So fun to see some of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN projects coming out of the kiln… like this incredible “creamer” from the Beatles Sugar & Creamer challenge! Well done Jon!!!… everyone needs an adorable yellow submarine in their life!

Tonight in my Beginners Wheelthrowing class, we tackled mugs and it’s only their second week!!! Sure, one of them might not hold much liquid… but it was Mario’s first pot, first time trimming and first time adding a handle. I told him I t will only get better!!!

Every challenge needs winners… and ribbons.. and a TROPHY!!! Right?
After twenty-eight challenges in just 10 weeks of class, we finally have some winners!!!
And surprisingly, we were just a dozen points difference between the top three places!!!

First off… the ribbons… all well-deserved in my book at least!!!

So let’s break it down a little bit more…

SILLIEST SONGSTRESS – Susan
BEST TAG-TEAM – Patti & Jon
CRAZY ATTENTION-TO-DETAIL – Tatiana
BEST SARCASTIC EYE-ROLL – Molly
BEST FACIAL EXPRESSIONS – Claire

THE QUIET UNDERDOG – Taylor
BEST PORCELAIN LOYALTY – David
BEST “FOCUSED” PHOTOS – Teresa
BEST DULL TOOL TECHNICIAN – Ryan
BEST GIGGLE – Donna
BEST OREO BALLS – Jacob

And now for the TOP WINNERS!!!

THIRD PLACE – RYAN

SECOND PLACE – we had a tie!!!…. TAYLOR & TATIANA

And for the BIG WINNER… a TROPHY TOO!!!

And our BIG WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS DONNA… who came into the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN
as the “dark horse” and the only primarily handbuilder in the class. I must admit I was questioning if she would be able to keep up with the wheelthrowers… but she SHINED!!! Her creativity, boundless enthusiasm, and willingness to try anything made her the winner!!!

Huge thanks to all of my wonderful students this session! I had so much fun “playing” with all of you this session! Thank you for always sucking it up and playing along with the challenges. Thanks for the camaraderie & supportive nature you all brought to the class. I’ve always thought that pottery classes should be fun, social and community building… and we’ve proven once again that they can be! Thanks again for the great class.

YOU GUYS ROCKED IT!!!

Left to right, kind of… David, Teresa, Jacob, Molly, Ryan, Tatiana, Taylor, Jon, Claire, Donna, Patti and Susan! You guys were the BEST!!!

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It’s the last week for my pottery classes… and we like to celebrate with some potluck yummies. Last night we had a great spread… much in thanks to Patty for bringing this beautiful tray of delectable yumminess!

Well we’re nearing the end of the Second Annual LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class.
So for this week’s in-class challenge, we re-visited a few of our previous challenges with a twist. We divided into two teams and had everyone decide which of six challenges each team player was going to tackle. Twist was… they didn’t know what challenge each was! After they all signed up for their challenge “number”… we rolled the dice to randomly assign project challenges to each number! So they all started working on their assigned challenge… so all six challenges were going on simultaneously.

But after 15 minutes… the timer went OFF!!!    Wait?… what?!!!!

After the first fifteen minutes they all found out that they had to ROTATE to continue working on someone else’s project. Yes, they were going to switch & rotate every 15 minutes for four rotations to finish each challenge. So they needed to work as a team, share information at every rotation, and keep everything on pace so as to finish ALL six challenge projects in the one hour time frame.

Everyone was so focused… and it was surprisingly quiet...
except for the crazy commotion & confusion during rotations!!!

And because one of our students was “out sick” for the night… I had to draft one of my Tuesday night students to fill in to keep the teams even. Thanks to Katie for stepping up and joining in our crazy fun!!!

At the end of the hour… and four complete rotations… we had a table full of projects!
Lots of “matching” challenges… some successful, some not so much…

So here they are side-by-side…  one team versus another!

FOUR MATCHING CYLINDERS

TWO MATCHING EXTRUDED MUGS

TWO MATCHING SERVING BOWLS

TWO MATCHING PLATTER

TWO MATCHING SPHERES

whoops… and the “other” side…

And the other team’s winning spheres…

TWO MATCHING 5-inch CUBES

Pretty hard to judge… especially when you see all four all lined up…

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Last night was another successful EMPTY BOWLS fundraiser at Lillstreet…
raising lots of money for First Slice to help feed the hungry.
And while lots of people picked their bowls… others picked their…

To kick-off our party last Wednesday night, my students took on the “FACE THE COOKIE” Challenge from Minute-To-Win-It. Basically, you put a cookie on your forehead… and then slowly move the cookie down with just facial muscles & expressions… until you get the cookie in your mouth! So I made a challenge… succeed with the cookie in the mouth in one minute and they would get an additional “five minute advantage” in one of the two challenges in class that night.

Crazy fun for everyone… perhaps too much fun… as we got shooshed a bit…
and told to keep it down. How dare we have too much fun in class?!!!

And yes… they “forced” me to give it a try too… harder than it looks…
but the REWARD of success is pretty darn sweet!

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In one of the wheelthrowing rooms at Lillstreet, there’s a large plaster bat divided in two sides… one side for clean porcelain, the other side for everything else! Apparently someone left a pile of reclaimed clay slurry on the plaster bat… quite possibly on the wrong side?!!!

You’ve got to love the question… and the response… and the fact the clay is STILL there on the plaster bat!!! Unattended. Not claimed. Sure to be completely dried by the morning.

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I’m so excited about my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class tonight!!!
This week’s homework challenge was to make a TULIPIERE with the extruder as their primary tool. These are the example photos I showed them… and I know that they’re going to knock it out of the park! Several of them were in the studio last night trying to finish… and I resisted the urge to go see what they were doing. Instead I want the “Big Reveal” surprise in class tonight!!! Can’t wait!!!