Prior to last week’s SURFACE DECORATION class, I threw these three large platters and added a band of black underglaze. The goal was to get them to a nice stiff leatherhard stage to be ready for our surface decoration project demo of the week. Yep… you guessed it… SGRAFFITO!!!

For my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we tackled throwing larger pieces last week… by stacking two pieces together and then re-throwing through the attachment. There’s always a little apprehensive moment when you hold your breath & flip one over to connect them together. Hoping they fit… hoping they don’t squish… hoping they don’t flop! Luckily, the demo went pretty well… as I connected the two pieces but didn’t worry too much about the finished look as I knew there “might just” be some stamping in the near future!!!

Finally getting around to throwing some small “drip plates” for my newest batch of berry bowls. Made enough to fill my whole wedging table!!! Hoping to speed these through trimming, drying, firing, glazing & firing in time to have them at my upcoming art fairs… coming up in just two weeks!!! Yikes!!!

Looks like I’ve got some trimming to do…

A quick throwing session… some quick bowls before teaching class tonight!!! Always good to “squeeze in” some production work before heading downstairs to play with my Beginner’s!!!

So I saw a random post on Instagram over the weekend about a basic potter’s challenge… for newbies & more advanced throwers. One pound of clay, perfect cylinders, four inches tall with just four pulls. Not a bad way to start the morning…

After class last Tuesday, I spent a little more time with my class demo bowls. Just did a little more stamping & detailing… making the bowls even more not-so-basicER!!!

And for now, they’re back under plastic for the night… going to have a LOT of trimming to do pretty soon!

For tonight’s SURFACE DECORATION class we’re tackling stamping & sprigs! Shocker, right? I mean… it was bound to happen at some point!

And I figured it would be a lot more “fun” for them if they had a blank surface to play with in class tonight. Can’t wait to see what they do with these plain bowls?!

Just a few of my newest “hybrid” mugs fresh out of the soda kiln! Celebrating a little Texture Tuesday with these fun patterns created with hand rollers from MKM Pottery Tools. My “hybrid” mugs are a combination of wheelthrown & handbuilt parts & pieces… my newest obsession in mug-making!!!

This past week in my GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, my students tackled their “last” big class challenge as we are sadly nearing the end of the class session. They’ve done handbuilding challenges, they’ve done wheelthrowing challenges… they’ve played silly games & posed for silly pictures! It has been a great class session with GREAT students in class this time around.

So to top things off… I decided to challenge them with something they “never saw coming!”

BLINDFOLDS!!!

I had them separate into teams by randomly rolling dice. They then got matching color bandanas as blindfolds… and the one who had a small safety pin on it had to go first. So they put their blindfolds on… and stood there while their partners found out what their task would be. They each rolled some dice to find out what number their team would be throwing!

And then they set-off to do their best… one throwing blindly with just their partner to describe & paint a mental picture of the outcome!

And then, after the throwers had made their shapes as best they could… and the timer went off… we switched places. The ones doing the describing put their blindfolds on, as the wheelthrowers took theirs off. Only then did they find out that the newly blindfolded members would now be responsible for refining the shape and adding handles to match the original pictures. Okay, sure… maybe I drew some of the handles in…

And again, when the time was up… the teams brought their final pieces to the table for critiques, judging & admiration. I think everyone had a good time with this challenge. There was a LOT of laughter along the way!