Tonight was the night that we tackled throwing bowls on the wheel.
Making bowls on purpose, not a cylinder gone bad.

So the way it goes, I start by teaching them all how to throw the bowl.
I introduce them to the beauty of throwing on bats, and using a plastic rib to create
the smooth curve inside. And then once we’ve thrown the first demo bowl, I then
let them go back and try making their own bowls. And while they’re throwing,
I continue throwing bowls. Tonight I was throwing 2-pound bowls with a very simple,
smooth round profile. Nothing fancy. And then once I had thrown my eleven bowls,
we reconvened for ‘demo part two.’ At this point, it’s my goal to show my students
some quick tricks to make each of the “fairly identical” bowls different from the next.

Plus, it’s a great time to introduce them to slip as a decorating option. All in all,
I think the demo went well. I think most of them were intrigued by the simple techniques
and the “ah-ha” results. And I’m always trying to get them past the “each pot is too
precious to mess with” mentality. I’m always trying to get them to push things further,
and realize that it is “just clay.”

Now I have eleven bowls in my studio… waiting for some stamping, finishing & trimming!

But just in case you missed the demo… here’s a quick recap of tonight’s eleven bowls.
Remember, they all started out pretty much the same.

Bowl #1 -Fluted
A simple finger flick, with one finger inside and another outside side-by-side.

Bowl #2 -Flanged
Adding a simple flange by flaring the top inch of the bowl out over the outside finger.

Bowl #3 -Flanged, Fluted… and Flopped?!
Yes, this was supposed to be a fluted flange. But it was a little wonky when I finished it.
When I was setting it up on the shelf, you could see it was no longer level. So I set it down
“hard’ on purpose… letting the bang force the flange to drop down into a “skirt” of sorts.

Bowl #4 -Wide Flange & Spiral Center
A much wider flange (soon to be stamped) and a nice spiral in the center.

Bowl #5 -Divided & Pinched
I used the pointed tip of my wood knife to divide the rim of the bowl,
and then pinched it back together in eight places.

Bowl #6 -Divided, Pinched & Squared
Same trick of dividing the rim, but then I think I shocked them a bit when I took
the nice round bowl and pushed it in to square i toff a bit.

Bowl #7 -Impressed Flower
With a simple, metal dragon-scaling tool that I bought for like two dollars, I press
it in twelve times in a certain pattern to create a fun flower in the bottom of the bowl.

Bowl #8 -Solid Slip
A simple coating of thick white slip… allowing the thickness to create a subtle spiral.

Bowl #9 – Spiral Slip
So I coated the interior of the bowl with thick white slip, and then dragged the rounded
end of my wood knife through the slip to reveal the clay color for contrast.

Bowl #10 – Chattered Slip
First, I gave the bowl a solid coat of slip on the interior… and then took my
rubber rib and “tapped” it rhythmically against the bowl while it was rotating.
The tapping frequency and wheel speed combine to make the pattern.

Bowl #11 -Slip Resist Lettering
Kind of the antithesis of a stencil… instead, I took letters cut out of the newspaper,
wet them, and then pressed them gently to the bowl interior. After you smooth the edges,
add a simple layer of covers the newspaper, followed by a complete layer covering the
interior. Once it’s all smoothed out & coated, carefully peel out the newspaper letter.

So now I have more bowls to finish tomorrow… some stamping, some embellishments,
and a lot of trimming to finish them all off.

Plus, it was great to have a Facebook fan & blog follower stop by class tonight!
Corbett stopped by from South Carolina to visit, say hello, chat a bit, see my studio
and then play in the clay! Thanks for stopping by Corbett… I hope you had fun!!!

Tonight was the first night of the new Spring Session at Lillstreet Art Center.
And it looks like I have a great new “crop” of potential potters!
Some have a bit of experience, some have been gone for awhile,
and some are brand new to clay!

All of them got dirty!… and were still smiling!

It’s just one week away until the start of the new Spring Session at Lillstreet!

I will once again be teaching my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing
class on Tuesday nights from 7:00-10:00pm. So whether you’re a brand new beginner
or just wanting to come back to refine some skills and play in the mud?!… this is the
class for you. Don’t get left out… ONLY THREE SPACES LEFT IN MY CLASS!!!

The new Spring Session will start in a week and a half at Lillstreet Art Center.
I will once again be teaching a Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing Class.
It’s basically for anyone who wants to play in the mud… whether you’ve never touched
clay, or want to refine some of your basic skills. The 10-week class will take you through
all steps in the production process. Every Tuesday night from 7:00pm-10:00pm.
The Spring class session will begin on Tuesday, March 27th.

Registration has already begin… and my class is more than half full already!
Don’t wait too long. My class is usually full with a waiting list… so don’t miss out!

Stop by or call Lillstreet Art Center to register for your class.
Or you can click here to register online…
Lillstreet Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing Classes

I found out tonight that my Beginning Wheelthrowing Class is FULL.
The new session begins next Tuesday and all eighteen spaces are taken.
It looks like I’ll have a bunch of new people to play in the mud with!!!
Let the games begin…

Yes, it’s true.
It is still the first week of January and I’ve already submitted my Summer Camp
Schedule to the folks at Lillstreet Art Center. It’s going to be another great summer
of making art with the kids… but I REALLY can’t believe that we had to make our
schedules so early in the year. I had to sketch out my entire summer schedule,
making a lot of assumptions along the way, to incorporate art fairs, kiln firings,
bike rides, vacations, family obligations and everything else! So I’ve now “planned”
my entire summer around art fairs I haven’t even applied to
and bike ride dates that aren’t even published yet!

