Bubble Bowl
I finally finished another pottery piece! I say “finally,” because I have been to pottery class about three times this whole summer. But I am really happy with this one. Yay me!
It’s basically a simple press mold (where you press clay into a mold, in this case a bowl, and then smooth out the inside) but not so simple in that all those little bubbles were actually little rolled balls of clay. Ack. The trick was to get them to join together tightly enough as to not crash and burn, but also not get so squished that they lost their fun round shape.
I held my breath the whole way.
The other thing I love about this bowl is that it was inspired by a fellow student, who in turn was inspired by a piece from our teacher. I really appreciate the collaborative and sharing atmosphere at my studio, Stone Leaf Pottery. Yay us!
To get a peek at the process, here is the bowl just after it came out of the mold before it was fired the first time…
And here is the bowl as it is being glazed. I put a heavy layer of the brown glaze on first and then wiped it off, so it would just stay in the cracks. Then I came back with the blue and green for the bubbles.
Have you made a Bubble Bowl? Share your work!
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holy moly! that is gorgeous! I want one.
Wow! I love it.
What a cool idea.
Wow…so pretty!
It’s really pretty! Good work!
a beautiful piece! Mass produce and sell it to Color Me Mine so all of us can get one. Or, you can simply start Greeblebowl next? 😉
I love it! What are you going to put in it?
I am fascinated by the process! It seems to require so much patience and care. It’s lovely.
WOW!!!
That is so cool!! Glad it survived all of the steps to end up so beautiful. Now just make sure no one knocks it over!
OMW, you are very very clever!
Oh, yes, that has Etsy written all over it. The original “signature” piece, perhaps?
Well done!
Wow! Nice bowl, are you going to keep that one or Etsy it?
Well done.
It’s gorgeous Aimee!
How much would it cost to get one?
AH
I LOVE it. I’ve always been fascinated with ceramics/pottery. I’d love to take a class someday and make my own bubble bowl. 😀
Thanks for sharing your masterpiece!
what an impressive piece! Get yourself a wheel at home, woman, and start a new Etsy shop!
Very cool! It makes me want to take a ceramics class!
I did the tri-tone.
that is gorgeous!
I detest it. Only because it’s at your house and not mine.
I am going to keep it! It’s become out new “receipt receptical” in my office at home.But I might have to make more, because it was really fun to do.And thanks so much y’all!
Very nice! I am probably going to look into getting Chris some classes for his B-Day!
beautiful piece of art!
It’s beautiful! It reminds me of pepples in a mountain stream.
I love it!
That’s GORGEOUS!
Dory
The bowl is so pretty. I am sure if you wanted to sell it you would have an buyer immediately.
Gorgeous! This just came across my pinterest!
If the person was your fnired, they would probably be happy to hear from you. It would be a pleasant surprise to reconnect.If they don’t reply, it could be the wrong email address or an email address that they no longer use.I use it every day.
Gorgeous! I would love to try this myself. Can you tell me how you got the clay out of the mold? Did you line the bowl with plastic wrap or…?
When clay dries, it shrinks – and you carefully just remove it from the bowl!
How did you smooth out the inside and ensure that the balls all stuck together? Our pre-school class wants to make this – we want to have the kids roll all the balls for us. They’ve been practicing and have gotten really good at it! I figured if the kids rolled the balls and placed into the mold then I could do the smoothing on the inside. Any tips would be much appreciated!