Getting sick of Chili Bowls...

Even though I said, after trimming the last Chili Bowls, that I wouldn't throw any anymore, I did again today. What got me thinking was a conversation I had with another ceramic artist; we were complaining about all the time we spent making the bowls and then trimming them and then people would probably be cheap and pay a dollar or two for the bowl + chili. I guess we were making the bowls with something else in mind: getting a pretty bowl out there and people appreciating it for what it is. Looking back at the crazy designs and slip and all, I would expect people to pay much more than they probably will. So, I went into the (empty, YAY!) studio this morning, I prepared 8 2lbs balls of clay and gave myself exactly 2 hours to finish 8 bowls. I focused on giving 3 or 4 pulls and then shaping it with another 1 or 2 and then have it FINISHED, without any further attention to detail or shape. I spent about 5-10 minutes MAX on the bowls and VOILA! it actually worked better than I had expected. I had 8 perfectly shaped bowls in about 1 1/2 hours. Compare that to all morning throwing sessions for the same amount!

By bowl 8 I was actually throwing some really nice ones, so I prepared 7 more balls of 2lbs clay and threw another 6 bowls - one collapsed, because the second batch of clay was very wet and therefore not as sturdy. I had those done within an hour and I had pretty similar shapes and sizes - something I always tried to achieve, but that never happened; call me a snowflake, no two pieces alike :)


I glazed the 7 bowls I made in the beginning of this Chili Bowl Ordeal with a transparent glaze. I used a black underglaze to bring out the detail of the stamps and designs I made and am hoping that they will really pop out! These bowls will be fired at cone 9. They are on the shelf to go into the kiln, but unfortunately I have no control over when they will be fired - they usually take their time and won't fire before the first project is almost due, which can take another week or two...


I counted and now I have 33 Chili Bowls, believe it or not! Maybe I really will make more than 50, who knows... Here is our sign-up sheet. I changed my amount of Chili Bowls from 10+ to 20+ and this morning I changed it to 30+!!!


But with those done and in a timely manner, I won't be sorry, if they go for a buck or two, as long as they are being sold and we can get a lot of small donations.