Hota Fest

On Sunday, I did an hour long workshop at Hota Fest in Titusville, Pa.    I was a little apprehensive about it since it was only an hour long.  Most of my regular classes are 6-8 hours long.

So...... the question was how to present the material so everyone could take home a finished piece in an hour.  (Just to let you know...... we didn't make it.  Took an hour and twenty minutes.)

Maybe we would have made the time limit if we'd had the class maximum of five but like Saturday, there were last minute additions.   (Remember, I'm a Boy Scout...... it took a little more creative manipulating today though.)  Luckily we were the last session of the day and didn't have to worry about another class in our room.

The class was held in the home-ec room of the Titusville Middle School.  What a perfect place for a class.  Lots of room to spread out.  A microwave and sink right in the room.

To make the class go faster, I put out four sets of three texture plates.  They were all fairly shallow textures and the same level.  With only 12 textures to pick from it took less time for a decision.

I also put out only the 3 and 4 cards for rolling.   Everyone rolled their clay out to 4 cards thick at the same time and covered it to keep it from drying out.

 I demonstrated how to roll the clay 3 cards thick onto the texture sheet.  After that it was quick and easy to cut out the clay with cookie cutters. (And less sanding.)

I had two torch firing units set up but that still takes time.  The sink was right there for scrubbing the fired pieces and everyone hand burnished their pieces.  We finished them with ear wires or a jump ring.

All the students went home with shiny pieces since we ran out of time to add a patina.

There was a nice mix of people at the workshop.  (Sorry, no pictures....... too busy.)   There was a married couple from Wales, a young girl from Switzerland, three other women and another young man.

We kept it simple and finished as quickly as we could and still had good results.  I think everyone was happy with their "finished" pieces.