Well, I’ve run out of bisqued test tiles. Yeah, the ones I made back in January, but who’s counting? Since I went through that first batch so “quickly”, I figured I needed to make another batch so I can get them bisqued and move forward!

So I started by throwing two bottomless cylinders, one in stoneware and another in soda clay. I added a bit of texture & stamping to help simulate how the glaze test might react on one of my “real” pots if I ever get that far.

Once the cylinders were leatherhard, it was time to cut them up to create some standing test tiles. I threw them with some intentional “glaze traps” at the bottoms. That way if the glaze test runs a lot it will get caught on the tile, and not run onto the kiln shelf.

As I smoothed out the edges, I also added some numbers to the fronts of them. I figure it’ll be part of my coding system, to keep track of which test tile matches up with which batch of glaze after it’s been fired.

So now they’re all lined up and drying overnight…

So I’ve mixed up a few more batches. Hoping for something new.
And dipped a few more test tiles. Now I can’t wait to get them fired.
Hoping for some good results! Some new colors to play with!

I’ve been putting it off for too long.
But I’m finally doing some new glaze tests… fingers crossed… I hate triple beam balances!

And more to come… hopefully. I think I might be on a roll.

Tonight I tried to stamp a few of the bowls I threw last night. They were still a bit too wet for my liking. A little too sticky. But with a little patience & perseverance, I did get a couple of them stamped & decorated before class started.

I unloaded my bisque kiln tonight.
I even surprised myself with how much stuff just kept coming out, and coming out, more, and more. All I could think about was how long it’s going to take me to glaze all of this?!!!

Still making. Still stamping. Still trimming. Still drying.
Still trying to bump up my inventory for this summer’s art fair season! Coming soon!!!

Well… when you make small herb flower pots, you need to make water trays.
Don’t want water leaking all over your windowsills. Since the pots have already
been thrown, stamped, trimmed & drying… I had to make the trays.

I threw these last night… and today they needed a little somethin’-somethin’…
so I did a little stamping, fluting and some other detailing. Followed by a bit of
trimming and now they’re all done & drying!

And now that they’re all done…. I sure hope my calipers were still set
at the right size?! They do look a little small… we’ll see…

Tonight I started with trimmed pots… trimmed, smoothed, refined… still leatherhard.

But if these little cylinders are going to become the little herb flowerpots as planned…
they still need some drainage holes. So I started by marking the placement of where
the drainage holes will be placed. Sure, I could do it freehand… but why?!
When you’ve got some great little tools which practically do it for you?!

These great little disks from MKM Pottery Tools are a huge help when trying to divide into
equal segments. And here’s the cool part, they give you two disks. One for an even number
of segments, and another for an odd number of segments. Plus little holes on the disks that
you can poke through to mark your pots. I’ve got the smaller 4″ disks, but they also sell a
larger 15″ disk for larger pots & platters. Click here for more info on MKM Pottery Tools.

Once the hole placements are marked… it’s time for the power tools!
Sure, I could use a small manual hole punch. Sure, I could carve through by hand.
But why do all that when an electric drill can do the trick much quicker & cleaner?!
Just insert the drill bit of your chosen diameter and drill away… carefully!
Of course you need to make sure your pots are still a good stiff leatherhard. If they are
too dry there’s more of a risk of cracking the pot. If you clay is too wet, it will just kind
of gunk-up the drill bit. Go for stiffer-leatherhard. You’ll be glad you did.

So once the drainage holes were done, I added some colored slip accents into a few of the
stamped impressions. And since these little herb flower pots are going to be soda-fired, I
used a couple different colors of flashing slips. These slips may appear to be whites & beiges
now, but when they’re fired the slip will hopefully turn into shades of oranges & yellows!

So now they’re all drilled… slip decorated… signed…

And drying…  Next up?… I still need to throw the water saucers that will go under them!

My friend Kristen brought her son AJ to Lillstreet today for a kid’s birthday party.
Kristen and I went for ice cream, hot fudge & more hot fudge while he played at his
party. Afterwards, AJ came up to my studio and made a few holiday star ornaments
of his own! So adorable. So much fun to have a little studio “apprentice” today!

Rolling the clay… pressing in textures… and cutting out stars. Instant ornaments!!!

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!!!