While I might “allegedly” be in Minneapolis already to play & shop at this weekend’s St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour… I wouldn’t want my SURFACE DECORATION class to miss me too much tonight. So I’ve set them up with my favorite sub, and her best demo ever!!! And I even pre-made some pieces for them to “play with” in class! Can’t wait to see what Catherine does with them as they tackle “water etching” tonight! Sadly, without me…

Looks like I’ve got some trimming to do…

So I saw a random post on Instagram over the weekend about a basic potter’s challenge… for newbies & more advanced throwers. One pound of clay, perfect cylinders, four inches tall with just four pulls. Not a bad way to start the morning…

After a couple handbuilding challenges, it was time for my THROWDOWN class to get back on the wheel. This time it was “tallest” wheelthrown cylinder with two pounds of clay! With a nice even rim… no pinching, stretching or adding onto the top to make it taller! Congrats to Claire, Katie & Alex for their tallest cylinders!

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!!!

So it’s Monday… and it feels great to be back in the studio being productive again! Getting back into the groove!!! It was a long break, so it feels great to have my hands back in the clay! And to “practice throwing” again… as the new session of classes starts tonight at Lillstreet!!! And I don’t want to look too “rusty” for my Intermediate Wheel students tonight!!!

Thrown on Tuesday night, and trimmed tonight… just minutes before my SURFACE DECORATION class. I can’t wait to see what my students do with these “blank” cylinders… as tonight’s technique is mishima!!! More photos to come…

Cylinders trimmed & drying… wait, WHAT?!

Perfectly smooth? No stamping? No texture? No patterns? Don’t panic… I kinda have a plan for these! You know how I love a good plan! More soon…

The next challenge for The Pottery Olympics was to throw the tallest cylinder on the wheel using three pounds of clay in ten minutes. Sounds simple enough, right?! Except the real challenge was that the team members had to switch positions taking turns throwing every minute!!! Sixty seconds… switch… sixty seconds… SWITCH!!!

All thrown… a very productive day!
Forty cylinders thrown to make forty mugs. The commission isn’t quite that large… but they will be soda-fired so I’m making a few “extras” in case some of them don’t turn out so well?! You know how soda-firing is kinda random… I can only “control” so much!