Starting the New Year with an annual new year tradition for me…
MAKING SOME NEW STAMPS!!!

I mean, it’s not like I don’t already have THOUSANDS of handmade stamps in my studio ready to be used. And yet I feel somehow compelled to make a new batch of stamps every year. Kicking off a new season of pottery production with some new stamps… hoping to find a few “favorites” in the bunch. They need to dry and get bisqued… but then I can’t wait to give them a try!!!

I also make sure to put a different texture design on each end of the stamp. Two stamps in the space of one! Takes up a lot less space in my studio… when you literally have a thousand of these!!! And yes, I do put my name on each one! It’s not a vanity thing… but I do allow my students to use some of them in class and we know how some things “travel” a bit in a classroom situation!

After my sgraffito demo Thursday morning, I also did a quick stamping demo for them as well. One stamped impression at a time… one after another… all the way around!

Doing some more repetitive stamping on a couple larger pieces tonight… row by row, layer by layer… one stamp at a time!

Making some mini vases in the studio today…
and of course, mini vases need mini stamps, right?!

As part of me “demo-on-demand” teaching philosophy… we also tackled a quick demo in stamp making tonight in class. I’ll try to get them bisqued quickly so my students can start using them next week in class!

So I’ve been stamping another batch of mugs! A little “something” different as they wre made with a new kind of clay. A tilemaker friend of mine bought some new clay and didn’t like how it “felt” when he started using it. And then when he fired his tiles, they all cracked during the firing. So he believes there might be something wrong with the clay?! He passed it on to me to give it a try… and here I did. I will agree it felt a little goopey & sticky… a little more finicky… but ultimately I made some cylinders for mugs. It was a little tougher to get them to stand up & hold their shape. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it… as he’s planning on passing his “bad” clay onto me!!! Bring it on… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!

Mug 1 – before & after…

Mug 2 – before & after…

Mug 3 – before & after…

Mug 4 – before & after…

Mug 5 – before & after…

Mug 6 – before & after…

Mug 7 – before & after…

Mug 8 – before & after…

Mug 9 – before & after…

So for now

Just doin’ a bit of stamping again… on another batch of mugs again! Handmade stamps making textures & patterns on handmade mugs!

So after a full day of playing hooky in the perfectly beautiful outdoors… I did feel a tiny tinge of guilt… so I stopped by the studio to do a little stamping… and then THIS happened!!!!

So I just finished stamping another large platter.
One “magical” stamp doing most of the work!!!

Starting with just one line along the perimeter…

And if one line looks good… why not make it TWO?!!!

Two is good… but let’s go all the way with FOUR!!!

And here’s the handmade clay stamp that did “all” of the work!!!

Spent a little time making some more bowls. They’ve were thrown yesterday and kept under-wraps overnight. So today they were just a little too damp to stamp. But after leaving them set out for a half hour or so, they were good to go. So I did some stamping… because I’m addicted… and because MORE IS MORE!!!

So here they are… before… after… and the stamp that did most of the work!!!

BOWL ONE

BOWL TWO

BOWL THREE

BOWL FOUR

BOWL FIVE

BOWL SIX

BOWL SEVEN

So for now, they’re all back under plastic so they can dry a bit slower. They still need to be trimmed & dried… and then bisque fired… glazed… and fired again! Still a ways to go – but they’re looking pretty good so far!

MUG UPDATE: Trimmed, but not handled.
TEST TILES: I got a little side-tracked tonight by starting a new batch of test tiles. A friend gave me a new clay body to try out… and I’ve been wanting to make new test tiles for some of my studio glazes. Apparently tonight was the night to get the project started. Not like I’ve had a couple “free” months to work on this…