Okay… so “My Favorite Stamp” is of course first out of the box…
but there’s a very close “Runner-Up.” I hate to play favorites!
It’s a little larger. A little rounder. A little smoother… suitable for many surfaces.
And has a tendency to show up every time I start stamping a batch of pots!

One thing that I especially like about both stamps, is that they both leave a
“raised section” in the which is perfect for highlighting with a little contrasting slip!

So… for those of you who have been watching my work and paying attention
over the past couple years, you may have noticed that certain stamps get used
more often than others – with one or two in particular!

So I thought I’d share with you “my favorite stamp”!
Yep, it seems like this is the one that I turn to “when all else fails.”
There are literally hundreds of stamps in my arsenal – and yet a few favorites
keep surfacing… when I go to make my surface textures! Surprisingly…
it is also one of my first handmade stamps!

Tonight I stamped a couple serving bowls – all with that one stamp!!!
One stamp at a time… over… and over.. and over!

Spice it up with textures & tiles…
and trying to combine the two into new salt & pepper shakers!

So I’ve been working on a new batch of shakers that combine the textures
of my tiles, the soda fired colors & flashing – with the functionality of
salt & pepper shakers! They’re still in the works… with trays to come!

Once the shakers are built, I’m applying a thin coat of soda slip on some
of them to give them different colors & flashing effects to be created in the
soda firing atmosphere. Seen below before & after…

Back in the studio… making oval vases again.
First thrown as a bottomless cylinder, then squished into an oval, then
the floor is added… and then ready to be stamped! It’s ovals… before & after!

So tonight I put some “finishing touches” on the mugs!

As part of the soda-firing process, a lot of the color accents achieved
come from colored slip applied to the surface. Slip is just watered down clay
with special chemical colorants added. These chemicals react to the
soda atmosphere and create dramatic colors and random flashing marks.
Slip generally needs to be painted onto the clay body while it is wet
or leather-hard. I typically paint the slip on after stamping, trimming
and applying handles. It’s usually the last step before I let the pieces air-dry.

Tonight I painted slip accents onto the mugs… both along the top rims
and some of the smaller details inside each of the stamps. Yes, it’s true…
each and every little stamp, one by one… each one with a touch of slip!

Now that they are all painted, I can let them air-dry… and then bisque fire
the mugs when I accumulate a kiln-full of greenware (dry clay). Once fired,
the mugs will be glazed and fired again. A few more steps in the process…

One of my favorite things to make… mugs!

Many potters despise the process; mostly because of their fear of handles.
But I enjoy making the smaller, personal items that become part of people’s
everyday rituals. The morning coffee, the winter’s hot chocolate, the cup of tea
for those feeling under the weather… or in my case… ice cold grape pop!!!

So I’ve spent the past few days working in the studio on a new batch of mugs.
Nothing fancy – just trying to get back into the swing of things and restock
the “art fair inventory.” And I thought I would try to show you some of the steps
along the way.

First, I start by throwing the basic cylinder shapes. I prefer to work
in “batches” instead of singles. I like the production aspect of it all.
Creating a quantity of something… then moving on to the next.

When they are a fairly damp “leather-hard” I begin the stamping decoration.
I make my own stamps out of a piece of clay. I roll it into a coil, carve a pattern
into both ends and bisque the stamp. One stamp pressed in repeatedly can create
a wonderful pattern around the cups. The trick is to get the pattern to line up
when you get back to where you started!!!

After they are stamped, the bottoms are trimmed. It’s a fairly simple process
where you turn the cylinder upside down on the wheel, center it, attach it,
and then trim away the excess clay while it is spinning. Think of it as very
similar to a wood lathe. Spinning fast, trimming fast. Trimming helps remove
the excess clay where it attached to the wheel, as well as allowing me to trim out
the bottom to create a finished looking foot ring.

After trimming, the handles are pulled and allowed to stiffen up.
Once they are no longer sticky, wet or mushy, I can apply them
to the side of the cylinders to create a “not-quite-so-instant” mug!

To attach the handles, I cut out the section of the strap that I need…
then scratch & slip both the ends of the strap and the attachment points.
The scratching works like Velcro, the slip works like clay glue. Together,
it creates a strong bond when attaching clay to clay.

After attaching the handles, I take a few extra moments to smooth them out
and give them a finished look. I then set the mugs aside and cover them with
plastic to help them dry more slowly. I like to keep them covered for at least a day
to help the moisture level of the mug and handle equalize a bit before full drying.

Once the mugs are done and all handles are attached, I will paint some colored slip
on the mugs that are going to be soda-fired. The colored slip will help add some color
to the final mugs – as well as reacting to the soda environment of the kiln to create
some wonderful flashing effects.

After slip painting, the mugs are allowed to dry slowly. They then need to be bisque fired
to approximately 1850-degrees. This makes them hard yet porous. Next they are glazed,
wadded and fired again. The final soda firing takes around 13 hours to reach the top
temperature of 2350-degrees. The kiln will cool for a full day, and be unloaded the next.

All of that for a simple mug.

So I’m back at the studio – trying to get back into the swing of things
and get the pottery production started up again. I figured a good place to start
would be by making some new stamps for the New Year! With even more to come…

I make my stamps with fresh clay – and start by rolling out a coil.
I let the coil dry up a little bit so it’s not too soft & squishy. Then I will create
different patterns on both ends of the coil. That way, I get two stamps with each.
As the coil dries, I make sure to scratch my name into the side… you know how
things tend to “travel” around the studio?! When the stamps are dry, they will be
bisqued to make them solid, yet porous. They are then ready to use. You want to
make sure not to high-fire them as that would make them non-porous…
and they would stick more to the clay when making impressions.

With less than four weeks until my annual Holiday Home Show,
I’ve been trying to stay productive in the studio. Keeping pieces at different stages
in the process… some freshly thrown, while stamping slightly dried pieces,
then trimming the leather hard work. The it’s off for firing…

“My Home For The Holidays” Home Show
Saturday, November 22nd & Sunday, November 23rd
10:00am-6:00pm  -  always the weekend before Thanksgiving!

More updates to come… please e-mail me for complete information.

It was a wonderful three-day weekend in Chicago.
Not only was the weather incredible – sunny & warm with a nice cool breeze off the lake.
Possibly the nicest weather weekend all summer in Chicago?!

It was a great chance to relax, bike a lot of miles, play along the lakefront and spend some quality production time in the studio. So I thought it might be a good chance to show you a bit of my studio. A lot of tools and a lot of pots. With a little stamping along the way…

Over the years, I have made hundreds of stamps.
Each of them making a different impression.

I make my stamps out of a little piece of clay, rolled into a coil, then carved with a design on both ends. The stamps are then bisque fired before using. With hundreds of stamps in my studio, it always surprises me how a handful of them have become the favorites that I always reach for.

To make the textured surface of my pots, I typically take one of the stamps and press it into the leather-hard clay to make the impression one… by one… by one. Sometimes well over a hundred impressions on a single vase! Each one pressed in by hand. It is this repetition, and the textural pattern it creates, that intrigues me.