I was painting some colored slip accents on pieces today. And found myself struggling to see the difference between the clay color and where I had already painted the slip. Then I remembered the “food coloring trick.” Luckily, I had a couple bottles of food coloring in my studio from the last time I did this. The flashing slip I was working with was Nichols Blue… but it looked very close to my clay color. So I added blue food coloring! Knowing that the coloring will burn out of the slip when it goes into the kiln. A quick trick to make my life easier! And it’s fun to watch…

In fact, I had already done it once to this batch of slip which is why it’s already a light blue tint. But I wanted more. I wanted to play. I wanted it bluer than blue. I wanted to do it again. And I knew if I did, I could take pictures and share with you!

The fun part is when the food coloring spreads over the “water surface” of the slip… emanating from the dark center where the drop landed. So I let it spread… loving the tie-dyed effect until it stops. Then, and only then, it’s time to stir it all up!

Special thanks to my pottery friend Emily Murphy who showed me this trick years ago when she used to be my studio neighbor. She may not be right across the hall any more, but obviously the tricks she shared still influence my work!

I also trimmed all of the “24”… and added some colored slip accents to the tops & stamps.
Now all set and drying.

That time of the session again… Last night was the night we tackle making “bowls on purpose” instead of cylinders gone bad that just happened to turn into a bowl. It’s my favorite class to teach of the whole session. Not only is it fun to see the light bulb go off when they realize that they can do it too… but also when they see how much FUN they can have moving their clay around.

So I started with a full bag of clay… cut it up into 13 pieces and started wedging. We then sat down for the bowl making demo. Once we had covered the basics on bowls, they all went back to work while I made twelve more bowls. When I was done throwing all thirteen, I called them back and we went through some quick tricks to make each of the “identical” bowls each a one-of-a-kind piece of pottery!

Bowl #1 – Two simple fluted edges.
A quick flick of the fingers can change the whole profile of a simple round bowl.
Two fingers side-by-side. one inside, one outside. Pinch. Twist. Repeat.

Bowl #2 – If two are good, eight fluted edges might be even better?!

Bowl #3 – No need to leave bowls round, right?!
So I showed my class quickly how to alter the shape a bit. A little pull here, a little tug there, and suddenly the bowl is slightly squared-off. And then I indented the four “straight” sides. I’m kinda thinking that there may be a handle added to this one at some point?!

Bowl #4 – A simple flange flared out along the top rim.
Unfortunately, somehow I missed taking a “Before” picture of this plain bowl. But I’m sure it comes as no surprise that “any” plain bowl needs to be decorated. Last night I threw the bowl, and tonight I added a stamped line around the bowl where the flange meets the bowl interior. So here’s the “After” picture…

Bowl #5 – The same simple flange, but now fluted in four places!
Combine a simple flared flange with four fluted edges. Which then presents itself with a great line waiting to be stamped. So last night I threw the bowl, and tonight I did some stamping.

Bowl #6 – Another simple flange, this time further down & wider! More room to play later…
Again, last night I threw the bowl, then tonight I did a little stamping & white slip decorating for contrasting accents. This time, a little more whimsically stamped… not quite so geometrically repetitive.

Bowl #7 – A quick flower made with a simple dragon-scale tool. Twelve impressions. One flower.

Bowl #8 – A split rim, pinched back together in four places.

Bowl #9 – A simple flange with a quick layer of white slip. I think once this bowl dries & stiffens up a bit, I might do some carving through the white slip to reveal a design and contrast between the slip and then ochre clay body.

Bowl #10 – Simple bowl. Simple slip. Simple spiral. Cover the bowl with a simple layer of white slip, then drag the rounded end of a tool through the slip and upwards as the wheel is spinning. The goal is to reveal the contrast between the slip and the ochre clay body. It’s also a nice bonus that there’s some thickness to the remaining slip to add some texture & pooling-possibilities for the glaze.

Bowl #11 – If a spiral is good, a squiggle might be better?!
And then, as I was carrying all of my demo bowls upstairs, this one bowl bumped into one of the racks in the hallway – denting in one side. It would never be “perfectly” round again, so I did a little creative camouflage… and squared it up!

