And so the THROWDOWN continued… after we had judged the matching bowls, they then learned that they needed make a large serving soon to coordinate with the bowls. I believe none of my my students had ever really built a clay spoon, so it was great fun for me to see how they each approached the tasks at hand. Most of them chose to handbuild… only a couple tried their hand at the wheel.

So the GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN just completed its second week of “Season Five”!!! And here’s an update… so for the first class challenge, my new “contestants” had to throw a 3-pound serving bowl. They then had to pass it two people to their left… and then that person had to throw another bowl to MATCH the first bowl they just received! Not an easy challenge… and not the last part of the challenge either!!!

After they had two bowls, they then passed them both back to the first person who threw the original bowl… and it was their homework challenge to trim, refine, decorate, “whatever” to make them all MATCHY-MATCHY!!! So here are some of the entries… many using some colored slips to force the matching-ness! But it was Tracy who won the challenge with some straight-on trimming & refining of her two plain & unadorned bowls!!!

More to come…

Just doing a little stamping in the studio on another gray Saturday. Working on a new batch of ikebana flower vases… thrown, stamped & ready to trim! Just getting ready for Spring flowers ‘cuz I’m already done with this Winter grayness!

A little FLASHBACK FRIDAY…
a great project from last year’s GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class!

The assignment “challenge” was to create a coffee set with two cups, creamer & sugar based on a famous artist. Claire made this amazing set during class based on the artwork style of Piet Mondrian! Fantastic craftsmanship & technique… Claire killed it!!! So much so, that these pieces ended up on the Lillstreet Show-Off Shelves for several weeks!

And oh, but wait there’s more…
a new “season” of THE GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN has just started up with twelve new students…. errr, contestants! I’m extra excited that Claire came back for another round of fun… and I can’t wait to see what she creates this session! I have very high expectations!!!

Tonight after my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, a couple of us went over to the new Jeni’s Ice Creams now open in Andersonville!

Tonight was their Grand Opening… with free ice cream from 7:00pm-11:00pm! Perfect timing for those of us who had class until 10:00pm! And we were all pleased that they were giving away a fill TRIO of ice creams in a waffle bowl to everyone! I went for my three favorite flavors… Goat Cheese & Red Cherries, Brambleberry Crisp and Blackout Chocolate Cake!!!

As we were towards the end of the event, we never expected people to still be waiting outside in line… nor that they would have served FREE ice cream to 790 customers during their four-hour event! Congrats Jeni’s & welcome to the neighborhood!!!

While I’m sad that Pam’s friend got strep throat at the last minute… but I was more than eager to step-in for an impromptu night of musical theater. Great show, fantastic Bob Fosse stylized choreography & beautiful architecture at another classic Chicago theater … and ALL THAT JAZZ!!!

The holidays might be over… but it looks like Walt is still indulging in a bit holiday candy! Only a few more pieces… and then Maryann can put her new favorite stamped bowl away!

So last night in my Beginning Wheel class, some of my students tackled trimming, pulling handles & assembling their very first mugs!!! Not bad for their second class… I think we’re off to a good start!!!

Another batch of cylinders working their way towards becoming mugs! Too wet to stamp now… but I feel some “shamrock stamps” might just be headed their way!!!

Finally got around to wedging up my pile of reclaimed clay! It sat on my large plaster bat for awhile as the extra moisture evaporated & the clay was finally stiff enough to wedge. So a little “elbow-grease” and now several bags of FREE CLAY!!! My favorite kind of clay!!!