Last Tuesday was my class demo on how to make a basic bowl on purpose. Followed by showing my students some quick tricks & techniques to make each bowl unique. And that not every bowl needs to be precious. That they should play with their clay and try some new things. If it messes up, you just cut it off, re-wedge it and throw it again. It’s just clay!

For the demo I used a full bag of clay and made seventeen bowls. The bowls all came up to my studio where today I did a little more “detailing” with some stamping. I would have loved to save this part for my students too, but I was afraid they would all be too dry in a week’s time. So here the the photos of some of the bowls, freshly detailed… AND the stamps that did all of the hard work making a good impression.

More festive flavors from the folks at Nabisco!!! Some new, some not.
But either way, it makes for another “sweet” time in my pottery class tonight!

And while my beginning Beginners were finishing up their mugs, my returning Advanced Beginners took on my “Throwing With Intention Challenge.” The goal is to draw three pieces of paper out of the hat, and then make whatever shape they tell you to. Throwing with intention rather than letting the wheel take over… and being “satisfied” with whatever the wheel gives you! After a little hesitancy, the Advanced Beginners tackled the challenge with ease & finesse. They must have has a great teacher?!!! Ha.

Tonight was our third class of the new class session at Lillstreet. And my “newbies” tackled their first mugs tonight. They all did great. It’s only Week Three and they’ve already done wedging, centering, throwing, cylinders, trimming and handles too!!! They’re off to a great start.

Tonight was Week Two with my new Fall session pottery class. Some of them are “returning” Advanced Beginners… while other Beginners are just starting out. Several of them expressed interest in stamping their work for decoration – no idea where THAT might have come from?!!! So tonight we tackled stamp-making with my class. Next they’ll dry and be bisque fired before they can start using them.

Look who stopped by my studio today for a class field trip…
The kids from the AP Art Class at Vernon Hills High School.

Their teacher Allison has been one of my friends & customers for a long time now. And she thought it would be great for them to stop by for a quick tour and some Q&A. So much fun… especially when the first question was “If there was a Taco Bell nearby?”

The new Fall session of the Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class begins tonight at Lillstreet Art Center. Always a busy session… Summer’s almost over and people are looking for something new & fun to do. Luckily, eighteen people swooped in and filled my class. All wheels will be occupied tonight with eager hands waiting to get muddy!!! I feel sorry for those who waited too long to sign-up… and are now on my Waiting List?!!!

In case you’re wondering… I don’t have any classes starting the week of October 19th.
That’s only for the shorter 5-week introduction classes.

Yes, the bubble glaze craze continues!!!
Here’s another one of my students playing with the “glaze bubble” technique again.
Great glazing fun with great results… and so much more fun to watch someone else do it!!!
Blow harder Colin!!!…    Blow. Scoop. Press. Repeat.

Basically it’s just glaze and dishwashing soap mixed up. Then blowing bubbles with a straw. We’ve found it easiest to scoop up the bubbles with your hand and then gently press them onto the pot. Be careful of the runny drips though… we don’t like those!

As the bubbles pop, they leave behind a slightly textured residue of glaze.
Don’t smooth it in… that’s the beautiful bubble pattern you’re looking for!
The more color contrast between your two glaze choices, the more bubble effect you’ll see!

Hopefully I’ll get to see this bowl of Colin’s before he snatches it up to take home.
I’ll try my best to share a photo if I can get one!

So when there’s a new trick or technique “revealed” at Lillstreet, it takes the place by storm. And the latest craze as I mentioned a few days ago is the “glazing with bubbles” technique that seems to be all the rage. Thanks to Dave & Will for kickstarting the craze. Seems like everyone is doing this technique now… so I figured it was “my duty” to share and teach my students last night how to do it.

So I had bubble glazed my first demo bowl… and then realized I should be photographing the process to share here on the blog. So here’s the process on our second demo bowl. I start with a good “base” first coat of dipped glaze.

Then we put a little bit of glaze into a plastic cup, and added some DAWN dishwashing liquid.
And then stirred it up. Tough recipe, huh?! We didn’t measure anything!!!

And then blow into the mixture with a straw… or in our case, an empty ballpoint pen casing.

If the bubbles don’t seem to be piling up enough, just add a little more liquid soap.

Blow again… but remember to blow OUT, and to not inhale through the straw. That could get ugly!

Then once you have a good “head” of bubbles in the cup, scoop them out with your bare hands and place them on your pot. We tried to gently lay them in without popping too many bubbles. Depending on where you’re at in the bowl, sometimes it works to lay, others needed to be pressed on.

Inside and out… but trying to avoid wet glaze drips at the same time!

And voila’ …  a groovy, patterned & textured glaze on the bowl. No telling how many bubbles “should” be put on? How many are too many? It’s all very random. Let’s just hope it turns out okay in the firing?

We were kinda on a roll… so we tackled a third one too. Stacey had made a cup of bubbled glaze for her pot, so I just used her leftover liquid on my third demo bowl. Simple enough… blow, bubble, scoop, place. Repeat. The bubbles pop over time and leave a great lace-ish pattern behind.

I think we may have added a bit too much soap to this batch… the bubbles were pretty darn thick!
Maybe the thicker the bubble the denser the glaze coverage?! We’ll see!

But we just scooped up the thicker suds and continued placing them on the bowl – both inside and out.

So now I’ve got three class demo bowls glazed with the new bubble process.
Hopefully we’ll get some good results… beautiful bowls… and good photos to post here!

Bowl #1 – Temoku glaze bubbles on top of the base layer of Lau Shino glaze.

Bowl #2 – Rutile Blue glaze bubbles on top of the base layer of Lau Shino glaze.

Bowl #3 – Antique White glaze bubbles on top of the base layer of Lau Shino glaze.

Another class glazing demo done and waiting to go into the kiln.
Fingers crossed… photos to come!

We’ll see how these bowls turn out after the cone 10 reduction firing.
And yes, I will be sure to post photos for you to see the results too!!!

Last night was the last night of the Summer session of my Tuesday night Beginning Wheel pottery class. It’s been a great ten-weeks of fun for the students. Each of them has made great advancements in their throwing. So we celebrated with a very sweet potluck, and a fun “Plate Exchange Game.” Everyone had to bring in a plate they had made during class to trade & exchange with someone else. Everyone brought in a plate and left with a different one.

By the end of the shenanigans, Catherine had my amber celadon stamped plate, and I ended up with this sweetie from my student Diane. She has been a “pottery sponge” every step of the way this session. Whether it has been tackling every demo, or finding as many new techniques as possible on YouTube, Diane has been cranking out some fun pieces all session long. This plate was thrown with Stoneware With Ochre for the dark chocolatey finish. She used a simple dragonscale tool for the pattern on the rim. After bisque firing, she inlaid temoku glaze in the pattern and gently wiped off the top surface – effectively leaving the temoku only in the deeper stamped recesses. She waxed the entire rim and then dipped the plate in an apple green celadon glaze for the center food surface. I love the pattern, and the shiny metallic-ness of the rim. It was so much fun having Diane in class… and watching her pottery adventure “unfold” every week. Nicely done Diane… can’t wait to have you back again next year during your teacher’s summer break!

So even took great glazing notes in her “adorable” handcrafted journal…
I would have expected nothing less!