When I came into start stamping tonight, this one plate was too dry. So I sprayed it with water trying to soften it up a bit. It helped, but not enough, so I sprayed it again. And again. Guess that third time was a little too much water for it too handle? Good thing I had thrown a couple extra plates… just in case!

Tonight I stamped the larger berry bowls that I threw last night. Sure, they were still a little damp… which just makes it a little tougher & a little squishier. But sometimes that makes for deeper & more dynamic impressions!

BOWL A – plain and full of potential…

The chosen stamp…

The bowl after stamping & fluting… no longer plain…

Potential fulfilled.

BOWL B – Another plain bowl ready to go…

BOWL C – Ready for action.

BOWL D – not just your average bowl… soon ‘nuf.

BOWL E – waiting for the party…

PLATE – of course the drip plates that go with the berry bowls need to be stamped too!

So now they’re all wrapped up and drying a bit more under plastic. I’m hoping to get back to them tomorrow for a little trimming!

Because larger berries will need larger berry bowls.

Tonight I stamped the plates that I threw last night. Smaller details for smaller plates.
Then I drilled drainage holes in the berry bowls and set them off to dry. By then, the plates were ready to trim also.

So now everything is drying!

Tonight I trimmed all of the stamped berry bowls, but they were a bit too wet to drill the drainage holes. I tried one. It didn’t go so well. So instead, I threw all of the small plates that will go with them. Hoping to drill holes & trim the plates tomorrow night!

After teaching my class, it was back into the studio to finish stamping the rest of the bowls. Luckily, they had stiffened up just a little bit more so they weren’t sticky any more… and a lot easier to stamp! So it was a late night of stamping. But I was glad to get them done as they were in just the right state for some good, clean stamping… which for me, is on the slightly wetter end of the leatherhard spectrum. I’ve gotten to where I like a little squish in my stamp. Kinda like a little spring in my step…

Tonight I tried to stamp a few of the bowls I threw last night. They were still a bit too wet for my liking. A little too sticky. But with a little patience & perseverance, I did get a couple of them stamped & decorated before class started.

Tonight it was back to bowls. This time they’ll become of the berry variety.
So tomorrow night I stamp & decorate before class. Then later it’s trimming & drainage holes.
And then when there’s room on the table, I’ll need to make the drip plates to go with ’em!

I unloaded my bisque kiln tonight.
I even surprised myself with how much stuff just kept coming out, and coming out, more, and more. All I could think about was how long it’s going to take me to glaze all of this?!!!

Okay, so I’m giving them a try…
I’ve been wanting to tackle cake plates for a long time now. But I’ve always heard horror stories of how they tend to slump & sag in the final glaze firing. So I’ve been putting it off for years. And I finally decided I needed to give ’em a try and go for it. Of course I can’t just test one. That’s just not my nature. So I went ahead and made five already! If one slumps, they’re probably ALL going to slump. But I did my best. I compressed & compressed. I tried to do as much as I could to avoid the slumping. My fingers are crossed.

Each of the cake plates are “destined” for the soda kiln. Some of them are made out of soda clay, and couple made out of B-Clay. The top surface of each of them is slip decorated with a colorful flashing slip. I hope that they really “pop” once the soda atmosphere hits them. I dried them a little slower than I normally would, but now they’re finally ready to be bisque fired.

Cake Plate #1

Cake Plate #2

Cake Plate #3

Cake Plate #4

Cake Plate #5