For our “sugar fix” at last night’s class, I was surprised to find flavored Chips Ahoy cookies?! Who knew? So we tried Root Beer Float & Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream flavors.

“Should have stuck with the Oreos!!!”

You know I usually cringe when one of my students starts off with that.
“So I saw this video on YouTube…”

I love when there are so many tips & tricks out there for potters, but frequently they’re also learning “bad” tricks along the way. So I’ve tried to steer clear of YouTube for the most part. But recently, I did do a quick search looking for new techniques to share with my students. This week is Week Eight for my class so they’re well on their way… and ready for some more surface decorating techniques.

We’ve already used colored slip to change the color “skin” of their work. But when I saw this slip trailing… err, dripping… I though that my students would love this trick. And it’s not too advanced. It appeared to be pretty easy… so of course I decided to go for it. And “teach” this technique to my students without ever practicing myself!!! And quite honestly… I think it worked out pretty well. Click here for the YouTube video of slip trailing on a bowl. You may not understand a word he says… but the video alone is pretty mesmerizing! Here’s a still shot from the video…

Basically, you cover the surface with a thick layer of slip. The add a couple spirals. Then add some “drips” that will run down through the drawn spirals. The demo pieces on the video are a bit cleaner than mine… but I’m sure he’s been doing this technique a bit longer than me. Can you say 10 minutes?!

And once I had some confidence after the bowl, we tackled a more vertical surface on a taller vase. More room for the slip to run & drip. Click here for the YouTube video of slip trailing on a vase. Again, I think the potter may be speaking Russian?… and I’m not sure if this is “his” signature style or if it is more of a traditional Ukranian style of decoration? Here’s a still shot from the video…

We did learn a few things along the way. My slips probably should have been sieved through a fine mesh screen. And I should have tried to get them all to be a better consistency… a couple of them were a bit too watery. And I think I needed to make the base layer and the horizontal spiral with thicker slip so that there was enough slip to “move” as the drips pushed down.

After we had “played” with drippy slips, I switched it up and did a much cleaner demo for my class. I took a wet-leatherhard bowl and did a carved texture pattern around the outside wising my round loop trimming tool and a smaller sgraffito loop tool. It’s a carving technique I learned from Amy Higgason of Pigeon Road Pottery. She used to be one of the Lillstreet studio artists, but now she lives up in the Wisconsin Northwoods. Luckily, she has shared her carving techniques and they still pop-up from time to time. In fact, she even did a demo for my class a few years back… click here to go to the blog post!

So now all three pieces are done, back up in my studio, and wrapped up for the night. I still need to trim the slip decorated pieces, but I need to wait until the slip is a bit dryer. All in all, I think it was a pretty successful evening. Several of my students gave it a shot & had fun with drippy slip… and I hope when they get around to trimming a few more pieces they may consider some decorative carving!!!

Register for my wheelthrowing class quickly and save some money!!!

Yep, I will once again be teaching my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing next session at Lillstreet Art Center. My class is on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm. It’s pretty much for “beginners” of all levels. Whether you’ve thrown on a wheel before or not… whether you’ve ever touched clay before or not… or just like to play in the mud!

Registration is already open – and my class is filling up fast! Don’t miss out!!!
Click here for online registration.

Three new pots freshly thrown for tomorrow night’s class demos.
One bowl for carving… another bowl & vase for slip decorating.
And I’m going to be trying a new slip technique (for the first time) with my class!!!

Last night was the Academy Awards. Always a fun night. No big surprises though.
I think Ellen DeGeneres did a pretty good job. Loved the pizza delivery for the audience!!!
Love Lupita N’Yongo. Love Jennifer Lawrence. Loved “12 Years A Slave.”
Love the Selfie that crashed Twitter!!! Love idea… and it’s a great picture too!!!

But let’s be real… did you think that one of the highlights was when John Travolta completely butchered Idina Menzel’s name when he introduced her?! I laughed out loud… and then backed it up and watched it again!!!

Today I mixed up some more glaze tests. Lots of measuring. Lots of chemicals.
Small batches of recipes I’ve collected for cone 6 oxidation firing. I’m hoping that at least a couple of them turn out nice. I’m looking for good translucent colors that pool well, break well and have no crazing.

Just in case, I’m test firing the same glazes at cone 10 reduction to see if they turn into anything cool. Wouldn’t it be great if I got at least one beautiful glaze in cone 6 that ALSO looked different and equally as great at cone 10? Two successful glaze colors from one bucket. Wishful thinking, huh?!!!

After a very “sweet” breakfast with Taylor and the rest of my family, I decided to go into the studio to take advantage of my “syrup-sugar high.” I was a little unfocused on what to start with… so you know that when that happens I pretty much always make MUGS!!! So I started with a dozen – and went on from there!

After getting some great response & comments about the fluted bowl I made from my class demo, I decided I might want to capitalize on that and make more!!!

I love how the shaped bowls line up and make a great pattern as a group. The negative space between the bowls are almost as much fun as the bowls themselves?!!!

Surprisingly, it was Taylor that had them, and NOT me!!!
Although in hindsight… I think I made a mistake!!!

In the category of “Never go grocery shopping while you’re hungry”… oops!

Okay, for the record… I don’t know that we can quite call it a “spread.”
Especially when you eat it right off the spoon!
And it was yummy… I’m just sayin’…

Tuesday night’s demos…
Fluted bowl. Lidded jars. Flower pot. Mini vase.
Stamped. Trimmed. Detailed. Done… Drying!