This latest batch of wheelthrown holiday ornaments is one step closer. They now have handbuilt “caps” attached for hanging on your tree next Christmas! Too soon?… never!

The bottoms have all been trimmed off the batch of ornaments… thanks to the “magic” of my Giffin Grip. So now what was the thrown-bottom, is now the trimmed-off-top to the ornament. Some of them are stoneware with iron, while others are soda clay. Next up in the process?… some handbuilt “caps” and colored slip accents.

Sure, their beginner mugs were a little too smooth & undecorated for my liking. Sweet, but plain. They could surely use some texture… if only they had some stamps to decorate with??? Oh wait… we made those too! It was a very busy night!!!

My students ROCKED it out tonight. It’s only their second class of the new Spring session… and they’ve already finished their first mugs!!! Thrown, trimmed and handled!

Voila’…. MUGS!!!

While not quite part of the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge, I have been working on another batch of my wheelthrown ornaments for my next soda kiln.

Spring might finally be here…. although you sure couldn’t tell yesterday…
Soon enough there will be flowers all around. Waiting to be picked and brought indoors.
So I’ve been making another batch of wall pocket vases to fill with Spring flowers.

Decorated discs all over my studio. Thrown, stamped and drying on plastic grids to avoid warping. Some will be glazed, some will be soda-fired. After firing, they will be turned into ikebana vases… just in time for the kick-off of my art fair schedule!

Finished building some new salt & pepper shakers. Kinda like my textured tiles…
but a little larger, a different texture on each side and waiting for my next soda firing.
The shakers in this batch are slightly smaller than the ones I’ve been making.
Excited to see how they turn out… and I still need to build some trays for them!

Still replenishing “the basics” in my studio. Then I need to switch gears for newer production pieces. Any ideas or suggestions of new forms & shapes I should be adding to my production list for the upcoming art fair season?! Please leave me a Comment or two.. or three…

Did a little stamping tonight to finish off a class demo platter. Unfortunately, the clay is always to squishy to stamp during class. So I bring the demo upstairs and wrap it up. The stamping occurs a few days later… okay, well, today.

Same platter. Different angle. Lots of stamps.