate” with our own Pottery Olympics. Tuesday night was the last class of the summer session. We typically have a potluck dinner, a pottery exchange and then we sit around without much to do. Typically there is no “wet work” during Week Nine. But in the name of “fun & games” I decided to introduce a little Olympic Throwdown into the mix!!!

So I had my class divide into two teams… choosing schoolyard style. Then I showed them what the seven challenges were going to be… kind of… with fairly cryptic messages. They needed to decide which of their team would be doing each challenge. We then went through them one by one. Seven challenges in all. Not quite a decathlon… but maybe a septathlon relay?!

ROUND ONE : Take a full bag of clay and divide it into even cubes that weigh 1-1/2 pounds each… without the assistance of a scale. They had to guess and even them out as much as possible. It was Catherine versus Taylore… with an initial lead taken by team Taylore!!!

ROUND TWO : Remember those 1-1/2 lb. blocks of clay… well now the race was to wedge them all. So it was Natalie versus Stephen. They were both a little overwhelmed, but impressed with themselves when they had accomplished the daunting task.

ROUND THREE : This bout was Rachel versus Erin to make the best bowl with a perfectly round bottom. At first glance Rachel was the clear winner… with bonus points “sucking up” to the judge (me) with a spiral in the bottom and a split rim pinched together. Two of my favorites. But… upon closer inspection, it was Erin who had a more rounded bottom. Rachel’s was actually a little flatter and wider, but still with a nice curve. Erin’s was more rounded as challenged.

ROUND FOUR : This round was the relay!!! A tag team bout of throwing ten cylinders the fastest. With each team member taking a turn, and then repeating until they had ten. I served as the judge to determine at what point it actually counted as a cylinder. They actually had to throw it, compress it, and make some thin walls before I would call it good.

ROUND FIVE : The challenge was to throw an enclosed form that is the closest to a perfect sphere. We’ve done enclosed forms in class… but never a sphere. Katie took a quick lead, while Sam never really got her’s together. She was close, and kept working at it… but it kind of self-imploded before she could finish the sphere!

ROUND SIX : Throw the tallest cylinder in five minutes.
They centered. They threw. We measured.

After measuring, they were pretty close… too close to call when we averaged out the two heights on Stacey’s angled rim. So I gave them each another minute to perfect it even more. And then we measured again! It was Melissa who won the point with the tallest cylinder she has EVER thrown!!! And now that I know she can do it… I’ll have “higher” expectations for her next session!

ROUND SEVEN : The final challenge… BLINDFOLDED!!!
It was Tony versus Natalie in the final round. They both looked as though they would be facing a firing squad. But instead, they challenge was to center & throw the best cylinder while blindfolded in ten minutes.

It was great to see the teamwork & support of their team members…

Such focus & determination… when I expected it to just be a fun & silly little exercise!!!

In the end it was Natalie who won the Blindfold Challenge. But each of them had a pretty amazing cylinder considering the lengths that I put them through.

It was a wonderful night of Pottery Olympics. And to tell you the truth, I;m not even sure which team won?! We all had so much fun, and everyone was so supportive and encouraging of each other. A great game. Several pots. A lot of clay… that has already been re-claimed & re-wedged. Thanks to everyone in my class for stepping up to the plate… err, podium… for a wonderful game. It was another great session of classes. Ending on a hug night of fun!!! You’re ALL gold medalists in my book!!!

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