Some of my more “advanced” beginning students are tackling a lidded oval casserole challenge this session. And it’s great to see them coming together so nicely… like these beauties by Grace!!! Stamped, slip-painted, handled and drying!!!

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My studio neighbor Cathi asked if I had any greenware to add to her bisque… of course I said “YES!!!” She was loading some odd-sized pieces and knew that she would have a few spaces for some “filler.”

On the bottom layer, she had this one low, flat cylinder planter form. I proceeded to surround it AND fill it with mugs!!! And even better, all of the new mini vases are stashed inside the mugs!

And a little more room on the top layer… to which I double-stacked my mugs with just a sliver of air-space at the top. About a 1/16th of an inch clearance for the lid to close!!! Plenty of space!!! And I got all 55 mugs into her kiln as “kiln filler”!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

More mugs… dried and ready for a bisque firing!

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A little stamping on last week’s class demo platter.
Sure, I could have left it plain & smooth… but really, why would I ???

I was getting ready to paint some colored flashing slip accents on another batch of mugs. But every time I do this, I wish I could see better where I’ve painted. This particular slip color is just too close to the color of my clay body. Hard to keep track of where you’ve already been!

So I finally did it… I added some food coloring into my bucket of slip. The plan is to tint the slip so it shows up better… all the while knowing that the food coloring will burn out during firing. Cool trick, huh?

So I squeezed a few drops of yellow food coloring into my bucket of Smooth Orange Flashing Slip… and if you wait a few minutes before stirring, you get this really groovy pattern as the food coloring spreads. You kinda just want to stand there and watch!!!

Eventually I had to get back to work… so I stirred it up and started painting the slip accents on some mugs. I like to paint the top section as well as a center detail on each stamp. Since I only had yellow food coloring, the color change was not too dramatic. But it did give the slip a bit of a pale yellow tint so it was easier to see what I had painted and what I hadn’t as I was rotating the mug.

Adding some handles to the stamped cylinders. Making mugs is my favorite thing to do. So I’ve got them all done… and now they just need some painted accents with colored flashing slips!!!

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Throwing off the hump making some mini vases.
And yes, smaller vases need smaller stamps!!! Go figure.

Spinning fast. Trimming quick.
I LOVE my Giffin Grip!!!

It’s been a long morning of stamping cylinders. One step closer to making another batch of mugs. This time I made a few different shapes of cylinders… kinda hoping to find a new one that intrigues me. I also “forced” myself to do all the stamping with the new batch of stamps I made a couple weeks ago. So here are a few new mug shown before & after stamping… as well as the stamp that I used to make the pattern.

Mug A

Mug B

Mug C

Mug D

Mug E

Mug F

Mug G

Mug H

Mug I

Mug J

Mug K

Mug L

Mug M

Mug N

Mug O

Mug P

Mug Q

Mug R

Mug S

So now all of the cylinders are stamped and under plastic.
Next up will be trimming the bottoms and adding handles.

I frequently get asked what my studio looks like…. well, here it is as I was working at my wedging table this afternoon. A lot of pegboard. A lot of tools. A lot of handles to be attached to mugs!!! And one of my favorites on the TV… any guesses?

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