So much fun teaching today as I subbed for two of Catherine’s classes. The first one was “First Time Potters” who are just starting in their fourth clay class ever! So it was basic centering, cylinders, and bowls along with some ooh’s & ahh’s. The afternoon class was “Simply Soda” where I threw a platter, stamped it and then turned it into test tiles for the soda flashing slips the soda firing newbies want to test. So much fun… you know I’ll share any pottery “secret” and give away all of my tricks!!!

One of my students was thrilled to find her pot on the Student Show-Off Shelves.
It was an experiment of glazing with bubbles! Thanks to Dave & Will for introducing this new technique… which has now become “all the rage.”

Congrats Katie!!! Your bowl looks fantastic!

FYI… Full blog post to come… hold your horses…

The other two-pots-thrown-as-one demo was a large chip & dip bowl.
So it’s now stamped and “drying” slowly in my studio… waiting to be trimmed.

This week’s class demos were about two-piece pots thrown as one. Like this large flower pot with an attached water tray. I threw the pot in class, but did the stamping later in my studio after it had stiffened up a bit.

So you might remember that for the last session of my Beginning Wheel class I challenged them to each make a dinnerware placesetting. Many of them pulled through with the challenge… some did not?! However, I must admit that I was a little surprised when Angela brought in her dinnerware set TONIGHT during class!!! She may not have met the deadline, but she persevered and showed up with a beautiful handmade set. Well-crafted with a beautiful glaze combination. Congrats Angela… it”s a beautiful set. Well worth the wait.

Tonight I subbed for Dave Trost’s Advanced Wheelthrowing Class.
I gave them the option for whatever they wanted me to show them… “Demo On Demand.”
One guy requested a goblet thrown as one piece, and I offered up a stamped platter.
Other than those demos. it was a pretty easy night… no crazy requests?! Bring it on!!!

So I did a platter demo, both throwing & stamping.
Presumably the “best” demo that class has ever seen!!!
Or at least that’s what we’re telling Dave when he gets back from vacation! Ha!!!

So here’s my stamped demo platter…

And here’s one of the student’s stamped platters. Nicely done Stephanie!
I love when students actually follow along and do the demo piece in class.

Last night in my Beginning Wheelthrowing class we worked on bowls.
Basic bowls thrown the right way and on purpose… NOT a cylinder gone bad.
So we did a demo of the basic bowl with a nice round interior using my green plastic rib.

Bowl #1 – Plain

After this first bowl, my students went back to their wheels to keep working. As they were making pots, I continued to throw more bowls. After I had made 15 more bowls, we reconvened by my demo wheel. I then showed them some quick ways to “decorate” their basic bowls to make them “not so basic” anymore!!! We talked about playing with your clay, taking a chance, committing to your alterations and making the bowl “yours.” Just because the wheel makes round pots doesn’t mean that they need to stay that way!!!

Bowl #2 – Two Twisted Flutes.

Bowl #3 – Eight Twisted Flutes.

Bowl #4 – Thin Flange bent outwards.

Bowl #5– Wide Flange bent outwards.

Bowl #6 – Flange and Twisted Fluting.

Bowl #7 – Split Rim with Pinches.

Bowl #8 – Split Rim and Fluted In & Out

Bowl #9 – Split Rim in a Lotus Flower Style

Bowl #10 – Plain with a Flower Pressed in the bottom with a simple dragonscale tool.

Then we started working more with colored slip. For the demo I used thick white slip and thin blue mazzerine. Now looking at the photos, I probably should have used a darker slip to show more contrast to the lightness of the B-Clay. Oh well… next time!!

Bowl #11 – White Slip Spiral using the rounded end of my wooden knife.

Bowl #12 – White Slip Squiggles with my finger tip.

Bowl #13 – White Slip Banding & Squiggles

Bowl #14 – Blended Gradation Ombre with Chattering Texture

Bowl #15 – Wide Flange with some Mazzerine Squiggles.

Bowl #16 – Mazzerine Slip with a couple Newspaper Letter Stencils.

So now they are all in my studio under wraps. Covered with plastic so they can dry a bit slowly. I’m hoping that maybe tomorrow night they will be ready for some stamping, detailing & accenting. If so… most like more photos will follow!

I found the latest addition to the Nabisco Oreo family. THINS.
I think Nabisco is trying to position them as “adult” Oreo’s… or maybe “healthy” Oreo’s. I must admit they taste pretty good… exactly like their bigger counterparts. Same proportions. Same flavor. But since they’re so thin, I just want to eat MORE of them to amke up for the difference!!!

And then when I came down to the classroom, I found out that I wasn’t the only one with Oreo’s on the brain. Two of my students had each brought in two different kinds of Oreo’s. What?!!! Seven, yes count them… SEVEN BAGS of Oreo’s!!! This snack addiction may be getting a little out of control?!

So last night in class, I did a little “interpreting” of where my students stand in their clay skills. We were scheduled to make mugs out of their existing cylinders… trimming, handles, attachments, etc. However, no one had a cylinder at the right stage. So we postponed that demo and went straight for “Demo-On-Demand.” After a little discussion, we did a basic cylinder from the start for the brand new beginners… followed by a larger vase, a plate and a platter for the advanced beginners. The “challenge” for my students this session is to make a plate that they are willing to trade & exchange during the last class. So we jumped ahead a bit… and went straight to plates!!

After the throwing demos, they all went back to work at their wheels… and we ended the class by making a few stamps. We’ll get them fired and then they can use them on their pots for the rest of the session. Gotta get ’em started early on the stamping obsession!!!

So I’m finally back from Dover… and tonight was my “return” to the studio!
Okay, well not really MY studio but to the classroom as it was my night to teach.
My class of beginners & advanced beginners are already in their third week of class. I missed the first two – thank you Catherine Tweedie for subbing. It felt weird to swoop in during Week 3 with the students already hitting their stride. So I knew I had to do something to win them over… yep, you got it… OREO’S!!! And lots of them. I couldn’t decide how much “stuffing” we wanted, so I got them all : single, double, triple, mega!!!

And we’ve sort of come to a consensus…