Handles pulled… then looped over so they can start to firm-up a bit. I flip them like this so that they get the curve established right away while the clay is freshly pulled. If they start to stiffen up while straight, they’ll be harder to curve later. Plus, they stand up this way… so no weird marks or blemishes from laying them down on the table. Once they stiffen up, I will cut out the part I need & attach it to the mug. The rest of the clay will go back in the bag!

Time to make the handles… starting with wedged clay that has been cut-up and formed into “carrot” shapes ready to be pulled the traditional way. I like to pull them separately & then attach them to the trimmed mugs. I also like the cool shadows making it like a little “clay-henge.”

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!

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…

Just a few pots… trimmed, decorated, initialed & “coded” for my campers! Not bad for two days of throwing… as these two trays are just for my morning campers! My afternoon kids have different trays! These will all be bisqued quickly so the kids can glaze their pots on Friday morning!

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!!

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 –

A simple stamped perimeter making it a not-so-simple dinner plate…
and the handmade stamp that did most of the work!