While working on adding some details & accents to the bowls from our class demo, I ran across the one that Chelsea did for us… and I didn’t quite know what to do with it. So I started carving… and then THIS happened!

Just spending a little time in the studio today doing a bit of stamping… adding a few more details to the bowls I made during our recent “not-so-basic-bowls” class demo!

I mean, MORE IS MORE, right?!

I needed to make a pie and didn’t have any apples in the house. So I decided to go with a retro flashback recipe thanks to the folks at Ritz Crackers! It’s a great recipe for an “apple” pie that uses no apples, no applesauce, no apple juice… nothing apple related. And yet somehow it’s YUMMY and tastes just like an apple pie?! Looks like it tasted pretty good… not much left!

Just a few close-ups from my class demo where we introduced colored slips as a great opportunity for textures, patterns & surface decorating! Gooey spiral, chattering & squiggly fun!!!

So this week we made bowls again in my Tuesday night Beginning & Adult Beginning Wheelthrowing class. I always like to show them how to make “bowls on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. We talk about getting a nice smooth rounded interior, no flat bottoms, no beginner’s ledge, and a nice rim.

So I start the class with a quick demo on how to make a bowl on purpose… and how to avoid all of those problems! After my demo, they all go back to work on their wheels… while I continue to throw more demo bowls during class. When I’ve thrown all of my bowls, we re-group and then I start doing some fun demos on how to alter & decorate them. I just want to give them new ideas on how to make their bowls more special… and their own. I tell them that the wheel pretty much makes a round bowl for them… but it’s up to them to make it their own!

Bowl #1 – Four simple fluted edges… one finger inside, one outside and flick.

Bowl #2 – And if four fluted edges are good, eight might be better?!

Bowl #3 – A flared out flange edge… kind of folding the top inch out over a stable finger on the outside of the bowl.

Bowl #4 – And if a small flange is nice, maybe a bigger flange is even cooler???

Bowl #5 – A nice split-rim using the point of my wooden knife. Then I dented in two sides… and we decided to leave it this way as I’ll add an “up & over” handle to make it more like a basket.

Bowl #6 – Another split rim… and then pinched back together in eight place.

Bowl #7 – The same split rim technique… this time more of a lotus style. Four inward indents, and four outward to make the squared “lotus” shape.

So after altering a few of the rims, I moved on to introduce them to adding slip as a decorative technique.

Bowl #8 – We started with a thick layer of think white slip. And then I dragged the rounded end of a wooden knife through to create this spiral.

Bowl #9 – Another layer of thick white slip, this time with a fingertip squiggling through while the bowl was spinning on the wheel!

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip with a chattered surface using a stiff rubber rib, rhythmically tapping while the wheel spins to create this pattern.

Bowl #11 – We started with a ombre’ blend of white & iron red slips. It looked nice enough… but more is more... so I dragged my wooden knife through it to make a cool spiral!!!

Bowl #12 – For our final bowl, my friend & fellow Lillstreet teacher Chelsea “made the mistake” of stopping by my classroom at just the right time. I gave her the final demo bowl for her to do something with it. She didn’t hesitate… instead doing this wonderful “organic” squiggle technique reminiscent of her of style!

And for now they’re all in my studio under plastic… waiting for some more detailing! Perhaps a little bit of stamping, detailing, carving or attachments. And then some trimming of the footring on the bottom before I call them done… then dry… then bisque… the glaze… then fire again… then DONE!!!

As with every Olympic Games…
we too ended up with a great Olympic Mascot!!!

Kinda reminded me a bit of “The Blob” from The Gigglesnort Hotel…
but this guy didn’t talk… or mumble?… just sayin’…

At the end of the night, and a jam-packed three hours of LILLSTREET THROWDOWN fun, we finally tabulated the rankings for the teams.

And as the Olympics theme song played in the background, my handmade Olympic medals were awarded to my talented & exhausted students. Kudos to them for playing along with my silly Pottery Olympics games!!! So much fun for all of us!!!

Gold Medal WINNERS – Will & Helen

Silver Medal WINNERS – Melanie & Clara

Bronze Medal WINNERS – Claire & Tracy

The final event of our Pottery Olympics was a “crazy constructions” challenge! They had two pounds of clay… and a brown bag full of crazy parts & pieces. They had to use everything to make the tallest free-standing structure. It was so much fun for me to watch the teams try different techniques as they grew & toppled over & over again. Eventually they came together… and one was easily towering over the rest… too bad it was tough to get the tallest structure in a good photo?!

And then it was back to the bowls… and they never saw it coming! The Pottery Olympics continued with one player trying to re-create & match the first “perfect” bowl… while BLINDFOLDED!!!! Their partner could advise, discuss, offer tools, measure, etc…. they just couldn’t touch the clay!!! My LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students were “blindly” crushing it!!!

Sure, they’ve now thrown bowls, they’ve matched each other’s bowls… but can they both work together at the same time?! For the next Pottery Olympic event, they were challenged to make a “partner platter” where one person threw, and the other person drove the speed pedal! Fun to take away the control, and give it to someone else responsible for speed & stopping.