This week was the week where I teach my students to make a bowl on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad. But since I only have returning “advanced” beginners this session, it was a bit more of a refresher course. A basic bowl thrown with intention from the very beginning. No flat bottom. Nice even curve on the inside. A real bowl with a real curve.

And then, as we normally do every session, after the demo I continued to throw fifteen more bowls. A full bag of clay. The plan is typically that once I finish throwing all of the bowls we then re-convene to go through Part Two of the demo. My favorite part where we do some quick fun of altering & decorating each bowl. Showing my students how to “play” a bit more. To design their bowls a bit more. To alter. To re-shape. To add some pattern. Color. Texture. To make it their own!!!

So that’s just what we did.

When we re-convened, I sprung a little surprise on my students.
Since they are all returning “advanced” beginners, I knew that they’ve all seen my usual demo. Fluting. Flanging. Slipping, Altering. But since the whole goal is for them to “make it their own”… I decided to take it literally. So I did the first bowl with a flange bent outwards.

And then I sprung it on them… THEY were going to do the demo!!!

Yes, each of them had to step it up and show off some technique that I’ve done before to one of my bowls. And if they did it, I told them they could keep my bowl. Because now they’ve made it their own. Quite literally.

Unfortunately, I was quite prepared to catch them all on film… but I missed a few. But here are the most of them. Bowls that I threw but my students did a bang-up job of doing the demo, sharing with their skills and techniques with everyone else.

April added some angular flair to her bowl. She curved in the lower half from the outside, and then gave some definition to the change of angle.

Tony did his first split-rim EVER!!!
The first attempt didn’t quite work so well. So we had him re-compress the rim and try again. The second time was perfect. And then he did a couple finger pinches for detail.

Natalie took her round bowl and squared it off a bit… and then added some French Green slip to the interior.

Grace used two different colored slips blending them in a spiral pattern. Once the interior was covered, she dragged a tool through the slip while the bowl was spinning to create this wonderful ombre spiral effect.

Taylore did a flanged rim… and then added a layer of colored slip. She used white slip, so it is a subtle change from the color of the B-Clay. Hopefully it will show up even more when it’s glazed & fired.

Katie wanted to do a finger-fluted rim. A couple little flip & squish accents… whoops!!!…
okay, so maybe she squished and flipped just a little too much?!!!

And so she tried again… lucky we had an extra bowl already made…

And a layer of French Green slip along the fluted flanged rim.

Patty decided to go for a split rim. And then flute it both inwards & outwards to give her bowl a sort of lotus pattern.

Stacey coated the inside of her bowl with French Green slip. And then did a fun chattered pattern through the slip… her first attempt ever! It’s the combination of rhythmic tapping of a rib through the slip while the bowl is spinning. Stacey was quite pleased with her first attempt at chattering. I think she might be addicted now?!

Catherine took her bowl and divided it into five sections with a MKM Spacing Wheel. She then gently shaped the five sections outward for a gently undulating rim.

Melissa went all out and did the newspaper stencil trick. She cut a pattern out of newspaper, wet it, and then smoothed it gently onto the interior surface of the bowl. She then carefully covered the interior with French Green slip. After some good coverage, she gently pulled out the newspaper stencil to reveal the pattern.

My teaching assistant Susan took care of the last bowl. She pulled out four side points, and then shaped them into points.

So there it is for another session… the same old Bowl Demo with a wonderful twist. So much fun to see my students step it up… to show off a bit… to see what they’ve learned… to see them make some great bowls!!! A wonderful twist. And I think they might now have a little more appreciation for what I go through doing every demo every time. About time they tables were turned on them. And they did an incredible job!!!

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Did some good trimming tonight and added colored flashing slip accents. I like to add colored slip to the top flange and a dab of color in the center of every stamp. A little obsessive-compulsive… but, well…  that’s just how I roll!!!

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So my latest batch of stamped cylinders are ready to become mugs!
We need some handles first… so I start with some wedged and shaped “carrots” of clay.

I pull my handles separate from the cup. Starting with the wide end of the “carrot” in your fingers tips, I gently slide down the clay with wat hands a bit of fiction. A little more friction and the clay begins to stretch into a handle. I like mine to be more of a strap than a tube. They need to set-up a bit before they can be attached to the mugs. So I carefully prop mine up with a nice “mug handle curve” already established. When they are no longer wet & squishy, I start attaching them.

