Celebrating a little TEXTURE TUESDAY with these crazy-cool leaves sprouting out on sumac branches in the neighborhood.

The morning after… trimming scraps ready to toss into my reclaim bucket!

Trimming some bowls with the perfect combo of trimming tools… my favorite trimming tool from DiamondCore Tools & my Giffin Grip. One holds ’em tight, and the other trims them smooth. Makes my job easy… even when my trimming tool blade is wearing thin. One of the benefits of DiamondCore Tools is that they remain sharp even while wearing down… and oh, but wait there’s more.. they even send you a replacement blade to switch out when this one eventually dies. But I still have a good amount of trimming with this one before that happens…

Well, it looks like I’ve got a good bit of trimming ahead of me today… hoping to get it all done before teaching class tonight?! A bunch of bowls at a good leather-hard state ready for trimming… one of my favorite parts of the whole process!

Seems like the cooler weather we’re having this Spring is helping the magnolia trees hold onto their flowers a bit longer. I’m okay with that… at least there’s some benefit to all these cooler rainy weekends?!

After working with our underglaze transfers, my SURFACE DECORATION class then moved onto BUBBLES!!! I mean, who doesn’t love blowing bubbles?! We took a little bit of underglaze, added a smidge of blue dishwashing liquid & some water… then started blowing bubbles with a straw. The plan is to blow enough that the bubbles grow & overflow the sides of the cup onto your piece. Leave the bubbles alone… let them pop as they will leave behind some great bubble patterns. This works directly onto the pots… as well as onto newspaper to transfer later.

This past Thursday in my SURFACE DECORATIONS class, we started working with color… and transferring underglaze “doodles” onto our pots. The idea is you can draw your pattern on newsprint, let it dry, and then transfer it to your pot by wetting it… kinda like a temporary tattoo when you were a kid. We found that some of the simpler line drawing with thinner underglazes worked better.

I tried one with layers of colored underglazes… but the green was kinda gloppy… and smudged when applied. Pretty cool technique… but we’ve all got a lot of practice to do if we want to “perfect” our technique?!

So… word on the street says that a new season of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW will be begin streaming next Friday on ROKU. For all those people who LOVE the British version… this one has American bakers in the same white tent with the same judges!!! But here’s the kicker… ONE of the bakers is actually a student in one of my pottery classes this session! Can’t wait to see how this show plays out… drama under the tent… and to see how my student does in the competition!!! Truth be told… now I expect better treats in class too!!!

Plus, I apologize in advance for the “bad photos”… it was the best I could “screen grab” from the teaser trailer!

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!

Another wet start to a Sunday morning… easy enough to brighten the day with a vase full of lilac blossoms. The scent always transports me back to my childhood when lilac bushes surrounded many a suburban backyard.