My pottery class ROCKED it tonight!!!
It was only the second night of our new session… and they’ve already tackled
making MUGS!!! Thrown, trimmed and handles attached…
and ready to move on to bigger & better things next week!

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When cleaning up after Christmas, my “very first art fair friends”
decided to streamline their cabinets and display a portion of their pottery collection.
Hmmmm?… that all looks very familiar!!! Thanks Gerry & Rosene!

Stop by today… it’s the final day of MUD & METAL : My Second Holiday Home Show with metalsmith Amy Taylor. We’re here until 4:00pn with great gifts for everyone on your holiday gift list… even yourself!!! Pottery in every room of my condo at 1353 West Rosemont #3, Chicago 60660… the one with green totem pole in front!!!

Two days of fun & holiday shopping! Stop by my place this weekend to play with me and Amy Taylor… whether you’re shopping or just hangin’ out on my sofa?!!! We have wonderful gift ideas in every room of my condo, food & drink, and the ever-popular Tired Of Shlepping Sale replenished on my back porch! It’s my last holiday show of the year! Giddy-up!!!

Just putting the final touches on my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW…
err, well who are we fooling???… I’m scrambling frantically still putting everything together. Setting up displays, placing pots, hanging ornaments, hanging wall pieces, and putting out even more pottery in EVERY room!!! Still LOTS to do… but I’m looking forward to an amazing weekend to kick-off the holiday shopping season! C’mon by!!!

FIRE WHEN READY POTTERY : HOLIDAY HOME SHOW
1353 West Rosemont #3, Chicago, Illinois 60660

So this week in my pottery class we tackled BOWLS!!!
And not just ANY bowls, but bowls on purpose… and not just a cylinder gone bad!!!
So many beginners are making bowls by accident. But tonight we started doing them on purpose from the very start. I did a bowl throwing demo for my students showing them the “right way” to make a basic round bowl. And then I “released” them back to their wheels to start throwing bowls. While they were working, I threw 18 bowls in total… apparently that’s what a bag of reclaim clay makes?!

After I had made all eighteen “basic” bowls… we re-grouped for the fun part of the demo! I showed them a lot of quick tricks on how to make their bowls “not-so-basic” anymore! We altered rims, did some texturing and I introduced colored slip as a decorative option. Ultimately I just wnat my students to learn to play with their clay, try new things and try to make it their own. Sure, almost anyone can make a round bowl. The wheel kinda does it for you. But the fun part is decorating it and making it your own!!!

Bowl #1 – Fluted Rim.
One finger inside, one finger outside, pinch & twist.

Bowl #2 – Fluted Rim again.
Because if four is good, eight might be better?

Bowl #3 – Narrow Flange.
Basically keeping a finger steady on the outside an inch lower than the rim, and then the inside hand gently bends the rim out over the stationery hand while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #4 – Wider Flange.
Because if a narrow flange is cool, a wider one might be better?

Bowl #5 – Flared & Fluted Flange Combo.
Bend the flange out first, and then come back to flute the edges.

Bowl #6 – Dragonscale Tool.
I have a cool metal tool designed for dragon or fish scales.
But it also works well to make this sort of flower effect in the bottom of a bowl.

Bowl #7 – Split Rim Pinched Together.
I start by splitting the rim carefully with the sharp point of my wooden knife.
Then I go back and pinch it back together in a few spots.

Bowl #8 – Split Rim Dented In.
Again, carefully split the rim, an then use the side of my wooden knife tool to dent inwards in eight places.

Bowl #9 – Split Rim In & Out
Another split rim, this time dented in for four, and out for four… which kind of squares it up a bit. Who says bowls need to be round???

And then I introduced colored slip to my class. We talked about some of the benefits of using slip now, as opposed to trying to glaze certain tings later. The we started playing with some thick white slip…

Bowl #10 – Thick White Slip Spiral
Simply coated the inside and then dragged a saturated brush of slip through it to make the spiral. The extra thickness will remain there through the bisque firing… and then show up even more when the glaze puddles & pools there.

Bowl #11 – Thick White Slip Spiral
Again I coated the inside of the bowl with a layer of thick white slip. And then I just dragged the rounded end of a tool through while the wheel was spinning. Easy-peezy!

Bowl #12 – Finger Squiggles
Same thick white slip… but finger painting to make the squiggles!

Bowl #13 – Thick White Slip Bands & Squiggles
So I combined the perfect banding with the imperfect squiggles. Banded first, squiggles to fill.

Bowl #14 – Chattered White Slip.
Another layer of thick white slip… and then some decorative chattering through the slip while the wheel is spinning. Chattering is basically rhythmic tapping of a plastic rib through the slip to reveal the clay body.

And if white slip is good, maybe TWO slips would be better???... so we added Black!

Bowl #15 – Black & White Ombre With Spiral.
I did the layer of white first, and then carefully blended a layer of black slip over it to create an ombre gradation. And then I dragged the rounded end of my wooden knife through the slip up & out. And I’m TOTALLY LOVING that fun little swoosh at the end… completely unplanned!!!

Bowl #16 – Shaped Rib With In-Dents & Out-Dents.
I used a decorative wooden rib pressed into the sides to create some grooves, then dented in & out, and then filled the bottom section with black slip.

Bowl #17 – Sponge Painting
This time I used a sea sponge to dab on layers of white & black slips. I’m kinda diggin’ the granite-marble sort of effect.

Bowl #18 – Splattered Slip
For this one I used a special little tool I found a few years back to splatter paint, slip or glaze. So I did a layer of splattered white, then a layer of black… and went back on to do some more black… and then some white… until I felt it was perfectly un-perfect!

And for now I have eighteen bowls to finish up. I’m fairly confident there will be some stamping, texturing, and further altering of these bowls. More is more, right?! And then after that, they will all need to be trimmed, fired, glazed and fired again!

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A beautiful display of wood-fired bottles by Jason Hess backed by fresh greens of the trumpet flowers growing up the walls outside the Lillstreet Gallery in the summer sun.

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Always fun to see my “pottery-pal” Suze Lindsay from North Carolina and her amazing textures, patterns, brushwork and soda-fired effects on the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour. She’s always a ray of sunshine on the tour!

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With predictions of rain & clouds for last Friday, it sure turned out beautiful…
especially bright & cheery with the colorful works of Karin Kraemer
on the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour.

We had practically perfect weather this past weekend as we enjoyed
the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour. So many pots. SO MUCH FUN!!!