After throwing their “perfect” dinner plate… my LILLSTREET THROWDOWNER’s were then challenged to make the largest platter they could with 6-pounds of clay! Remember, some of them had never made a plate… let alone a huge platter… let alone handling six pounds on a wheel!!! I did a quick demo for them… which they fully appreciated… and then I let them loose!!! And they all did AMAZING!!! Even surprising themselves with their newly-found platter-making skills!

This past Thursday in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to make that one “perfect” dinner plate. Well-thrown & decorated in just 45 minutes. Several of them had never even thrown a plate before. Let alone decorating a freshly-thrown plate that is already wet & squishy!

Little did they know that there was still another “twist” to come…

I just unloaded a “quickie-bisque” kiln that I loaded & fired for my Lillstreet Throwdown students. They’re all working hard on their fairy tail themed teapot sets. And I figured their pieces would be “safer” after bisque firing… and it might give them a jumpstart on their glazing?! Especially if they hope to get all their themed sets done by Week 10!!!

Carving some patterns through a layer of white slip. When glazed & fired, the contrast of slip to clay body will become more apparent. Nice contrast to help accentuate the carved patterns!

Nice crisp lines when carving with my favorite tool from DiamondCore Tools!

So after I did my “not-so-basic bowls” demo last Tuesday night… I still felt like they could use a little sumthin’-sumthin’! So I did a bit more stamping & texturing… as you know I come from the school of MORE IS MORE!!!

Magical morning moments with relaxing waves crashing in.

So we’re halfway through Season Three of THE TRAITORS… and I’m still anxiously waiting for these two to make their grand appearance… errr, re-appearance?!!! Yes, about a two-second glimpse of them in the TV trailer tells me that Kate Chastain & Parvati Shallow will be returning to the game at some point this season! Parvati is my favorite SURVIVOR player ever… and Kate is the most entertaining player to ever hit The Castle after her time on BELOW DECK.

Will they show up tonight?… or will we need to wait some more???

Urban sunset with an old train bridge silhouette over the river.

And just a few moments later… it changes so quickly!!!

And this is where we ended Tuesday night after my “bowls-bowls-bowls” demo with my Beginners. We talked all about altering shapes & added some decorative flourishes to their pieces not make their pots more unique. Basically… I just want them to have fun, express themselves & PLAY more with their clay!

Here we go…

Bowl #1 – Plain… the “BASIC” bowl fresh off the wheel. This is where they all started!

Bowl #2 – Two little fluted flips!

Bowl #3 – If two are nice, maybe eight fluted flips are better?

Bowl #4 – A flared flange.

Bowl #5 – A wider flared flange

Bowl #6 – A combination flared flange & fluted edges.

Bowl #7 – A split rim with two dramatic indents.
This one will get a big “up & over’ handle to make a basket-bowl.

Bowl #8 – Another split rim… this time with eight pinches to the rim.

Bowl #9 – A split rim with four indents to “square-up” the bowl a bit.

Bowl #10 – A split rim with four dents in & four dents out… kind of a lotus effect.

Bowl #11 – A “surprise” flower-snowflake-design in the bottom from a dragonscaler tool.

After the first few bowls, we discussed colored slips to add some design & detail to their bowls.
I personally like thick white slip a lot… adding texture & subtle contrast to the clay body.

Bowl #12 – Thick white slip with a simple spiral dragged through.

Bowl #13 – Thick white slip with some bands dragged through…
leaving a “canvas” area for carving in the future when the slip dries up a bit.

Bowl #14 – Thick white slip with some finger squiggles going through it while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #15 – Thick white slip with some rhythmic chattering with a rubber rib while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #16 – An ombre’ blend of white & black slip… which will probably be carved through later!

So for now all of the bowls are under plastic in my studio…
waiting for a little more… perhaps some stamping & detailing???

So this week in my beginning Wheel class we discussed making “bowls on purpose, and not cylinders gone bad.” I did a demo… and then sent them off to make their own. Then I made “a few more” so we could start talking about alterations & surface decorations in an effort to make their basic bowls “not-so-basic”!