Tonight I signed up for my third workshop with Julia Galloway!
If you want to see beautiful pots, extreme detail and exquisite design… this is the
clay workshop to sign-up for. Julia’s coming back to Lillstreet Art Center for another
two-day workshop on February 18th & 19th. And there are only 10 spaces left!

My first workshop with Julia Galloway was several years ago. I had just started pottery
classes, and had finally moved on from my Beginner’s class to Intermediate. I was still
pretty new and didn’t think that I was ready for a workshop with such an established &
renowned ceramic artist. Plus it was more expensive than I was ready to pay. Luckily,
a few of my “more advanced” friends at Lillstreet convinced me to sign up for the workshop.
So I did. Thanks Amy. And within the first 10 minutes of the workshop I was hooked. Not
only is Julia Galloway’s work exquisite, but she’s also extremely eloquent, insightful and so
approachable. In the workshop she demonstrated her construction methods, as well as
her decoration tricks & techniques. I was enamored from the get-go. I could just sit there
and listen to her talk. Her anecdotes. Her insights. Her creative turn-of-phrase.

A few years later, Lillstreet Art Center moved to its current location on Ravenswood.
Julia Galloway was one of the first artists to come there for a Visiting Artist Workshop.
And I was right there ready for another workshop… and to be her workshop assistant!
By then I was a studio monitor, teaching assistant, had moved on to more advanced classes
and totally understood the benefit of taking a workshop from someone of Julia’s caliber…
regardless of the price!

As her workshop assistant, I also had the opportunity to work more closely with Julia.
Including helping her install her solo show in the Lillstreet Gallery. It was great to have some
quality time with her to discuss her work, as she also asked me about mine, as we unpacked
and put out her stunning pieces. Part of her show was this incredible & crazy collection of
tumblers. Each on it’s own shelf. But the crazy part was that when I put them all on the
shelves in the correct sequence, an image appeared across the collection. Like magic. Oh,
but wait there’s more… when you turned all of the tumblers around to show the opposite
side, the same image appeared but only as a black & white line drawing across all of the
tumblers! Luckily, someone just happened to catch me passing the installation one day…
me in my apron, smirking with a bunch of stunning tumblers behind me!

So now she’s coming back to Lillstreet Art Center for another 2-Day Workshop. She’ll be
showing her techniques, sharing her stories and hopefully giving away all of her secrets!
I’m very excited to be going to her workshop once again. My Julia Galloway Trifecta.
Each time that I’ve seen Julia in person, I’ve been at a very different stage in my ceramic
career. The first time I was a beginner, recently engulfed in clay. My second workshop I
was becoming proficient but wasn’t sure where my “path” would take me. This time, I look
forward to seeing her again with my current perspective as a now “professional” potter
working to make a living while playing in the clay!

In fact, I’m so excited and encouraging everyone to sign-up… so much so, that Sam,
my Tuesday night wheelthrowing assistant, has already secured her spot as Julia’s assistant
for the workshop! Hopefully she’ll have a similarly wonderful experience that I did
when I was Julia’s workshop assistant.

Sign up today – click here to register online with Lillstreet Art Center.
As of tonight, there were only ten spaces left for this special workshop!

One week from tonight my new Winter Session Wheelthrowing Class begins!
It’s a multi-level class for brand new beginners and “returning” beginners
or those who still need to hone a few basic skills before moving on.

As of tonight, there are only three spaces left in my class!
Don’t miss out on the fun. Come play in the clay… Sign up today!
Click here to register online – Tuesday night Wheelthrowing Class.

With just one week until Christmas, there’s no better time to buy yourself a wonderful gift.
Sign-up today for a pottery class at Lillstreet Art Center. I teach beginning wheelthrowing
every Tuesday night from 7:00pm-10:00pm. It’s for brand new beginners who have never
thrown, people who have been away too long, and those who have taken a few classes but
are still honing their basic skills. It’s a fun class with a lot of social interaction. I know it’s
not as easy as it looks, but I’ll make sure you have fun while you struggle to center the clay!

Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing
Tuesdays from 7:00pm-10:00pm – 10-week session beginning Tuesday, January 10th.
Click on Lillstreet for registration information.

And don’t wait to long to sign up… my class is already half full.
Not many wheels left in my class starting this January!

Well, the new session of classes began tonight at Lillstreet Art Center.
My Tuesday night class for beginning & advanced beginning wheelthrowing started
tonight with a full classroom of 18 students. Several of my students this time around
are new to clay, or at least haven’t done anything in clay for several years! They were
a little frustrated tonight… as most beginners are. I kept reassuring them that centering
is the hardest part, and each week it would get easier & easier. Trust me…

It was also great to see so many familiar faces in my class. Surprisingly, I have a lot
of returning students in class. And not any returning from the last session. Frequently,
I have a lot of students who just keep coming back. This time, I have students who have
returned after a couple-session hiatus! Including Pam, Ben, Janet, Nadine, Chris…
plus Martin & Christi who actually moved to North Carolina a couple years ago…
and suddenly, without any advanced notice, they show up in class again this session!
Apparently they missed me, and my class, so they had to move back to Chicago…
or at least that’s MY version of the story and I’m sticking to it.