After a couple weeks since the class demo, and a lot of spritzing & spraying under plastic, I finally got around to finishing off three more teapots! Ready to start drying… and headed towards a soda kiln down the road!

It’s the third day for my Summer Campers and today they had to “finish up” their stoneware pots. So we did some trimming, some stamping, some adding of handles and colored slip detailing. Never too soon to start stamping, right???

So you know how I LOVE a good collaboration project. Imagine my excitement when my friend & fantastic metalsmith Sarah Chapman proposed we tackle another collaboration project. She had a plan in her head… and I was ready to take it on.

So the “theory” is that I would make some ceramic jars, and she would add some metal lids, finials, knobs or embellishments. I’ve made a few batches of jars – some with and some without lids. Some turned out great, some I think might be too small or have a gallery that is too small. I’ve passed all of my pieces onto Sarah, so now the proverbial ball is in her court.

And I can’t wait to see what she does with them!!!
Sure, a couple of them might look like finished lidded jars… but I anticipate that Sarah will work her mojo, deconstruct them, and make some collaboration magic happen!!!

This lidded jar has a couple holes pierced through the lid… giving Sarah some options to add a finial knob. Or maybe even split the jar in two… and make a metal top to go with the clay base, and a metal bottom to go with the clay lid?!

So now the jars are all in Sarah’s capable hands… sitting in her studio waiting to fulfill their collaboration destiny!!!

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After weeks & weeks of spritzing, spraying & re-hydrating, I finally found tine to do some stamping. Yes, this platter has been under-wraps for about three weeks (maybe four?) since I did a wheelthrowing demo fro my class. So I’ve been a little busy… so maybe a bit of procrastination… but I finally did it tonight!

So I pulled out one of my MANY stamps… and started stamping around the rim of the platter.

And the stamp that was doing all of the magic!

Soon enough, after a few revolutions around the platter… it was all stamped and done!

A few impressions… each stamp pressed in one at a time… one by one… by one… by one…

Stamped porcelain mug with a thin white glaze.
Pretty much the “opposite” of the typical soda-fired colors & flashings!

So flasks seem to be all the rage these days?!
So many potters are tackling this trendy topic.
o I decided I needed to jump into the pond… afterall, all the cool kids are doin’ it.

I started by throwing bottomless cylinders… trying to keep them pretty thin so the flasks won’t weigh too much. When the stickiness had dried off of them, I stamped them and then squished them into tight ovals. I always find it interesting to see how so many cylinders that take up so much table space can be “squished” down onto one board in such a short amount of time.

I then made slab tops that domed over the tops.
Score & slip… score & slip… scratch & attach… repeat… repeat… repeat…
And then I attached some thrown spouts to finish them off.

When they were all assembled, I added some colored flashing slips to the tops and small details in the stamped textures. These “colors” will be a LOT more apparent & colorful after the soda firing.

After bisque and soda firing…. we now have finished flasks with some rubber stoppers to close them up. So for now they’re price, packed and ready for their BIG debit tomorrow at the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival.

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Pricing & packing a fresh batch of glazed mugs for the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival. Two days of fun in the sun in downtown Hinsdale in Garfield Park. C’mon by Saturday or Sunday from 10:00am-5:00pm!!!

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Happy Monday.
Happy mini-Mugshot Monday!!!

Spring clematis bloom in one of my stamped & soda-fired ikebana vases.
Lovin’ the color contrast.

So which view do YOU like better?…
Straight down birds-eye-view?… or a slight angle?!!!
I couldn’t decide so you get stuck with both!!!

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