Looks like my friend Tiffany made it outside to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather & some Spring flowers… well, she was still safely “sheltering-at-home” as brought her own flowers out to her front porch. A safe hangout spot with good distance from anyone… and a nice BYOV.

BYOV : Bring Your Own Vase…
which just so happens to have been made by you-know-who!!!

So after tackling some basic handbuilding skills last week like rolling coils & throwing slabs, my THROWDOWN students were challenged to handbuild a decorative flower brick. It was so much fun to see them as they were “unveiled” from under their plastic wrappings. Each one was so amazing… and I loved seeing how each person interpreted the challenge, and designed their own version of a flower brick!

And what’s a proper flower brick without some flowers???…
so I brought in some fake flowers just to see how they looked in each person’s vase.

Sadly, I had two students who didn’t quite get to finish their pieces… one for a flu illness, and one for a family obligation. But the rest of them ROCKED IT OUT!!! They were so amazing… that we decided as a group that they were ALL WINNERS this week!!!

HELEN
We all loved the shape of Helen’s flower brick… and how it so perfectly splayed out the flowers. Along with textures & carved patterns… including textured straps across the top!

NORAH
A whimsical twist on the flower brick with a nod to a honeycomb.
Texturally “influenced” by one of my Stodola rolling pins!

TAYLOR
Our only wall vase… along with a removable lid that helps with cleaning!

JEN
A wonderfully textured vase with swirling rim-openings to help hold the flowers…
extra amazing as this was Jen’s first handbuilding project!!!

MOLLY
A textured square box with a removable lid for cleaning… and perfectly crafted flowers on the side. Plus, as I was taking these photos, I picked it up to move it over… and it was amazingly light!!! About half of the weight that I was expecting to lift up.

JACOB
A very smooth & groovy “flower power” brick on wheels!
NOW I see what all of that orange masking tape was used for…
to get the fine black lines detailing every side!

CHRISTINE
Such an amazingly clean & purposeful flower vase with a removable lid for cleaning purposes. A more than amazing entry from Christine… as this was her first handbuilding project… ever! I think she’s onto something!!!!

TRACY
With an amazingly colorful & fanciful patterned flower brick of terra cotta. And quite a few different decorative techniques layered & working together throughout all sides of the vase.

MELANIE
With a “quilted” basket look full of textures & patterns… and underglaze transfers.
Textures “courtesy of” my textured rolling pins from STODOLA!

So there they are… another AMAZING PROJECT that my students just KILLED!!!
This season’s group of Throwdown-ers is amazing!!!

Loving that magical moment when a Christmas snowflake prism catches the light
and casts a beautiful rainbow on a stamped & soda-fired oval vase all the way across the room!

Loving how the sun streaming through the window is playing on the soda-fired surfaces on a couple vases sitting on my dining room table… especially that totally-unplanned shadow of a mug handle!!!

Another stamped & soda-fired vase waiting to find a new home
tomorrow at MUD & METAL… my Second Holiday Home Show!

Just making sure the shelves are full again for tomorrow’s
SECOND HOLIDAY HOME SHOW… starting with oval vases!!! Lots of pots in every room… and even more pots moved to The Tired of Shlepping Sale shelves!!! We’re open tomorrow from 10:00am-6:00pm… c’mon by!

Also in my soda kiln, was this sweet “family” of vases that one of my students made quite awhile back… and never quite knew how she should glaze them. So we finally threw them in my soda kiln… and I think she’s going to LOVE THEM!!! Well done Katie… I’m glad you waited!!!

Working on glazing some stamped vases. Starting with some tenmoku glaze inlay into my stamped impressions. I slather it on, and then wipe off the top layer so it only stays in the indentations. And then I’ve added a liner glaze of tenmoku to tie it all together. Some of these might get some colored glaze accents, while others will go “raw” into the soda kiln. The atmosphere in the kiln will “glaze” the pieces and change the colors of the flashing slips all at the same time!

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Stamped porcelain with some colored flashing slip accents on the top portion and in each stamp. After soda-firing, this slip should turn mustard yellow with random flashing marks from the flames & soda atmosphere.

Just finishing up another batch of stamped vases… some porcelain, some stoneware. All complete with colored flashing slip accents… and trying to dry ’em a bit quicker on an elevated plastic grid for better air-flow on all sides! Gotta get these babies into a bisque kiln quick… deadline approaching faster than I’d like…

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