Pottery Fail: Popcorn Bowls

I know why the blog Pinterest Fails exists.

Inspiration:

It started with this cool idea for a popcorn bowl posted to a Facebook group I’m part of, and I was sure I could recreate it. Or at least try.

Planning:

I texted my pottery group telling them to prep for a fun project by making a bowl for class. Took a quick trip to the store for microwave popcorn and just knew this was going to work.

Execution:

I made a bowl, prepped the slip, and popped some popcorn. The next 30 minutes were a hot mess of dipping popcorn in the slip and placing each piece on the rim of my bowl. The popcorn was slowly dissolving and couldn’t support the weight of too many pieces on top. The pieces slipped off the sides and onto the table below sometimes avalanching the attached sides.

Determined, I finally built up three layers, and excitedly set it aside to dry, already planning how I wanted to glaze it and the happy memories to come…

Result: Fail

The bowl came back from the bisque fire with hazard signs flashing. The popcorn had burned away in the bisque fire and left behind slip “shells” just waiting to slice unsuspecting hands. Where the popcorn had managed to stay on the rim, the slip was as fragile as meringue and would crumble into sharp shards. Unfortunately, I do not have a final photo of this project, but 0/10 would not recommend.

A happy bowl full of hope and drippy slowly dissolving popcorn.