And it looks like Ruth is enjoying some fresh blueberries… in her “appropriately designed” berry bowl! What a weird coincidence… I never really thought that THAT stamp with some blue colored slip would look that great with fresh blueberries!!! Who knew?!

So I’ve often said the best thing in the pottery studio is POWER TOOLS!
Especially when “drilling” lots of drainage holes into the bottoms of a bunch of berry bowls?!
So why not use a POWER DRILL to drill the holes?!

So I’ve already trimmed the bowls, and let them stiffen up to the “drier-side” of leatherhard. Not squishy. Not tacky. But definitely NOT bone dry yet. And then I start by making the first ring of holes just inside the footring… and then continue on the outside of the footring, between… staggered… lined-up… all different patterns!

And then I let them sit out a bit longer so the drilled “burrs” will brush off easily. Once the shredded debris stiffens up, I use a stiff paint brush to wipe all of those extra pieces off both inside & out! It’s always fun to see the drilled pattern after cleaning out the debris!

Now that they’re drilled full of drainage holes, I’ll let them dry to bone dry. And then I’ll take a green scrubby 3M pad to smooth out some of the rough edges before bisque firing.

Next up?… throwing a bunch of small plates to work as the drainage catch plate!

Back from my ride, showered & changed…
time for a little breakfast. Starting with some fresh Vitamin C!!!

Another productive studio night with a lot of stamping. The bowls were thrown (against my natural instinct) without a spiral… and you know how much I LOVE a good spiral!!! But these are going to become berry bowls, and I didn’t want the spiral to “get in the way” of the drainage holes I’ll be drilling through the bottom later.

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Bowl #5 –

Bowl #6 –

Bowl #7 –

Bowl #8 –

Bowl #9 –

Bowl #10 –

Bowl #11 –

Bowl #13 –

Bowl #14 –

Bowl #15 –

So for now they’re all stamped and back under plastic for the night. I’ll tackle trimming the bottom to add a foot ring tomorrow… and then drainage holes after that. Once trimmed & drilled, then I’ll throw a batch of small plates to fit… drainage catch plates for the berry bowls!

Another quiet & solitary night in the studio… no one around to divert my attention from throwing some more bowls. Just getting started on a fresh batch of new berry bowls. More to come!

You know I love a good spiral…
and I’m kinda fond of stamped patterns…
so here’s another soda-fired & stamped bowl to celebrate TEXTURE TUESDAY!

When making lidded jars, I always make a few extra lids so I have options in finding the “best fitting” lid for each jar. The “extra” lids each got a little stamping… and now we have some sweet little sauce dishes. A little set of nesting bowls… had I known, I would have stamped the large one to match better!!!

Looks like Judy has been doing a bit of cooking while quarantined at home. Trying to stay healthy with some colorful carrots & peppers… in a sweet little stamped bowl by little ol’ me!

So I finally finished stamping a new batch of bowls. I’ve been trying to stay productive and get into the studio as often as possible… but with all of the craziness going on these days, it’s tough. Luckily, my studio is very safe & isolated these days. Lillstreet has been closed to the public for weeks now, and I am seemingly the ONLY person there working at night… safely “trapped” in my own little work space… well-isolated from anyone else! And as a potter, I feel like I’m washing my hands ALL the time!!!

So they’ve been stamped… and now they’re all under wraps waiting to be trimmed… and then fired… and then glazed… and fired again! I remembered to take photos of the stamps that did the magic… well, for some of them any ways?!

Bowl A

Bowl B

Bowl C –

Bowl D –

Bowl E –

Bowl F –

Bowl G –

Bowl H –

Bowl I –

Bowl J –

Bowl K –

Stamping more bowls… just adding some textures & patterns around the rims to celebrate another TEXTURE TUESDAY!