Last Thursday during my GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to throwing a six-pound platter in twenty minutes. Larger than most of them have ever thrown… and one has “never” thrown… so overall I was quite impressed & they all did an AMAZING job with this challenge.

Well, it’s that time of the session… time to show my Beginner’s how to throw a bowl on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad. So I started class with a demo on how to make a bowl with a nice even curve through the interior… with no flat bottoms, no corners, no beginner bumps or identations. I remind them that they need to throw the interior of the bowl as smooth as they can… and then we’ll trim the exterior later to “match” the inside curve.

After I did my first demo… they all went back to their wheels to give it a go! And I might have thrown “a few” more…

When I finished throwing my demo bowls, we reassembled for Part Two of the demo. A little fun in how we can alter & decorate the bowls. Trying to give them a few tips, tricks & techniques to make their pottery more of “their own” instead of the round thing the wheel made for them. How to put their own creativity into their work. I stressed that they don;t need to do any of these techniques… but please feel free to PLAY more with your clay!!! And that bowls don’t always need to be round!!!

Bowl #1 – Plain
This was the first one… the “control” bowl… so we left it plain for comparison.

Bowl #2 – Four Fluted Edges
With a simple finger flick, I made four fluted areas. One finger inside, one finger outside… pinch & twist.

Bowl #3 – Eight Fluted Edges
And if four are nice, maybe eight are even nicer!

Bowl #4 – Flared Flange
With one finger stationary on the exterior, I just flared out the top edge over that outside finger… and curved it up just a little.

Bowl #5 – Wider Flange & Fluted Edges
Combining a flared flange… but deeper now… with some fluted edges for fun!

Bowl #6 – Split Rim with Pinches
With my wooden knife, I used the pointed tip to split the rim of the bowl. And then I pinched it back together in eight places.

Bowl #7 – Split Rim, Pinched & Curved
Same idea as the previous split-rim bowl… but this time I curved it outwards in between the pinches.

Bowl #8 – Split Rim Quatrefoil
After splitting the rim, I used the side of my wood knife to press it inwards in four places… no one ever said a bowl HAS TO BE ROUND?!!!

Bowl #9 – Quatrefoil Pressed Outward to Lotus
Same as Bowl #8… but this time I used the same edge of my wooden knife to press outward in between the inward pinches… kinda squaring-up the bowl.

At this point, I introduced using colored slip as an option for surface decoration. I explained that it is basically a “skin” of colored clay that you can paint on to change the color of the surface of your clay. You can cover it all, cover parts of it or paint patterns & pictures!

Bowl #10 – White Slip Coverage
I just painted the interior of this bowl with a simple layer of white slip to demonstrate how it will look different after glazing. Same glaze color.. . but lighter on the inside, darker on the outside.

Bowl #11 – White Slip Spiral
A solid coat of white slip, then dragging the rounded end of my wooden knife through while the bowl was spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #12 – White Slip Banding
Horizontal banding… leaving a wide space that “might” be carved with a pattern later?! A solid color layer, then removed by dragging the rounded end of my wooden knife through in bands.

Bowl #13 – White Slip Squiggles
A thick layer of white slip, then a little finger-painting… squiggling back & forth as the wheel turns.

Bowl #14 – White Slip Stencil
With a torn edge of newspaper… I wet it then carefully pressed it onto the surface of the bowl. Carefully sealing down the edges by brushing white slip over the edges… and them covering the whole bowl surface. Once covered, I gently peeled away the newspaper to reveal the deckle-edge rectangle.

Bowl #15 – White Slip Chattering
After a thick coat of white slip, I did some rhythmic chattering through the slip with a green plastic rib. Gently tapping up & down, and up & outwards at the same time while the wheel is spinning.

Bowl #16 – Dragged Thru White Slip
With the edge of a green rib, I gently dragged through the slip vertically… and then did a little center circle to even out the bottom where the squiggles started.

Bowl #17 – Ombre Blended Slip
With a layer of white slip, I added a layer of iron red slip for a smooth ombre blend.

Bowl #18 – Ombre Spiral
After making the same ombre blend as Bowl #17, I dragged the rounded end of my wooden knife through both slips to make the spiral while the wheel was spinning.

So for now they’re all up in my studio ready to go under plastic wrap for the night. I’ll keep them covered so they can dry slowly to leather-hard… and then there might be some stamping, detailing & addition. Maybe… just maybe…

After a couple handbuilding challenges, it was time for my THROWDOWN class to get back on the wheel. This time it was “tallest” wheelthrown cylinder with two pounds of clay! With a nice even rim… no pinching, stretching or adding onto the top to make it taller! Congrats to Claire, Katie & Alex for their tallest cylinders!

