Wall

A dozen wall pocket vases. Thrown, stamped & squished on one side.
Drying, then bisque firing. A round of glazing & re-firing. Then we’ll have plenty of vases for people to hang on the walls… or perfect for flowers or a cool pencil cup at your home office desk.

A few more “batches” of tiles. All textured, color-slipped and cut to size. Still drying. You can still see the difference in the batches and how some are darker (wetter) than the others.

Tonight I stamped all of the cylinders I threw to make a new batch of mugs. The B-Clay was a little “squishier” at this point than I would normally like, but I needed to get them done as my next kiln date is rapidly approaching. So a little more careful. A little less pressure. And a few more mugs stamped… before & after…

And now they’re all stamped & ready to be wrapped up for the night. A little more “slow drying” and hopefully I can start trimming tomorrow night before my new class begins!

And yes… I’m still working in the dark. Just the glow from my task lighting as the fluorescent light fixture in my studio is not working… and I’m still waiting for the landlord to fix it. Getting a little tired of wearing my “night goggles”… ha!

It’s been a little while since my last video… so I decided it’s about time!!!
This platter was made with B-Clay, and was a little bit softer than I would normally like for stamping. But with my busy schedule this week, I knew that I had limited time in the studio. So… go for it now?… or wait and run the chance of it drying up too much?

Of course I decided to go for it!!!
You just need to be a bit more careful, use more even pressure on both sides…
and hope that the stamp doesn’t “stick” when it gets a little damp.

Click here for my latest Platter Stamping Demo on YouTube.

And here’s the set of tools that did all of the work…
one handmade stamp, two wooden tools and a thin sgraffito loop tool.

Click here for my latest Platter Stamping Demo on YouTube.

Soon to be part of a few collaboration pieces I’m working on with my friend Cory McCrory!!!
Parts & pieces are coming together… mark your calendar for “Art In The Garden”
if you want to see the finished “Limited Edition” pieces. August 30th & 31st.

Okay, so I’ve been gone for three weeks. And that’s a LONG time.
So I haven’t been in the studio, or even touched clay in three LONG weeks!!!
But now that I’m back, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Including teaching my Beginning Wheelthrowing Tuesday night class. Last night was my first week back, but it was my students’ third class of the new session. I feel like I’ve missed out.. even though I know my teaching assistant Susan did a great job getting them started.

Last night we tackled pulling handles and attaching them onto some of the cylinders that had made & trimmed… without me!

And we followed that up with some stamp-making… you know it’s my favorite. And I always try to get through this demo early on on the session so they will have some of their own stamps to work with later in the session.

Let me just say… it felt great to be back. Great to meet my new students. And even better to touch clay again!!! It’s been too long…

Fresh out of the kiln… soda-fired slab vases! Each with a different texture “picture” on each side. Here’s a few quick glimpses of the latest textures & finishes…

Not quite ready to give up… and since today was my “last day” to throw wet, I decided to make one last batch of miniature vases. Thrown off the hump, left to set-up a bit and stamped. I’d love to trim them tonight too… but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow?!

And in case you’re wondering… smaller pots need smaller stamps!

Today I finished another batch of textured wall pillows. I’ve been putting off making them longer than I should. They’re a special order and I’ve known about them for a long time. Knowing that they’ve got to get into my soda kiln next weekend finally became a “good” deadline for me to get my act together!!! So I’ve made more than I need for the special order… hoping that they all turn out well.