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!

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?!