Yesterday I threw bowls. Today they were ready to stamp. So I did…

Now they just need to be trimmed…
and then they can all go into the bisque kiln early next week! One step closer…

Same bowls, different angle… a view from above!
I’m kinda diggin’ the new stamped-inside look with the fluted rims! So far, so good…

Perfect timing… I went back into the studio today hoping to stamp the bowls I threw yesterday.
Luckily for me, they were at just the right “stiffness” for some good stamping! So I did..

Bowl #1 : before, during & after…

Bowl #2 : before, during & after…

Bowl #3 : before, during & after…

Bowl #4 : before, during & after…

Bowl #5 : before, during & after…

Bowl #6 : before, during & after…

Bowl #7 : before, during & after…

And the tools of the trade… my banding wheel, a couple of my handmade stamps,
a needle tool, bamboo skewer, chopstick & and a dowel rod. That’s it… voila’.

With “Empty Bowls” in full swing downstairs, I opted to be productive upstairs in my studio.
I ran downstairs to see what all the commotion was about… and it was great to see hundreds
of bowls all over the place & plenty of customers picking them up and donating to the cause!
I especially liked when I saw people carrying one of my bowls as their final choice! After all,
there were a dozen of my donated bowls to choose from!

Back upstairs, I started throwing some new pieces. Having received my “acceptance” letter
today for the Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival on Memorial Day Weekend, I thought I
better start making more flower pots for the Spring art fair selection! So I threw some more
traditional-style flower pots with the water dish attached.

What to do next?… well, there’s never enough bowls, right? So I decided to throw a batch
of bowls with B-Clay. Plan being that I will be ready for another soda kiln fairly soon,
and B-Clay turns out really nice in the back stack of the kiln… where most other clays
turn out “dry” after soda firing.

With my tables filling up quickly with freshly thrown pots, I had to make some room.
Luckily, the new batch of kitchen utensil crocks was already stamped and ready to be
trimmed. So I finished them off… and added decorative slip to a couple of them.

By the time I finished trimming the utensil crocks,
and made another trip downstairs to check out more “Empty Bowls”…
the new flowerpots were already stiff enough to start stamping! Giddy-up!

First with a single stamp pressed repetitively around the sides of the pot.
Then a small divot added around the rim to help with spacing.

With the proper spacing “indicators”… it is then pretty easy to “flute” the rim
all the way around. Consistently pressing the wet clay – enough to move the shape,
but not enough to squish or smoosh the shape of the pot… trying to avoid
an “ovalled-by-accident” flower pot!

After a few stamps… the new flower pots are decorated and ready to stiffen up to
leather-hard. They are now covered with plastic, as are the bowls. Tomorrow I plan to
head back to stamp the bowls. Maybe they’ll all be ready to trim on the next couple days.
And then I can make more!!!

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After class, I loaded another bisque kiln. Along with some terra cotta
work that is glazed inside. Luckily, they’re both firing to cone 04.
So it’s one kiln for all!

Layer #1 – terra cotta planters, ornaments & tiles… and two Patinkin cups.

Layer #2 – terra cotta planters, ornaments and even MORE tiles!
I love how the tiles stack and make a perimeter around the kiln. Funny.

Layer #3 – terra cotta drip trays and a couple test tiles for Karen Patinkin.
And you know how I hate open unused kiln shelf space… this killed me!

Layer #4 – terra cotta drip trays and a couple stamped square plates
by Karen Patinkin. Again, too much kiln shelf showing for my liking!

Layer #4-1/2 – my class demo stamped plate and the last water drip tray.

Layer #5 – topping off the kiln with some stacked bowls…
stamped & fluted but not fitting together in a stack as much as I would like.
Next time I need to remember to make different sizes so they stack better?!

And the two bowls that didn’t quite fit in… as much as I tried & tried.

And while I was loading my kiln, Lillstreet Artreach Director Jayson Lawfer
was loading his bowls in the kiln next to mine… and since he had a little space
left over, and some empty bowls… I was more than willing to “fill-in”
with some ornaments!

After yesterday’s throwing marathon, today had to be the stamping marathon!
Shucks, huh?… good thing I love stamping!

Although my pots were all still a little wetter that I would like them to be,
a little “strategic drying” really payed off. A little bit of fan. Some rotating.
A lot of waiting… and some trimming of older pots & another batch of tiles…
and I finally got to stamp all of the pots I made yesterday. Okay, so they were
still a little squishier than I would normally like… but it was fun to see the
transformation from “plain” to textured. So much better now…

Coming soon… a LOT of trimming and handles for the mugs!

With last night’s surface decoration demonstrations…
including some techniques from my friend & potter Amy Higgason…
I was surprised with the HUGE coincidence of her posting some pictures
of her own work that she had done in her own studio up in Northern
Wisconsin that same day. So while we were “channeling” the carving style
of Amy Higgason, she was actually doing it too! And much better!!!

Here are some photos of the incredible platter she was working on…
See… THIS is how it’s supposed to be done!!! Stunning as always!!!

Check out more of Amy’s incredible work on her website or Facebook.
Search for Amy at Pigeon Road Pottery.

More bowls. More stamping. More fluted rims… and this time, in very close detail!
So much so, that if you look closely, you can see my fingerprints!