Score, slip, attach, refine… REPEAT.
Score, slip, attach, refine… REPEAT.
Score, slip, attach, refine… REPEAT… REPEAT… REPEAT…         did I say REPEAT???

Soon enough I’ve got a LOT of mugs!!! My favorite thing to make.

Next up?… some color accents with flashing slips painted on the top portions and in some of the stamps.

Spent the afternoon in the studio doing some stamping & slip decorating. Thankful that these vases didn’t dry out too much while I was off racing yesterday!

And while we’re on craftsmanship & skill… here’s another video that’s quite mesmerizing. I know I’ve posted it before, but I’m still entranced. I think this is done with colored slip, or maybe colored sand on the wheel… but I suggest we all try the same “trick” on the next platter we make. Get ready Tuesday night class… this week we cover slips, and the next week plates & platters. Dangerously groovy combination apparently?!!! Get ready.

Click here for the spinning, spiraling, evolving and ever-changing video!

And a second one…. on the video there’s a title, but I can’t read it?!

And then a third… and another title in another language… Russian maybe?

Always fun – a “new” demo last night for my pottery class!
A freshly thrown plate with thick white slip painted over a piece of lace. I love the patterns & textures it makes when you pull the lace “stencil” out. There’s definitely some potential here… think I may need to play with this idea a bit more!

While porcelain is inherently white… and so many people love it because it’s SO white... I need to add a little color. So I paint on some colored slip accents on each mug. The top section above the stamped line gets a smooth coating of a colored flashing slip. Then each stamp also gets a small dab of the same colored slip to help draw the eye and the color down into the pot.

Once they’ve been accented with color, I can now leave them open to dry in my studio. All of these pastel slip colors will change dramatically in the soda firing atmosphere. The colors should get more vibrant, and have random effects caused by the flames touching the pot and deposited soda mixture.

Finished “detailing” a few more mugs this evening with accents of colored flashing slips. They’re now drying and waiting for a trip into my next bisque kiln.

Last night in class we did my favorite demo of the session.
I taught my students how to make a good bowl “on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. And how to avoid making those “beginner mistakes” of corners, edges, divots, and ledges. After making the first bowl for my students, they all went back to their wheels to continue throwing, while I threw fourteen more basic bowls. We then reconvened for a demo on altering & decorating each of the bowls. My goal is always to show them a few tricks. To teach them some fun techniques. And to encourage them to play with their clay. That each piece is not so precious… and that they need to play, alter, twist & push it further.

If it gets messed up, who cares!?
Squish it up, wedge it and start over.
It’s just clay.

Bowl #1 – The basic bowl. All of my demo bowls started out looking just like this.
Plain. Round. Simple. And desperately needing something fun…

Bowl #2 – Rim fluted in four places.

Bowl #3 – And if four look good… eight might be better. Fluted rim in eight places.

Bowl #4 – Flange flared out.

Bowl #5 – Flange flared out and fluted.

Bowl #6 – Wide flange flared out… for one of those “fancy” tiny restaurant desserts!

Bowl #7 – Four indentations using the side of my wooden knife to “square” the bowl.

Bowl #8 – A stylized flower pressed in with a metal dragonscale tool.

Bowl #9 – Split rim, and then pinched together in eight places.

Bowl #10 – Split rim with an altered shape… kind of a lotus flower contour.

Bowl #11 – Mazzerine slip with a spiral dragged through using the round end of my wooden knife.

Bowl #12 – Mazzerine slip banded & squiggled with the round end of my wooden knife.

Bowl #13 – Thick white slip “squiggled” with my fingers while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #14 – Thick white slip chattered with a rounded rib while spinning on the wheel.

Bowl #15 – A newspaper stencil letter, covered in slip and then peeled out.

So for now, they’re under wraps in my studio… most of them will get a little detailing.
Some will get stamped. Others will get stamped…
oh wait, did I say some of them will get stamped?! Surprise!!!

And speaking of colored slips…
one of mine was too close to the same color as my clay. I “tinted” it with some food coloring so it would be a lot easier to see as I was painting it on. The food coloring will “disappear” during the firing process… leaving the colored slip exactly where I want it.

Of course my slip is NOT quite this colorful. I kinda wish it was…
But the photo shows it in mid-mixing. And I unfortunately did not remember to take
an “after” photo of the final tinted slip.                     My bad.