Feels great to be getting back into “production mode”…
starting off with some smaller vases with some smaller stamps!
Gotta start somewhere, right???

After a bit of an extended holiday-hiatus, it felt great to slowly get back into the studio… watering plants… checking on projects still under wraps… spritzing… spraying… and making a new batch of handmade clay stamps for some of this year’s new textures & patterns!

Kickin’ off the New Year with some New Stamps!!!

Both of my classes have been busy making batches of stamps to use on future pots… they still need to be bisqued before the can use them. I wonder where they got this fantastic idea???

Just did a bit of stamping on another plate before heading downstairs to teach class again tonight! One single stamp used over & over again to get the repetitive pattern all the way around the rim.

Just received a new carved rolling pin from Elaine Diamond at Vermont Pottery Works @epdiamond! Ready to give it a test run!!! It worked great… with nice crisp lines & patterns. But I kinda like the overlapping & interaction of patterns… so I embellished a bit more with two other rollers. More is more, right?!

For more about these carved rolling pins, click here to check out Elaine’s website!

Working in the studio tonight after Summer Camp. Trying to get caught-up on a bunch of pieces that have been sitting around under plastic for awhile. Finally got around to stamping this platter that was a class demo piece last week. It”s always amazing to me to see how just one handmade stamp can make such a difference!

As part of the commission project, the request was to make the stamped patterns be geometric shapes chosen by the eventual recipients of the mugs! They’re going to go to the Groom’s bridal party & friends… so they each got to choose their own “favorite” geometric shape. To make that happen, I needed to make some new stamps! Circle. Triangle. Line. Sphere. Hexagon. Circle & Line. Tetrahedron. Shamrock. Toroid… wait, what’s that???

As part of tonight’s Stamping Demo on ZOOM, I demonstrated on four different bowls adding a bit of texture & pattern to each of them. Here are the four demo bowls… followed by a few details shots, as well as pictures of the stamps that worked their magic!

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Tonight I did my stamping demo on ZOOM as part of the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR. We had a great time, answered a lot of questions, covered a lot of topics and stamped a couple bowls along the way! We thought it would be maybe 20 minutes… turned out a bit longer… almost a full hour longer!!! Like I said, we covered a LOT!!!

As part of the Pottery Tour, they’re hosting free demos by several of the Potters… all you need to do is register for free on the website! More of demos tomorrow – www.northernilpotterytour.com

Just over an hour until I start my ZOOM demo as part of the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR. It’s totally free for anyone who wants to join me. I’ll be showing you how I add stamped textures & patterns to my wheelthrown bowls… and answering questions at the same time! Yep, that’s me multi-tasking!!!

All you need to do is quickly register FREE online to get the ZOOM code… and then join me in my studio at 8:00pm CST. Hope to see you then!!! – www.northernilpotterytour.com