Last night’s class demo how to throw basic bowls.
And that’s basic bowls on purpose… and NOT cylinders gone bad. I like to teach my Beginner’s how to throw a bowl from the start with a nice smooth & even curve inside. No flat bottoms. No beginner’s ledge. No divots. So I do a demo for the with one bowl – and then set them off to work on their own bowls!

While they’re throwing their bowls, I continue throwing more basic bowls. After I finish making them all, we re-group for Part Two of the class demo. For this part I like to show them some quick & easy ways to alter & decorate their bowls. I tell them that “The Wheel” pretty much did all of the work making a round bowl. Now it’s up to THEM to do something to it to make it their own! And encourage playing with their clay. To try something new. And if it doesn’t work… no biggie. Just squish it up, wedge it and throw it again!

So here are my bowl demos from last night…
each with some simple decorative alterations!

Bowl #1 – Two simple fluted edges

Bowl #2 – Eight fluted edges

Bowl #3 – Flared-out flange

Bowl #4 – Flared flange & four fluted edges

Bowl #5 – Split rim with eight pinches

Bowl #6 – Split rim with two indentations… waiting for an “over the top” handle to make it like a basket.

Bowl #7 – Split rim with four side indentations

Bowl #8 – Split rim with four indentations IN, and four indentations OUT.

Bowl #9 – A thick white slip spiral.

Bowl #10 – Thick white slip finger squiggles.

Bowl #11 – Thick black slip chattering with a rubber rib.

Bowl #12 – Ombre’ black -to-white slip with a spiral dragged through.

Bowl #13 – Thick white slip on a flared flange then wiped through with a rubber rib.

And for now they’re all under plastic… as there’s a “pretty good chance” that there might just be some stamping & detailing of these bowls before I need to start trimming the bottoms.

So we’re in Week Four of the new Spring session of classes at Lillstreet Art Center. My Beginners are doing so well this time around. Catching on really quickly and progressing quite nicely. So last night we had a full discussion about making bowls on purpose instead of “accepting” cylinders gone bad. That a “good” bowl has a really nice curve on the inside. Not a flat bottom cylinder with corners that then swoop out into a bowl. No “beginner’s” ledge on the inside from where they pinched their fingers together to lift the clay. So I showed them how to throw that good basic bowl.

After we finished that first bowl demo, my students went back to their wheels to start practicing. While they threw their bowls, I continued to throw mine as well. I used up a full bag of clay… throwing seventeen basic round bowls, each about 1-1/2 lbs. Once I got them all thrown, we reconvened so I could show them some quick tricks on how they can alter, design & personalize their pottery. Anyone can make a basic round bowl… but the fun part is making it your own!!! So I showed them the tricks, introduced them to colored slip, and tried to beat it into their head that “IT’S JUST CLAY.” Don’t be too frightened to try something. It’s not precious. Make lots of stuff. Try lots of things. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, just squish it up and do it again. Don’t be afraid. IT’S JUST CLAY!!!

Bowl #1 – Fluted on two opposite sides.

Bowl #2 – If two flutes are good, maybe eight would be better?

Bowl #3 – A simple flared out rim… becomes a great “canvas” to decorate later.

Bowl #4 – A much wider flared flange… for even MORE decoration later.

Bowl #5 – A combination of the flared rim and fluted edges. Gives it a bit of an undulating rim.

Bowl #6 – This one was squared off a bit. Who says bowls need to be round? The shape and edges will be refined and decorated later as the clay stiffens up a bit.

Bowl #7 – A simple flower pressed into the bottom with a metal dragonscaling tool. Always a fun little surprise for someone when they get down to the bottom of their bowl of soup!

Bowl #8 – A split rim using the point of my wooden knife. Then pinched back together.

 

Bowl #9 – The same split rim trick, but then rounded out between the pinches.

Bowl #10 – Another split rim bowl. This time the shape was altered outwards in four corners, and inwards in between.

After playing with the shapes & edges of the rim, we switched our focus to colored slips. And the huge options thisopens up for them. The fact that colored slip is like adding a new “skin of clay” on top of your bowl. An easy way to add color to your pottery at this stage. It will dry and be fired onto the pot… and then create some new effects when glaze goes over it.

Bowl #11 – I coated the inside of the bowl with some basic white slip. And then dragged the rounded end of my wooden knife through while the bowl was spinning to create this fun spiral. The color contrast between the white slip and the darker clay body will show up after glazing.

Bowl #12 – Another bowl with white slip, this time with horizontal banding.

Bowl #13 – White slip with chattering through the slip. Chattering is rhythmic tapping… I use my rubber rib tapping up & down through the glaze, moving upwards while the bowl is spinning.

Bowl #14 – A thicker layer of white slip with some squiggly finger grooves.

Bowl #15 – Another layer of white slip with finger grooves sliding up the sides. I didn’t like the way the lines met up in the center, so we added the little circular “medallion” in the middle. My original intention was to clean up the top edge, but my students really loved the texture the rough slip edges created… and they were right!

Bowl #16 – A simple newspaper stencil stuck onto the clay with water… then painted over with slip. I waited a couple minutes for the slip to set up and then carefully removed the paper stencil.

Bowl #17 – A colorful ombre effect blending white slip with some iron red slip.

And there they are… seventeen bowls that all started out very basic & round. Just a few minutes of altering and voila’… seventeen different tricks & techniques. Now go play with your clay!!!

At the end of the night I had to carry them all upstairs to my studio so I could wrap them up for the evening. Only took three trips up the back stairs… not so bad. So now all seventeen bowls are under plastic so they don’t dry too fast. I’m still planning on doing some extra detailing & stamping to some of them.

 

 

Last night in my Beginning Wheelthrowing class we worked on bowls.
Basic bowls thrown the right way and on purpose… NOT a cylinder gone bad.
So we did a demo of the basic bowl with a nice round interior using my green plastic rib.

Bowl #1 – Plain

After this first bowl, my students went back to their wheels to keep working. As they were making pots, I continued to throw more bowls. After I had made 15 more bowls, we reconvened by my demo wheel. I then showed them some quick ways to “decorate” their basic bowls to make them “not so basic” anymore!!! We talked about playing with your clay, taking a chance, committing to your alterations and making the bowl “yours.” Just because the wheel makes round pots doesn’t mean that they need to stay that way!!!

Bowl #2 – Two Twisted Flutes.

Bowl #3 – Eight Twisted Flutes.

Bowl #4 – Thin Flange bent outwards.

Bowl #5– Wide Flange bent outwards.

Bowl #6 – Flange and Twisted Fluting.

Bowl #7 – Split Rim with Pinches.

Bowl #8 – Split Rim and Fluted In & Out

Bowl #9 – Split Rim in a Lotus Flower Style

Bowl #10 – Plain with a Flower Pressed in the bottom with a simple dragonscale tool.

Then we started working more with colored slip. For the demo I used thick white slip and thin blue mazzerine. Now looking at the photos, I probably should have used a darker slip to show more contrast to the lightness of the B-Clay. Oh well… next time!!

Bowl #11 – White Slip Spiral using the rounded end of my wooden knife.

Bowl #12 – White Slip Squiggles with my finger tip.

Bowl #13 – White Slip Banding & Squiggles

Bowl #14 – Blended Gradation Ombre with Chattering Texture

Bowl #15 – Wide Flange with some Mazzerine Squiggles.

Bowl #16 – Mazzerine Slip with a couple Newspaper Letter Stencils.

So now they are all in my studio under wraps. Covered with plastic so they can dry a bit slowly. I’m hoping that maybe tomorrow night they will be ready for some stamping, detailing & accenting. If so… most like more photos will follow!