Look at what goodies my brother-in-law Scott found for me. Yeah!!!
Now I just need to figure out to do with a whole box full of fun.
I can’t wait to dig through the box to see what all is in there!

Mission accomplished… All nineteen small ovals that I threw last night are now stamped
& assembled. They’re under wraps overnight so their moisture levels can balance out a bit.
Tomorrow they’ll get some colored slip details & start drying. But for today…
they’re done… with plenty of time for tonight’s Academy Awards!!!

Yesterday they were thrown. Today they were stamped & altered.
Tomorrow they’ll get  some color slip accents, a hole for hanging and then they’re set to dry.
Once they’ve been fired in the soda kiln, these vases will be perfect for hanging flowers
on the wall… up & out of the way.

By now you know I LOVE making ovals!
Seeing a round, thrown-on-the-wheel cylinder become a new oval shape is fun!
Whether I’m making large casserole dishes, or medium oval vases for flowers…
But then there’s this latest batch of small ovals for who knows what?! So cute!

Here’s the latest batch of stoneware bowls. Sure, I could leave them plain.
But that really wouldn’t be my style. Stamp. Stamp. And stamp some more!!!
Soon enough, they were stamped & decorated… and no longer a bunch of plain bowls!

Bowl A – Who really wants a plain round bowl?… not me!

Bowl B – From plain bowl to stamped bowl…

Bowl C – Lower, flatter… yet still stamped.

Bowl D – one stamp, two stamp, divot… repeat.

Bowl E – done with a pointed stamp that I hope glaze might pool & run out of.

Bowl F – a single row, a single stamp.

Bowl G – stacked stamps, scalloped edges.

Bowl H – another bowl, another stamp… another stamped bowl.

Before class tonight I trimmed a couple of them. After class the rest of them were ready
to trim as well. So now they’re all stamped & trimmed, and drying for the night!

Some of them are dry. Some of them are not.
But of course, ALL of them are textured.

Timing is everything. I frequently tell my students that it is one of the hardest parts
of the entire pottery process. Trying to catch your pieces at the right stage of drying
so that you can effectively stamp, alter, trim, slip, whatever. Well, today was that day!

Not only did I have a table full of pots to stamp, but I also had some new stamps
fresh out of a bisque kiln. Remember a few weeks back when I tried a new method
of making stamps? Well now that they’re bisqued, I can finally use them on pots.
So here are the first three cylinders that I stamped with them. The jury’s still out…
not sure if I like them, not quite as “clean” as I would like, and I need to work them
into my own style if I’m going to make more of them. We’ll see…  it’s all part of the
“learning curve” when trying new things. Some times they work. Sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes they just need some more time to “percolate” in your head!

I did a few with the new stamps, but had a LOT of cylinders to be stamped. So I set forth &
stamped all day long. Cylinders for mugs, and taller cylinders that will become tumblers.

Once they were all stamped, they were then also ready to be trimmed.
So I started trimming them and putting them back under plastic to keep them moist
enough overnight. Tomorrow I need to add the handles to make them mugs!
Again… timing is everything!

All class demo bowls trimmed & unwrapped.
All mug cylinders trimmed & wrapped.
Tomorrow it’s got to be handles, handles, handles!!!

The bowls from Tuesday night’s class are now up in my studio. And a few of them
“needed” a little more work. A little stamping… a little detailing… a little refining.

Another bowl fine in its simplicity… but even better after a ring of stamping!

During class, we reshaped this split-rim bowl into a clover. Sure. Cute enough.
But with a couple little balls of clay to cover the pinch marks and a line of stamping
to help accentuate the alteration lines… even cuter!

Another split rim bowl with pinched accents. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of seeing
the pinch parks as they look somehow “unfinished” to me. But with a couple balls of
clay and a small stamp…

Frequently, the simple ring of stamps is still the solution.
Makes that basic bowl not quite to “basic.”

So now they’re all “detailed” and back under plastic. Still a little to wet to trim.
Hopefully they’ll be ready for trimming later tonight to finish them off.

So we’ve opened the flood gates, and I’m back in studio production mode!
Monday night I started by throwing a bunch of cylinders that will become mugs.
Tonight they were ready to be stamped… so I did… again, and again, and again…
And here’s the “proof”… before & after and the stamp that did all the hard work!

So now they’re all stamped, but they were still too wet to be trimmed. A little squishy still.

They’re all wrapped up overnight so they don’t dry out too fast. Hopefully they”ll be ready
to trim and add handles in the next day or so. Don’t want them to dry too fast!!!
Most people don’t realize how important TIMING is in pottery. Catching the clay at the right
moment to stamp, then a little later to trim & add handles. Waiting for “leatherhard” can be
tough. But if you miss the window of opportunity, your clay can get too dry too fast
and then it might be too late to stamp… or worse yet, too dry to trim!