You gotta love when a fellow studio artist borrows a tool… and then returns it with homemade sweet treats!!! I know I LOVED these faux Oreo-moon pies… and I’m pretty sure Taylor loved trying out my DiamondCore sgraffito diamond stylus tool.

New tools. New toys. New textures! Can’t wait to start working with these new rollers from MKM Pottery Tools! I’m thinking a new batch of “hybrid” mugs are first up!

I was also pondering what to do with that slip-stenciled rectangle inside one of the class demo bowls. Do I try to stamp it?… or carry-on with my carving spree??? So I continued playing with my DiamondCore Tools and carved out this pattern inside the rectangle. I wanted to accentuate the rectangle, but give it something fun to play with the glazes later!

I also felt like this bowl with an ombre’ blend of white & iron red colored slips needed a little sumthin’-sumthin’. So I took out another one of my DiamondCore Tools to do some more carving through the slips. This time a bit of a freeform, organic kind of motif. Thicker grooves that will allow the glaze to pool nicely inside the carving lines… while the slip ombre’ will show through the glaze!

I took one of my class demo bowls that was covered with white slip & a few banded details… and started carving into it. Love my DiamondCore Tools for clean & crisp carving lines. Going right through the leatherhard white slip & digging into the darker clay body for a nice contrast. The details & pattern will look great after glazing… as the color difference & grooved carving lines work well with the glaze!

Cleaning off the bottoms of these stamped cylinders and creating footrings at the same time. Always more enjoyable when I’m using my DiamondCore Trimming Tools for sharp, clean trimming ribbons… and my Giffin Grip to keep everything centered & secured!

Spent a little time this afternoon carving some leaf patterns on a small bowl with white slip banding. Always easier with my DiamondCore Carving Tools!

Just doing a little trimming working on some of this week’s class demo pieces! Sure, I make them in class, but find I need to finish them up in my studio before the next class so they don’t dry out too fast over the week. So I spent some time tonight trimming a few pots… always more fun with my DiamondCore Trimming Tools!!!

Boy, these class demo pieces sure seem to dry out fast?!…
even though it was under plastic, this lidded jar demo piece was surprisingly dry when I checked on it. Too dry to stamp!!! So I resorted once again to carving some patterns on the lid with my DiamondCore Tools. Sure they work best on leatherhard clay, but still work great on drier clay too!

Today my Summer Campers switch from wheelthrowing to trimming… and carving, decorating, stamping, adding handles & a lot more to make their pots more special… and thinner! No plain paperweights this week – HA!!!