When I unloaded my electric kiln, I finally got my bisqued stamps back.
The newest batch of stamps ready to use. And lucky for me, I had twenty-seven
mug cylinders ready to be stamped! So I set forth and started stamping…

I “forced myself” to only use the new stamps for this go-around. Trying to figure out
which patterns I liked and which ones might not work out so well. I must say,
I was pleased with the results so far…

The New Year always make me excited with the promise of a new beginning.
Back to the studio. Back to a routine. Starting again with new possibilities!
So I did a little New Year’s shopping at the Container Store… which also gets me excited.
And I bought myself a new storage tray for my handmade stamps!

Why?…
Because the other three trays are already full!!!

And I once again started the New Year by making myself some new stamps!
Because you can never have too may, right?! New Year. New stamps. New patterns.
Each of them hand-carved… and double-sided with a pattern on each end.
At least now I have some place to put them after their bisqued… in my new storage tray!!!

See how nicely that story came around full circle?!

With pottery showing up in every room of my condo, there are still a few small “spaces”
here & there for other things between all the mugs! So there’s a lot of other great things…
not just mugs! Like some oval vases perfect for flowers, office supplies, junk mail
or a little bit of anything! All stamped and ready-to-go to a good home… or a great present!

After a beautiful (yet windy) afternoon of riding…
I went back to the studio this evening for some more fun… and more stamping!
Including another batch of mugs, this time made with B-Clay for the back of the kiln!

And there’s never enough bowls, right?
But don’t ask my Mom, she already thinks I have FAR too many bowls in inventory!

Plus, after a lot of stamping… I also cleaned my studio. Long overdue.
Okay, let’s not get crazy. There’s still a LOT to do. But I did make some good headway.
And, prepared another great surprise for my class this coming Tuesday night.
It’s going to be a big night of demos catching up from last week’s impromptu night
with Amy Higgason. So it’s going to be a night of plates, ovals and lidded jars!
And a special surprise “treat”…

So I’ve finally scheduled my next soda kiln firing for Wednesday, November 10th.
Now I’m trying to make all of the work I’ll need to fill it. And to be ready for
my Holiday Home Show which is now just four weeks away! So tonight I stamped,
and stamped, and stamped… larger bowls and smaller cups to become votives.
Looks like tomorrow I might have a LOT of trimming to do?!

This afternoon in the studio, I tried to “finish up” all of Amy’s demo pieces from last night.
A little touching-up, a little cleaning, a little trimming – and now they’re drying! I also took
some time to stamp the plate that I made last night as part of my “scheduled” class demo.
So now, that too is drying, but just to the point where I can trim it!

So the cylinders are not quite so bottomless anymore!
Thanks to a couple free hours between summer camp & my adult wheel class.
Now they’re “ovaled”… as well as stamped and slab bottoms attached.
The bottoms still need to be smoothed out & finished, but they’re one step closer!

After a couple days under plastic, the enclosed forms were stiffened up a bit…
but just enough to trim, stamp and squish. I hadn’t planned on working on them tonight.
But I checked the after class and realized that they were at the right stage of dryness.
I was a little afraid to leave them another day for fear they might dry too much.
If they get too dry, they don’t squish so much as crack when flattened.

So I trimmed some of the edges, then stamped the rim – and squished!
And now, it’s late, I’m tired… and these will have to wait for another day under plastic.
Next up – some slip decoration and a hole pierced through the back for hanging.
Then they’ll be ready for drying, bisque firing, glazing & firing again.

This evening I set about to turn the plain flower pots I threw yesterday
into more decorative flower pots with a LOT of stamping & rim fluting.
Some with some traditional stamping, and more with the newer, “bulgier” stamping
with fluted rims. A mix of old & new styles… still not sure how I’m going to glaze these?

Tomorrow I hope to trim them all and paint some slip accents.
And don’t forget to punch the drainage holes too!

Okay… so one of the studio potters at Lillstreet moved out of his studio
a few months ago. In his wake, he left a lot of mess, supplies, and buckets of glaze!
Now since I already have enough supplies & mess of my own – I claimed the buckets
of glaze! Sadly, I’m not really sure what they are, and I definitely don’t have
the recipes to make more. But free glaze is free glaze!!!

So… tonight I made a batch of test tiles for these “mystery” buckets of glaze!
Complete with stamps & textures to see how the glaze would work on my own
textured work. I’m going to test the glazes in both cone 10 reduction and the
soda kiln. I want to find out if any of them do really cool things in the soda kiln
atmosphere?! Or if they do really terrible things BEFORE I start glazing
a kiln full of work. Wouldn’t that be a bummer?