Tonight I made it back into the studio to do a little more work on the “basic” bowls
I made last night as part my class demo. A big part of my demo is trying to convince
my students to “make their own mark” and do something to their pots to make them
their own. Don’t settle for a simple, plain round bowl… when you can take time to add
a little design & style! So we’ve already made stamps in class… gently pushing my
“addiction” onto my students! As part of my mission, I had some work to do to add some
of my own “style” to a few of the “plainer” bowls from last night’s class demo.

Bowl #1 – A simple flanged rim quickly becomes far less “simple” with some repetitive
stamped impressions and a fun little pattern!

Bowl #2 – An extra wide flange gives me “extra wide space” to stamp. What fun!!!

Bowl #3 – What started with a simple fluted flange…
suddenly a lot more fun with a single row of stamps just below the flange!
oops… forgot to take a photo of the “in process stamping” stage… sorry!

Two of my favorites!… Mugs & Stamps!
Tonight my Beginning Wheelthrowing students finished their first mugs!
They trimmed their cylinders, pulled traditional handles and attached them.
Not bad for their third week of class, huh?!

After finishing their mugs, we then switched over to making stamps!
We always do it early in the session so that they can get them bisqued quickly. Then they
can start using them for the rest of the session. Tonight they made their first stamps…
let their texturing begin!!!

Tonight I made it into the studio to pick up some new pots that had just come out
of the cone 10 studio kiln. I don’t know what Corinne did “special” while she was
firing the kiln, but everything turned out beautifully!. With all of my glazes
“breaking” in all the right places! Thank you Corinne… I’ll be your “kiln filler” any time!

After throwing some basic shapes last night in the studio, I came back tonight
to start the stamping. It feels good to have things “happening” in the studio again.
The holidays are finally over and things are getting back to normal.

So I pulled out some stamps and started pressing them in. Making the first “impressions”
of the New Year. Sadly, the newest batch of stamps has not been bisqued yet, so I’m still
using last year’s stamps… picking from the “thousands” of stamps in my studio arsenal.

Next up… trimming the mug cylinders, adding bottoms to the ovals…
and handles to the mugs! Otherwise, they’d just be cylinders, right?!

After spending some time “de-Christmasing” my studio tonight
and packing away all of my decorations, I had time left to play with some clay
and make a few new stamps. It’s kind of become an annual tradition…
New Stamps for the New Year!

And yes, I do put my name on every stamp… you never know who’s going to
borrow something, where they may “travel” on their own, and I frequently
let my class students borrow a few to decorate their pots!

So now that I have a “few” mugs built and ready to bisque, this weekend I started
working on making new bowls for my upcoming kiln. So I threw some last night,
more today… and luckily, was able to start stamping today! If all goes well, I will
be able to finish stamping tomorrow and get them all trimmed as well. I know it’s
quick, but I’m hoping to get them into my Tuesday night bisque kiln!

And now for a quick glimpse at the tools of the trade!
A couple toolboxes full of handmade stamps and my trusty Shimpo banding wheel.
My first pottery gift from my parents when I started getting “serious” about clay!

Overnight the cylinders stiffened up to a “wet” leatherhard state. And since I need to
keep things moving forward, I unwrapped them and started stamping wetter than I’d like!
Here’s a few examples… side-by-side… plain and then stamped!

And here they are… the first batch of new mugs stamped and ready to dry some more.
Hopefully tomorrow I can start trimming, handle attaching & slip decorating!

During the Ravenswood Art Walk today, I was in my studio greeting customers
and making another batch of stamps! I figured if I’m going to be sitting around there
all day, I might as well get something accomplished. I always find it a little tough to
throw on the wheel getting all dirty when there are so many visitors, so many shoppers
and so many “interruptions.”

Instead, I sat there and made another batch of stamps. Not only will I have more patterns
to play with… but I also think that it’s a great demo for the visitors. I think it helps “explain”
that I make my own stamps – and then press them into my pots one-by-one-by-one to
create the textured patterns, surfaces & details.

And for those of you who may have missed it today, the Ravenswood Art Walk continues
tomorrow with artist studios & galleries open all up & down the Ravenswood Corridor!

After throwing my latest batch of ornament forms “off-the-hump”…
I’ve let them set-up a bit and they were no longer sticky or squishy.
So it was time to trim them, add a clay hoop-hanger and some stamps & textures!

Next up… a little slip decoration for color accents, drying then to the bisque kiln!

Continuing my “Labor day Weekend” by “laboring” in the studio!
And today I was assembling some oval casserole dishes. So here a few shots
of each one along the way. Basically three easy steps…

Step One: Throw a bottomless cylinder, and re-shape it into an oval.
Step Two: Stamp the textures & patterns into soft leather-hard clay.
Step Three: Add a slab bottom and lug handles.

Oval #1… in three easy steps…

Oval #2… in three easy steps…

Oval #3… in three easy steps…

Oval #4… in three easy steps…

So now it’s some “slow drying” and then off to the bisque kiln…