Well, this is what happens when you’re so accustomed to using your handy-dandy Giffin Grip … and need to go back to the “old-school” way of centering & trimming your pots. I had a lot of cylinders to trim… and one of them got away from me!!! Flew right off the wheel. Even my wonderful trimming tools from DiamondCore couldn’t save this one!

Working on the mugs again… spending some time stamping the geometric patterns! Pretty pleased so far finding out that the new stamps are working well. Making the quantities as requested… plus a few extras “just in case” something happens along the way! Perfect for another MUGSHOT MONDAY!

Trimming off the ribbons from this bowl thrown with marbled clay. I love trimming with my DiamondCore Tools … especially when shaving off the outer “skin” of the blurred clay to reveal the stark contrast of the marbled clay inside. Looks like it’s MARBLED MONDAY… spinning & trimming on my wheel!

All thrown… a very productive day!
Forty cylinders thrown to make forty mugs. The commission isn’t quite that large… but they will be soda-fired so I’m making a few “extras” in case some of them don’t turn out so well?! You know how soda-firing is kinda random… I can only “control” so much!

Back to making cylinders… back to making MUGS!!!
My favorite thing to make! Lucky for me, I’m working on a big commission project for a lot of specialty mugs! Here we go…

After summer camp today, I putz’d around in my studio for awhile trying to catch up on a few “projects” that have been hanging out for quite awhile now. One of them was to pull out my latest batch of reclaimed clay & put it on a large plaster bat so it can start to dry. Goopey-gloppy fun… and a lot of FREE CLAY!!! Do you see the not-so-hidden surprise???!

Today my summer campers trimmed & decorated the pots that they had thrown on Monday & Tuesday… some carving, some stamping, some colored slips. A few campers even went one step further and added handles to make their first mugs!!

After Summer Camp, I made it to the post office in time to send out my first pile of boxes from this weekend’s NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR. There were some pretty nice purchase from my new ETSY store… and I’m trying to get them packed up & shipped out as soon as possible! Thank You to everyone who participated in this year’s tour… we’re already looking forward to next year!!!

As part of tonight’s Stamping Demo on ZOOM, I demonstrated on four different bowls adding a bit of texture & pattern to each of them. Here are the four demo bowls… followed by a few details shots, as well as pictures of the stamps that worked their magic!

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Just over an hour until I start my ZOOM demo as part of the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR. It’s totally free for anyone who wants to join me. I’ll be showing you how I add stamped textures & patterns to my wheelthrown bowls… and answering questions at the same time! Yep, that’s me multi-tasking!!!

All you need to do is quickly register FREE online to get the ZOOM code… and then join me in my studio at 8:00pm CST. Hope to see you then!!! – www.northernilpotterytour.com