The boards (on both sides of the studio) are from buildings on our farm that were torn down.  My dad had finished the west wall (with the shelves) but was not able to finish the east wall before he died.

Time to pug some clay and get to work!

“Mystery Glaze #2″ is made up of what gets rinsed out of my glazing brushes.  Once there is enough “glaze sediment” in the bucket, I pour off the water and transfer the new glaze to a lidded container.  More water comes to the top and is poured out.

So far, Mystery Glaze #1 and #2 have been blue.  #1 was more of a dark denim blue, and #2 is more blue-gray.  I’m not holding my breath that Mystery Glaze #3 will be anything other than blue, but you never know!

When you flip the bowl over, the top is the only thing that you will need to trim (if you want to carve into the outer wall, you can do that later).  You may need to smooth the bowl part as well – sometimes there is a dent from closing the form.

Smoothed out rim and bowl.  This bowl was at soft leather, so I could do a lot of the smoothing work with a sponge and my fingers.

And that’s it!

Remember that you are throwing “upside down” – the “rim” of the outside wall is actually the foot of the finished piece!

Center the clay and open all the way to the bottom.  However far out you pull the donut of clay will be the diameter of the finished bowl part.  Flatten the top of the donut to make splitting it (next step) easier.  Clean up the inside of the bowl with a rib or sponge.

Split the clay donut with your thumb (or whatever finger is most comfortable).  Support the outer part with your right hand.  Sponge out as much water as you can from the bowl area.

Pull up the wall that will become the bowl – pulling up and in makes forming the bowl easier.  If it gets off center, you can use the needle tool to even up the lip again.

Collar in the bowl wall, shaping the bowl form as you go.

Completely close the bowl form.

Using a flexible rib, smooth and shape the bowl form.

Pull up the outside wall, taking care to keep water from pooling at the bottom.  Don’t worry at this point about the amount of clay left at the bottom, touching the wheelhead.  This can always be trimmed off later.

Even up the rim (what will be the foot of the piece), and make sure it is 1/2″ or more beyond the bowl.  At this point, you have some choices – leave the wall flared out, shape it to be vertical,or shape it to be flared in.

Side view to show outside wall pulled above bowl.

Wire the form off of the bat and leave upside down until leather hard.