So this week we made bowls again in my Tuesday night Beginning & Adult Beginning Wheelthrowing class. I always like to show them how to make “bowls on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. We talk about getting a nice smooth rounded interior, no flat bottoms, no beginner’s ledge, and a nice rim.

So I start the class with a quick demo on how to make a bowl on purpose… and how to avoid all of those problems! After my demo, they all go back to work on their wheels… while I continue to throw more demo bowls during class. When I’ve thrown all of my bowls, we re-group and then I start doing some fun demos on how to alter & decorate them. I just want to give them new ideas on how to make their bowls more special… and their own. I tell them that the wheel pretty much makes a round bowl for them… but it’s up to them to make it their own!

Bowl #1 – Four simple fluted edges… one finger inside, one outside and flick.

Bowl #2 – And if four fluted edges are good, eight might be better?!

Bowl #3 – A flared out flange edge… kind of folding the top inch out over a stable finger on the outside of the bowl.

Bowl #4 – And if a small flange is nice, maybe a bigger flange is even cooler???

Bowl #5 – A nice split-rim using the point of my wooden knife. Then I dented in two sides… and we decided to leave it this way as I’ll add an “up & over” handle to make it more like a basket.

Bowl #6 – Another split rim… and then pinched back together in eight place.

Bowl #7 – The same split rim technique… this time more of a lotus style. Four inward indents, and four outward to make the squared “lotus” shape.

So after altering a few of the rims, I moved on to introduce them to adding slip as a decorative technique.

Bowl #8 – We started with a thick layer of think white slip. And then I dragged the rounded end of a wooden knife through to create this spiral.

Bowl #9 – Another layer of thick white slip, this time with a fingertip squiggling through while the bowl was spinning on the wheel!

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip with a chattered surface using a stiff rubber rib, rhythmically tapping while the wheel spins to create this pattern.

Bowl #11 – We started with a ombre’ blend of white & iron red slips. It looked nice enough… but more is more... so I dragged my wooden knife through it to make a cool spiral!!!

Bowl #12 – For our final bowl, my friend & fellow Lillstreet teacher Chelsea “made the mistake” of stopping by my classroom at just the right time. I gave her the final demo bowl for her to do something with it. She didn’t hesitate… instead doing this wonderful “organic” squiggle technique reminiscent of her of style!

And for now they’re all in my studio under plastic… waiting for some more detailing! Perhaps a little bit of stamping, detailing, carving or attachments. And then some trimming of the footring on the bottom before I call them done… then dry… then bisque… the glaze… then fire again… then DONE!!!

And then it was back to the bowls… and they never saw it coming! The Pottery Olympics continued with one player trying to re-create & match the first “perfect” bowl… while BLINDFOLDED!!!! Their partner could advise, discuss, offer tools, measure, etc…. they just couldn’t touch the clay!!! My LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students were “blindly” crushing it!!!

Sure, they’ve now thrown bowls, they’ve matched each other’s bowls… but can they both work together at the same time?! For the next Pottery Olympic event, they were challenged to make a “partner platter” where one person threw, and the other person drove the speed pedal! Fun to take away the control, and give it to someone else responsible for speed & stopping.

The Pottery Olympics continued… after the “stronger” wheelthrower had made the “perfect bowl”… their team-mate was then challenge in the next round to step it up and MATCH that perfect bowl that their partner made! Another two pounds, and a little longer with 20 minutes to match the same size & shapes of their team-mates’ bowl! Hard enough to match your OWN bowls… let alone matching someone else’s bowl!!! All part of the fun of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN!

Our Pottery Olympic events came fast & furious last night during my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class. We switched back to the wheel where one team member per team was challenged to throw their “perfect” bowl with two pounds of clay… with the parameters of 8″ wide by 5″ tall. So of course each team tried to choose their stronger wheel-thrower to compete here. They had ten minutes to perfect their bowl… smooth curves, not flat bottoms, no beginner’s ledges, nice rim, etc.

The next challenge for The Pottery Olympics was to throw the tallest cylinder on the wheel using three pounds of clay in ten minutes. Sounds simple enough, right?! Except the real challenge was that the team members had to switch positions taking turns throwing every minute!!! Sixty seconds… switch… sixty seconds… SWITCH!!!

Last night was the first night of our new “season” of THE GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN! A fun class full of challenges, contests & projects! To kick-off the “season” I challenged them with both wheelthrowing & handbuilding tasks with a geometric twist… and a bit of multitasking! The challenge was a wheelthrown sphere, a 6-inch slab-built cube, and a 12-inch coil-built cone. Each with a limited time frame, as the challenges start to “pile-up” on each other as the night went on.

I always enjoy watching how my “contestants” approach a challenge, manage their time, and finish it all off in the end. It was a fun night & a fun challenge… and they all did great!!! We’re off to a great start.

So they started off with wheelthrowing a perfectly round sphere!

Part way into their allotted time for the sphere… I stopped the clock, called them over, and they found out about having to make a 6-inch cube with slabs. So now they had TWO projects to work on… multi-tasking & considering how to best utilize their limited time!

A little further into the challenge… we stopped the clock one more time… wished Melanie a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!… and then added a third challenge. They now had to also make a 12-inch tall coil-built cone!!!

So they now had all three challenges… and some more time to multi-task… so they kind of bounced around the place trying to finish all three in time!!!

At the end of the time, we pulled all three pieces together for critique & judging. We chose our top sphere, top cube & top cone… as well top trio!

Okay, so maybe one of the cones didn’t quite get finished in time… but bonus points for getting so creative with it!!!

But then there was one last-minute challenge… a little homework for the team! The cubes are not quite done… their “homework” is o take their cubes homes and do some creative textural carving on them for judging next week!

A bit of a late night gettin’ my glaze on! Did more than a bit of glazing on my latest batch of wheelthrown Christmas trees. And if all goes as planned… these festive trees should be glazed, fired & ready for this weekend’s MUD & METAL Holiday Home Show!

Last week in my Intermediate Wheel class, we decided to tackle wheelthrown Christmas trees… as they seem to be all the rage on Instagram! So we started throwing and soon enough had a forest of groovy shapes & styles!!!

And here are my class demos… more trees & more styles to come…

After a couple hectic days at my own HOLIDAY HOME SHOW… it was a great way to relax watching Mike Stumbras throwing large plates in his studio on Instagram Live! I could easily watch people throw on a wheel forever… so soothing, so mesmerizing… especially when it’s a talented thrower & teacher like my friend Mikey!