Bowl #12 – White slip with some rhythmic chattering. I cover the entire inside of the bowl with some white slip, and then take my green rounded rib and tap it through the slip as the bowl is spinning. While it spins, and you’re tapping, you also need to move up the bowl all at the same time! The final result is a combination of all three movements & speed of each.

Bowl #13 – White slip over some newspaper cut-out stencils. I just cut the numbers out of a newspaper, wet the paper and stick them onto the inside of the bowl. Then carefully paint white slip over the letters to make sure they are stuck down well. Then it’s a quick coverage over the whole bowl. The tough part is peeling out the newspaper stencils after the slip sets up a bit.

So there they are… all thirteen bowls. All made from one bag of stoneware with ochre clay. I chose the ochre clay as it fires to a beautiful chocolate brown in cone 10 reduction… which also makes for a really beautiful contrast to the white slip.

Hopefully, my students enjoyed the demo. Not only to I hope they learned how to make bowls “on purpose”… but also to get over the beginner’s feeling that each piece is SO precious. They need to play with their clay and be willing to make a few mistakes along the way. It’s just clay. It’s nothing too precious. And they need to build up some confidence and start making some bowls that express themselves. Not just the basic round bowl that the wheel kinda made for them!

Tonight I “tackled” throwing plates with my beginning wheelthrowing class.
I always tell my students it’s easier to throw them than it is to trim them.
So I showed them that a platter is basically a low, wide cylinder with flared out
sides. A lot of compressing on the bottom… and some details & decorating.
We discussed dding slip when we made bowls. So why not add it to a platter?!

So I covered the interior of the plate surface with white slip. I then dragged the curved end
of my wooden knife through the slip. Bands here & there, squiggles in the middle. I really
like how the displaced slip also creates some great textures… and some great places for the
glaze to pool. The contrast between the clay body and the white slip ain’t bad either!

Spice it up with textures & tiles…
and trying to combine the two into new salt & pepper shakers!

So I’ve been working on a new batch of shakers that combine the textures
of my tiles, the soda fired colors & flashing – with the functionality of
salt & pepper shakers! They’re still in the works… with trays to come!

Once the shakers are built, I’m applying a thin coat of soda slip on some
of them to give them different colors & flashing effects to be created in the
soda firing atmosphere. Seen below before & after…

So as I paint the color slip details onto the thrown & stamped pieces,
I need to make sure that every stamp gets highlighted and none
of them are missed along the way. Problem is, some of the soda slips
look surprisingly similar to the natural clay color. So as I go around
dabbing a little bit of slip into the stamps… how do you keep track
of what you’ve done if the slip matches the clay?

Well, after years of struggling to keep track… a simple suggestion
by fellow-potter-friend Amy Higgason may have resolved my problem.

Why not simply color the slip so it contrasts more?

Sounds simple, right? Why did I never think of that?
Amy suggested using simple food coloring to tint the slip
as it will easily burn out of the slip at a low temperature before
the “real firing” starts to affect the pots.

So I added some food coloring to the slips that “match” the clay,
especially to the “smooth orange” slip – so I added red & yellow
to make it “oranger”… and look what happened…

Not only is the slip easier to see as I apply it to the pot…
it was also a really groovy process! As the drops of food color hit the slip,
it seeped & spread, made really fun patterns that evolved as I stirred it together!!!
Who knew?…

So tonight I put some “finishing touches” on the mugs!

As part of the soda-firing process, a lot of the color accents achieved
come from colored slip applied to the surface. Slip is just watered down clay
with special chemical colorants added. These chemicals react to the
soda atmosphere and create dramatic colors and random flashing marks.
Slip generally needs to be painted onto the clay body while it is wet
or leather-hard. I typically paint the slip on after stamping, trimming
and applying handles. It’s usually the last step before I let the pieces air-dry.

Tonight I painted slip accents onto the mugs… both along the top rims
and some of the smaller details inside each of the stamps. Yes, it’s true…
each and every little stamp, one by one… each one with a touch of slip!

Now that they are all painted, I can let them air-dry… and then bisque fire
the mugs when I accumulate a kiln-full of greenware (dry clay). Once fired,
the mugs will be glazed and fired again. A few more steps in the process…