You know how tough it is some times for a potter to actually make something for themselves?
We’re always so busy making pots for shows, art fairs, kiln filler, etc… and never taking
the time to make that thing I’ve been wanting for quite some time now.

Well tonight was finally the night.

Last year I finally got around to making oval planters for my dining room windowsills.
But now I need one for outside my kitchen window. I “needed” it last summer…
and then I’ve “obsessed about it” all Winter. And with a hint of Spring the past couple days,
I knew I had to bite the bullet and take some time for myself.

So I threw the cylinder and turned it into an oval tonight. With some stamping around
the edge, it was “done” for the night. Tomorrow I will add a little “rope” texture along
the bottom and poke some drainage holes through the bottom. Hoping to get it all done
in time to put some plants in it this Spring!

So I loaded another electric bisque kiln tonight before class. I love loading kilns.
It’s like a three-dimensional, spatial-relationship puzzle trying to fill every space,
fit it all together and get as much in as possible! The beauty of a bisque kiln is that you can
carefully stack the greenware to optimize the spacing in the kiln. I always do good
at the bottom layer, but it always seems tougher as you get towards the top and start to
run out of “options” and no more smaller pieces to squeeze in. I hate leaving open spaces.
It seems like a waste of space. I should have made more!

Layer One: All mugs!

Layer Two: More mugs, bowls and berry bowls…

Layer Three: Bowls, berry bowls, berry bowl plates… and a couple mugs!

Layer Four: Plates… and my new butter dish “prototypes”!!!

A lot of little plates thrown today… hopefully I’ll get them all trimmed tomorrow?!

And hopefully… everyone will want to buy a ceramic berry bowl this Spring!!!
So today I spent the day at the studio turning the stamped bowls into berry bowls.
I trimmed the foot, then pierced the bottom with drainage holes. Once they were done,
I needed to find a place to let them dry… so I used “The Annex.”

“The Annex”… which is my friend Karen Patinkin’s empty studio which I so kindly refer to
as “The Annex” every time I need to “sneak” in and borrow her empty table top. So while
she’s off traveling somewhere in Timbuktu (literally) and won’t be back for awhile. It’s the
perfect place for me to dry the berry bowls! She’ll never know… unless she reads my blog?!

So now that they are drying… I need to make the saucer to go under each one!
Small plates with the same fluted rim treatment – no stamping, just keeping ’em simple!

Also, I have found another great tool for making the holes in the bottom well-spaced and even.
I used to just guess visually and hope for the best. Some would work, some would be a little
wonky. This simple plastic disc has made all the difference in the world. They come in different
sizes, but this little size works great for me. It came as a set of two… one disc is divided into
even-numbered segments, the other disc is divided into odd-numbered segments. There are
little holes in the plastic to help mark the pot with even spacing before you actually go in
to cut the holes. Evenly spaced every time!

If you’re interested in getting your own disks, they cone from MKM Pottery Tools.
Phone (920) 205-2701 – or e-mail to:  mkmtools@sbcglobal.net

As the summer art fair season comes looming ever closer, day by day, week by week…
I’m trying to get a head start on my studio production. Focusing on producing more work
instead of lollygagging and letting the days slip by. So tonight I stopped in the studio
to stamp all of the bowls I threw on Wednesday. They were a little damp, but I stamped
anyway… sadly, too wet to trim. That will have to wait until tomorrow…

With the mugs drying on my rolling cart, my studio worktable was empty.
The perfect chance to spread out some of my reclaim clay to let it dry up a bit
on a large plaster bat. So here it is… my big gooey pile of clay!

All of my trimmings & dried clay scraps are stored in a large bin covered in water.
Over time, the dried clay pieces absorb the water and “slake” down into a slimey sludge.
Mix it up a couple times, add some more dried clay scraps, some more water. Waiting for
the time when my worktable would be clear for the plaster bat. The sloppy clay is scooped
out onto the plaster bat which will help absorb the moisture.

So this big mound of gooey mess will sit for a few days until it is back to clay consistency.
The a little wedging… okay, a lot of wedging… and I’ve got a lot of new clay again!!!
Ready to make more pots with my newly reclaimed, recycled & ready-to-throw clay.

After a lengthy “hiatus” from the studio while remodeling my bathroom…
the mug cylinders I had thrown before renovation began had “a little bit of a wait”
for handles & slip. Going in just to spray them now & again… trying to keep them
feasible… keeping them moist so I could finish them off. For about three weeks!!!

The bathroom project is finally finished… and tonight I finished the mugs!
Now they just need a couple days to dry… then into a bisque kiln…

Like I’ve said before, it’s kind of tough for me to get back into the studio
and start up the full-production routine again after the holidays. It seems
like I’ve been so busy for so long. And everything at the studio is clean…
empty… not wet… nothing drying… nothing urgent. So why hurry into it?

Well, today was the big kick-off. I finally sat down to do some throwing.
Back in the saddle so to speak. And what to start with?… mugs, of course!!!
We started the holiday season with over 100 mugs at the Holiday Home Show.
And now the inventory needs to be seriously replenished. So I wedged up some clay…
and boy did it feel great to get dirty again.

And then I threw the basic cylinders that will get stamped, trimmed, handled, slipped, dried,
fired, glazed and fired again in the weeks to come! It felt great to be back in the saddle again!

As the New Year begins, it’s always kind of tough to get started up in the studio again.
Everything is clean & organized from the holiday sales. Decorations are packed up.
I haven’t resumed throwing yet… so nothing is wet. Nothing is drying quickly.
Nothing is in urgent need of my studio attention…

Instead, it’s time to start filling in the 2010 calendar and deciding which art fairs
to apply to. It’s time to finalize and pay my sales tax to the Department of Revenue.
It’s time to “start” organizing my storage room… again… and again…

So it’s been a slow start-up… and tonight I started with the annual tradition!
Making new stamps for the New Year!!!

I start by rolling coils of clay. Once I have a bunch of them rolled out, and they’ve set up,
they’re easier to carve. I use various tools to carve both ends of the coils to create different
patterns. It is important to make clear, concise and deep impressions to make effective
stamps. If the patterns aren’t deep enough, you won’t get good impressions when
they are pressed into a pot later.

So I make a lot of stamps. Some of them will work. Some of them won’t.
Hopefully some of them will make it into the “favorites” category and will be seen
on a LOT of pots later this summer on the art fair circuit. Once these stamps are dry, they
can be bisque fired. Then they’re good to go… ready to be added to my “stamping arsenal.”

Christmas Day was great… giving gifts, getting gifts and lots of food!
It’s so much fun to watch my little niece Taylor enjoy the day so much.
She was ripping open presents… loving every Disney Princess she opened.
Nothing better than the sound of a little kid giggling… all day long!
She also acted as our official “gift-passer-outer-er” for the day…
which included some new pottery tools for me!!!

Mudtools in every style! Green-handled Mudwire tool for cutting pots off the wheel.
Pink-handled Mudwire tool with “squigly” spring wire for textured cutting.
A blue-handled Mudcutter Wiretool with both straight wires and “squigley” ones.
Plus the new Mudshark which combines a cutting knife and a needle tool in one handy
orange handle. Also included, new foam “bumbers” for my Giffin Grip.

Special thanks to my Mom & Dad (aka “my art fair assistants”) for the wonderful gift.
I can’t wait to get back into the studio and put them to use.

Next up?… now I think I need new & improved trimming tools!
I think I need to go to Bison Studios for some really nice ones… Merry Christmas to me!