Empty Bowls

     Yes, we are at that time of year for empty bowls! Empty Bowls is a dinner that is held at Haddon Township High School. Pasta and soup are served in the bowls which anyone can buy. It is a charity event that benefits the Food Bank of South Jersey. As an art class we make dozens of bowls that are auctioned and sold off for money that will be donated to the Food Bank. If you didn't already know, the Food Bank helps people who can't afford to buy food for themselves and thier family. It's a great cause so please come and support! February 9! 
     Making the bowls is the fun part. I love clay, I think it is so much fun to play with and you can create pieces that you can use forever. The process of making bowls is a bit tedious. You first have to roll out a slab of clay so that it the right thickness for your bowl. Thankfully the form of the bowl is already made so we just have to lay our slab of clay onto it. Rolling this clay isn't a walk in the park though, it takes muscle. Once you have your slab of clay onto the form you can cut the excess off. You then take your bowl to a heat gun which will dry the clay so that it is easy to pop off the form. This is where you can get creative. You can shape your bowl or put a design on it. Once your bowl is finished off the to kiln it goes. I have a link to what a kiln is on my blog post from last year, but pretty much it is a huge oven. When the bowls have been fired it's time to glaze. This part is exciting. You can choose what color glaze you want and most of the bowls that turn out eccentric are the colors of glaze mixed together. It amazes me how glaze can be so beautiful because in the bottle it comes in it really isn't all that exciting. This year I wanted to experiment with colors. I didn't make any of my own, but i did chose colors from the array of textiles. When your done glazing the bowl then goes back into the kiln and you wait to see the outcome. The bowls this year turned out spectacular. I personally want to buy a few.
    The next time we will be working with clay will be our tea sets which I am stoked about. I enjoyed making the place setting last year. This year we will be basing our tea sets on the artist we choose to research. I chose to research Keith Haring, here is a link to the blog post where I wrote about him: Keith Haring. I will keep you updated!