Gotta love getting those perfect spirals when trimming…
especially with my DiamondCore Tools trimming tool.

Just a little Saturday carving session. This green slip ombré bowl has been under wraps for awhile… finally found some time to finish it up. Carving a detailed pattern using my favorite P1 carving tool from DiamondCore Tools.

What started out as a class demo on decorative carving… while sharing some of my favorite DiamondCore Tools… turned into this large decorative platter!!! With a thick band of white slip, carvings through the slip to reveal the clay body contrast… and little “berries” of clay on top. Sometimes deciding when to stop is the hardest part!!!

Just a little early morning carving. A quick dinner plate with leatherhard white slip on the rim… before carving with my favorite carving tool from DiamondCore Tools.

Last night in class, we broke out the new 10” decorating disk from MKM POTTERY TOOLS. Darcy was trying to draw a mandala pattern & wanted to space things out perfectly. The decorating disk made it so easy… and the new 10” size was perfect for decorating her pie plate!

Sharing my DiamondCore Carving Tools helped make the carving fun too!!!

After my tour of MKM POTTERY TOOLS… Rick invited me over to his pottery studio… Fired Earth Pottery. It’s a very nice group studio space for resident artists, as well as classes & renters. Lucky for me, ceramic artist AL Holden was going to be doing a workshop at Fired Earth Pottery last night… and Rick invited me to stay… so I did! It was great to meet AL and see her work. I just love watching people throw on the wheel regardless of their skill level… so it was even more fun to see someone at the college professor level “showing-off” and making cool pots! The evening was great with AL doing the show, but all of the participants were great fun too!!! Glad I went to Appleton yesterday…. turns out there was a lot to do!!!

And of course… there were PLENTY of MKM Pottery Tools on hand for AL to use!!!

Check her out… www.alholenceramics.com

So while I was in Appleton, Wisconsin yesterday, I got the “full tour” of MKM Pottery Tools. Rick was very excited to give me the full tour & show off his business. The smell of wood & oil was amazing!!! I loved it… and found it amusing that the people there don’t even smell it anymore!!! HA!!! And not only did we see tons of amazing textured rollers & stamps… I “might” have also had one of Angie’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven!!! … burp.

So I did a little roadtrip up to Appleton, Wisconsin yesterday to drop-off some hybrid mugs with the fine folks at MKM Pottery Tools. It was great to finally meet Rick, as well as his support staff with Angie, Rachel, Seth & Christopher… as we’ve only known each other “virtually” online. It was great to finally hang-out, get to know each other for real & deliver some of my soda-fired hybrid mugs to them. It was kind of a cool “full-circle moment” as I use the MKM handrollers to create my hybrid mugs. And Appleton is apparently where all the magic comes from!!!

I got a fun surprise “shout-out” by the folks at MKM Pottery Tools. There I was just casually scrolling through my Insta Feed… and suddenly… “Hey, that mug looks familiar?!”… and it was one of mine! Just another one of my “hybrid mugs” that are both wheelthrown & handbuilt. The top part is a textured slab made with my favorite carved handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools! So many patterns, so many options… thanks again MKM!!!

The new Ghoul isn’t gonna build itself!!! So I’ve been working on my newest character addition for the past couple days. Starting with a prototype… and deciding which of my tools might help facilitate my Halloween Ghoul production & personality this year?! Obviously… some handmade stamps & MKM handrollers will be used!