So it’s Monday… and it feels great to be back in the studio being productive again! Getting back into the groove!!! It was a long break, so it feels great to have my hands back in the clay! And to “practice throwing” again… as the new session of classes starts tonight at Lillstreet!!! And I don’t want to look too “rusty” for my Intermediate Wheel students tonight!!!

Just a little early-morning wheelthrowing to kick-start the day!

After throwing fourteen bowls that were all pretty much the same… my class re-grouped so that I could show them some quick tricks & techniques to make their own bowls more one-of-a-kind. I explained how I kinda feel like the wheel does most of the work in making a round bowl. But that it’s up to them to make it special & make it their own! Some quick alterations to help them make some “not-so-basic bowls”!!!

Bowl #1 – the plain one, as they all started out.

Bowl #2 – two simple finger flutes.

Bowl #3 – And if two are cute, maybe eight flutes are better?

Bowl #4 – a flared out flange.

Bowl #5 – a larger flared out flange.

Bowl #6 – A flared flange combined with four fluted edges.

Bowl #7 – a split rim… then pinched back together in eight places.

Bowl #8 – another split rim, this time indented with the side of a wood knife.

Bowl #9 – another split rim – indented in wards & outwards.

After doing some altered rims, it was time to switch to colored slips. Just adding more options & decoration techniques for my students to play with.

Bowl #10 – a layer of thick white slip, then dragged through with the rounded end of my wooden knife.

Bowl #11 – thick white slip with banded details.

Bowl #12 – finger squiggles through the thick white slip.

Bowl #13 – Channeling my inner-Steven Showalter and trying out some of his wonderful slip techniques!

Bowl #14 – rhythmic chattering through the thick white slip.

So for now, all of the bowls went up to my studio to spend the night under plastic. Trying to keep them form drying out too close… as there’s a “very good chance” that there may be some stamping & detailing still to come!

This week in my Beginning Wheel class, we discussed how to make a “bowl on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. I did a throwing demo for them… and then I made a “few” more bowls as Part One of the demo!!! But the fun part comes with Part Two!!!

So I had a little “summer camp” situation in my studio over the summer. My friend Kristen asked if her kids could stop by for a little “private” summer camp experience in my studio. I’ve known the kids forever… so of course I said yes. Although I haven’t really done much with them since they took my Lillstreet Chess Camp a couple years back.

We started with some wheelthrowing lessons, and then they each gave it a try. AJ went first, followed by Lizzy. I think they were both a little surprised that it wasn’t quite as easy as it looks!

But then I also “flipped the script” a bit on them… and told them they would have a handbuilding project as well. They thought they would be able to make whatever they wanted…. but, oh no, that’s not how I play!

I think they had all kinda forgotten about a little drawing that AJ had done back when he was in second grade. He was trying to raise money to buy himself a new set of LEGO’s… and his mom Kristen set-up a little gallery show for him to show-off his artwork. I purchased this drawing at that gallery show… and have had it in my studio ever since.

So I pulled it out… and challenged them each to make a handbuilt “cup” that was “inspired” by AJ’s monster drawing from so many years ago.

On their next visit, they trimmed their wheelthrown pieces, and finished working on their handbuilt monster cups. The final touches were put on with some colored underglazes. Once they dry, I will bisque fire the monster cups and glazed them with a clear glaze. Their wheelthrown pots will be glazed as well… to match their color choices of course!

As you can see, Lizzy went for a more literal approach in building her cup. I especially liked her use of textures to mimic the patterns in the drawing. While AJ went a little off on his own “version” of the monster… with a great triple-eye & vertical mouth situation!

So much fun playing with these kids… they were so much fun. Glad we could work out this Mini Summer Camp this summer… two days of clay fun in my studio with AJ & Lizzy!

Okay, that’s a good start! Gotta stay focused if I’m going to have these done in time for ART IN THE BARN! I finished throwing them all tonight… now I just have to “ghoul-itize” all forty of them!

So apparently this is what happens when you go into the studio early in the morning… and have that nagging feeling that you might not have enough pieces to fill next weekend’s soda kiln?! And you have a little panic… and start throwing MORE!!!

It’s gonna be tough to get these all stamped, trimmed, dried, bisqued & glazed before going into my soda kiln next weekend!

Uh oh… tick-tock, tick-tock…