Chicago Gal has been talking about her ceramics program at church ever since I met her. She invited us to join them for the Bowl-A-Thon, wherein we would be making bowls. Interfaith Community Services has a fundraiser for its Food Bank scheduled at the end of this month. For $15 you can sample local restaurants, support a worthy cause, and leave with a handmade, ceramic bowl.
It's called Empty Bowls... and they need bowls... and they were willing to take us, talented or otherwise, to make them alongside ceramicists and parishioners and random teens. The scene was a typical, large, institutional gymnasium.
The atmosphere was all about the love.
You start with a tortilla of clay.
Yes, a tortilla. This is Tucson. We are 65 miles from the Mexican border. It's a tortilla.
You cut along the inner triangles and get a shape like this.
which can be embellished by the use of G'ma's gardening spoon,
which I appropriated from her shed as I cleared it out.
My Hero brought tools, and it was obvious that her talents far surpassed mine.
She made a scalloped edge.
She put rolled up paper towels inside to retain structural integrity
as she created geegaws to add to the outside and the bottom of her bowl.
Yes, even the bottom of her bowl was gorgeous.
She used a meat tenderizer to create this waffle pattern.
We were quite impressed.
We made square bowls.
We made curvy bowls.
We made small bowls.
And we made smiles.... so many many smiles.
We decorated the edges
and we stood up to get a better angle.
And when it was all over, the drying tables were full to overflowing.
We're going back in two weeks to glaze them.
You're invited to join the fun.... just let me know :)
You got me with the title! :) I cannot wait to see them when they are done. I bet they are going to be awesome!
ReplyDeleteLooks like something that would be relaxing to do. I'm always in awe of anyone that make ceramics or sculpt. I'm not good at that.
I hope we get to see a lot of them when they are done.
Happy Monday!
Megan xxx