Last week in our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to build lidded boxes. While many of them have rather limited handbuilding skills… they still tackled the challenge head-on! They worked on their boxes during class last week… with slabs that were wetter than ideal. At the end of class, they found out that they had a deadline “extension”… as well as a twist!!!

Their lidded boxes were to be finished & refined during the week as “homework”… and they also had to add partitions inside to create at least three compartments!!! So much fun to see their assembled boxes last night at the start of our THROWDOWN class! Very creative & well done!!!

At the end of our THROWDOWN night… my pinch-pot cup & saucer found a special landing place! Smack dab on top on one of the classroom reclaim barrels!

So here are the final sets of the “matching” cups & saucers! My THROWDOWN students killed it in this 45-minute challenge. Making pinch pot teacups & saucers that matched each other.. while BOTH players were blindfolded!!! Plenty of discussion… but built “blindly” racing the time deadline. Again, since we had an odd number of players, I had to step-in to play along!

In the end, we called in Lillstreet handbuilding teach Nicole to be our judge not knowing who made which set… and she chose Melanie & my set as the WINNER!!! whoo-hoo!!!

For our final THROWDOWN challenge of the night, the teams of two were BOTH BLINDFOLDED and challenged to make a cup & saucer with pinch pot techniques! They each had to make a matching cup with handle & a saucer… MATCHING!!! Yes, they had to build a “matching” set while never seeing or feeling the other person’s piece. They had to discuss & analyze their pieces verbally so their partner had an idea of what they were both working on… size, scale, proportions, style, decorations, etc. With 45 minutes, they all had plenty of time to discuss & describe their pieces… and to be in the dark the whole time!

And since we had an odd number of students in class this week, I had to step-in & was partnered with Melanie who KILLED it in all three challenges!!!

This week in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, we did some handbuilding challenges! Mostly just “technique” challenges… but the biggest challenge was being BLINDFOLDED!!! They were divided into teams of two… one was the “Maker” and the other was the”Caller.” The Caller was the eyes of the team… giving instruction, advice & encouragement for the Maker. The Maker was the one competing to make the longest coil, or largest slab. And yes, they switched places for the two challenges so they each had a chance to play with the clay… and a chance to see how it feels to be the Teacher. As many of my THROWDOWN students have not had a lot of handbuilding experience!

Sorry, I missed photos of the coil-rolling challenge… my bad!

There’s a little something new brewing in my studio… after a night of playing with textured rollers last night. I have a loose “plan” here… we’ll see how it comes together?! Hopefully well… and in time for the “4×4 : FOUR MAKERS” show the end of this month!!! Fingers crossed…

Letting things “roll” with my carved handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools!

Continuing our “game” theme… my Lillstreet Throwdown students continued by choosing a shape from the SQUID GAME logo… just a quick choice… unaware that they then would later be tasked with building a three-dimensional version! A tough challenge to make 6-inch tall piece in just 60 minutes… especially with some students having very limited handbuilding experience!

Turns out most of them chose the triangle… which meant a pyramid! Only three chose the square… which meant a cube. And no one chose the circle which would have meant a sphere! Some of them got a bit too wrapped-up in the geometry of a pyramid… HA!!!… but in the end, they all did great & had a fun time!!!

And maybe learned a little sumthin’-sumthin’ along the way?!

Sometimes the perfect holiday gift needs an extra special box to put it in? Or sometimes that special box IS the gift?!!! I’ve got some special soda-fired boxes ready for this weekend’s SECOND HOLIDAY HOME SHOW All lidded & ready to go… some with compartments inside too!!!

See what they looked like before & after soda-firing!

Well, here we have some “naked” Ghouls from earlier this week…
just waiting for some colors to make the character come to life… out of The Netherworld!!!