A little swirly fun with thick white slip on a large platter.
Just some rhythmic tapping with a rubber rub through the slip while the platter is still spinning.

After showing my pottery class how to make “bowls-on-purpose,” we switched to doing some fun alterations & surface decoration techniques. I kinda feel like the wheel makes nice round things for you… but then YOU need to do something to it to make it YOURS!!! So I showed them a few things to play with!!!

Bowl #1 – Plain… this is how all of the bowls started out!

Bowl #2 – Four Fluted Edges

Bowl #3 – and if four were nice, maybe Eight Fluted Edges is better?!

Bowl #4 – a One-Inch Flared Flange of a rim

Bowl #5 – and if one-inch was nice… maybe a Three-Inch Flared Flange would be better?!

Bowl #6 – combined a Flared Flange with some Four Fluted Edges

Bowl #7 – two sharp indentations that will eventually be a good place for a Basket Handle.

Bowl #8 – a Split Rim that has been pinched back together in eight places

Bowl #9 – a Split Rim dented in at four places

Bowl #10 – a Split Rim dented in & dented out… four in & four out.

Bowl #11 – a little dragonscaling tool indented on the bottom

After some fun bowl alterations… I also introduced using colored slips as a decorative option. Basically adding a layer of colored clay of a change of color, or for a textural accent inside the bowl. I did my demos with white slip to accentuate the thick slip textures.

Bowl #12 – thick white slip with a Spiral dragged through to reveal the clay body contrast.

Bowl #13 – thick white slip with bands dragged through

Bowl #14 – thick white slip with some decorative Chattering for a cool pattern

Bowl #15 – an ombre’ blend of black & white slips then a finger tip Squiggle through it all.

Here’s a quick glimpse of a little “sumthin-sumthin” going on in Amy Taylor’s world. Just a little scratching, a little doodling, a little sgraffito-ing! Yes, metalsmiths can play with clay too… especially when it comes to collaboration projects for ART IN THE GARDEN!!! More to come… and mark your calendars for September 7th & 8th!!!

After a quick summer camp demo, Colette took on a fun carving texture challenge… using one of my favorite DiamondCore Tools! Even the older kids appreciate using nicer tools for finer line carvings. And Colette rocked it!!!

With a rainy start to the day, I ended up adding some colored flashing slip details in the studio early this morning before heading down to summer camp!!!

Just doing a little more detailing on one of last week’s class demo bowls. We started with an ombre’ slip gradation from black to white slip in class. Then I did a little stamping along the rim. Followed by some carving through the slip using one of my favorite DiamondCore Tools for crisp, clean lines.

After last Tuesday’s class demo on making “not-so-basic-bowls”… there may have been a bit more detailing that happened up in my studio?! HA!!! After a couple nights under plastic, I pulled the demo bowls out and started stamping & indenting the rims to make them even more fun & even less basic!!!

Just finished my first week of Summer Camp…
and just decorating another platter in my studio after the kids have left!

So this week was “bowls on purpose, instead of cylinders gone bad” demonstration night for my Tuesday night Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class. So we started by discussing what makes a good bowl… a nicely rounded interior, no beginner’s ledge, intentional rim, and all of the other things to watch out for!

So then I did a throwing demo for my students, and showed them how to make a nice bowl INTENTIONALLY, instead of a cylinder gone bad! After the demo session, my students all went back to their wheels to start practicing & making bowls of their own.

Meanwhile, I threw a bunch of bowls so that we could “play” with them later in class!!!

After my class had some time to throw their bowls, and I finished with mine…
we re-grouped at my demo wheel so that I could show them a few quick tricks & techniques to make their bowls “not-so-basic.” My feeling is pretty much that the wheel kinda makes a round bowl for you… but it’s up to each person to make it their own!!! So I just wanted to add a few “possibilities” to their arsenal of tricks to play with. So here they are…

Bowl #1 – Four fluted edges… and a nice spiral.

Bowl #2 – and if four fluted edges are good, maybe EIGHT are even better?!

Bowl #3 – A flared out flange… bent out over the edge to create a “wider” rim.

Bowl #4 – And if a one-inch flared flange is nice, maybe a larger one is even better?

Bowl #5 – Then I combined the flared flange with some fluted accents.

Bowl #6 – A split-rim pinched back together in eight places!

Bowl #7 – Another split-rim pressed-in on two sides. There’s “a very good chance” that there might be a handle up & over from pinched part to pinched part to make it a “basket” bowl.

Bowl #8 – Another split rim – pressed in on four sides to create a kind of quatrefoil effect.

Bowl #9 – Another split rim pressed in at four points, and pressed out at four points! Kind of a lotus pattern.

So after doing a bunch of altered rims, I introduced them to colored slip. And how they can use some “thick” slip to add some details & textures to their bowls.

Bowl #10 – A layer of thick white slip with a spiral dragged through from the center up & out.

Bowl #11 – Another layer of thick white slip with banded drag-throughs… and a good chance that there “might be” some carving to be done through the thicker bands.

Bowl #12 – Thick white slip with some finger painting… just some squiggles from my index finger.

Bowl #13 – Thick white slip with some fun chattered texture & patterns… rhythmic tapping with a rubber rib… up & down, round & round, from center to rim.

Bowl #14 – An ombre’ blend of white slip to black slip… and again, a “good chance” there might be some carving coming soon!

Bowl #15 – And ombre’ blend of thick white & black slips… and a finger squiggled through.

Bowl #16 – Thick black & white ombre’ blend– and then chattered through the slip.

And for now they’re all “resting” safely in my studio under a bunch of plastic. Like I said, there might still some additional work don on these to make them EVEN MORE “not-so-basic”!!! Maybe a little stamping, carving & detailing… possibly?… allegedly?…