I started the New Year by making a batch of new stamps…
much like every New Year! Kind of a New Year ritual for me!!!
It’s always fun to have a few new patterns to use as I start ramping up production in the studio. Gotta start getting ready for the Summer Art Fair Season!!! Gotta make more mugs, more bowls, more vases, more… more… more…

Oh wait…

I guess we still don’t even know if there will even BE art fairs this summer or not??? Fingers crossed…

Anyway… moving forward regardless… here are some new mugs-to-be after stamping the cylinders with some of my new stamps!!

Mug #1 –

Mug #2 –

Mug #3 –

Mug #4 –

Mug #5 –

Mug #6 –

Mug #7 –

Mug #8

Mug #9 –

Mug #10 –

Mug #11 –

Mug #12 –

Mug #13 –

Mug #14 –

And for now they’re back under plastic waiting for me to come back to trim the bottoms and add some handles! Overall, I’m pretty pleased with most of the new stamps… there are still more that I didn’t get to test in this round. Maybe next time?!…

Repeat…. repeat… REPEAT.
Attaching handles and making mugs!!!

And now that they’re all done, they’re going back under plastic for the night. I like to think that the moisture levels between the mug and the handles can even out a bit before I unwrap them to let them start drying. I also want to add some colored flashing slip accents to a few of them for an upcoming soda kiln firing!

Now to let them set-up for a few minutes before I start attaching them to the stamped & trimmed cylinders. I like to pull the handle and then give it a “little flip” so it stands-up by itself with the majority of the handle curve already established. I’ll cut out the portion of the handle I want to use… and recycle the rest of the clay!

Saturday night is apparently going to be MUG NIGHT!!!

Small chunks of clay, wedged and thrown into carrot shapes… getting ready for a productive night of mugs!!! You know how I LOVE making handles & mugs! No, really.

Another New Year tradition in my studio is pulling out the latest batch of reclaim clay. I figure it’s been slaking down all through the holidays and is now good & ready! Goopey, sloppy & messy… and my favorite FREE CLAY for the NEW YEAR!!!

And yes, if you look closely, there are a couple different kinds of clay mixed up in there. I don’t really care too much what goes in my reclaim bin… as long as it’s CLAY!!!… and a high-fire clay body. I figure it will all mix up to be some kinda good clay… and best of all FREE!!!

Oversized “order” pieces out of a bisque kiln… basking in the late afternoon sun… ready for some inlaid glaze! And a tenmoku liner glaze before heading into the soda kiln!

And there it is… a well thought-out, three-dimensional puzzle of shelves, bricks & pots!!! I always want to squeeze in as many pots as possible, but you need to leave enough air space for the soda atmosphere to move around the pots to create the magic! Lots of shelves… lots of pots… and all fingers crossed!!!

One shelf, one layer at a time…

I got an early start in the studio this morning… trying to get a lot of glazing done today! I started by adding some inlaid glaze to the stamped textures… next to wipe them off. Another collection of pieces in the works!

By wiping the top surface of the mug, the tenmoku glaze stays only in the indented impressions. Sure, it might be labor-intensive… but I really think it makes a HUGE difference to the stamped details!