Another productive studio night with a lot of stamping. The bowls were thrown (against my natural instinct) without a spiral… and you know how much I LOVE a good spiral!!! But these are going to become berry bowls, and I didn’t want the spiral to “get in the way” of the drainage holes I’ll be drilling through the bottom later.

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Bowl #5 –

Bowl #6 –

Bowl #7 –

Bowl #8 –

Bowl #9 –

Bowl #10 –

Bowl #11 –

Bowl #13 –

Bowl #14 –

Bowl #15 –

So for now they’re all stamped and back under plastic for the night. I’ll tackle trimming the bottom to add a foot ring tomorrow… and then drainage holes after that. Once trimmed & drilled, then I’ll throw a batch of small plates to fit… drainage catch plates for the berry bowls!

And while I was already in the studio stamping… I decided I might as well just continue & stamp the lidded jars that were already under plastic in my studio. So I did… I mean, I was already there!

Just a quick “tour” while I was stamping my latest batch of mugs… showing the plain mug after throwing, after being stamped, as well as the handmade clay stamp that did the hard work! I was just there pressing…

Mug #1 –

Mug #2 –

Mug #3 –

Mug #4 –

Mug #5 –

Mug #6 –

Mug #7 –

Mug #8 –

Mug #9 –

Mug #10 –

Mug #11 –

So for now they’re all stamped and under wraps for the night. I will most likely trim them tomorrow night, and then try to get handles on the on Monday… what a great way to celebrate another Mugshot Monday than by making more mugs!!!

So I finally finished stamping a new batch of bowls. I’ve been trying to stay productive and get into the studio as often as possible… but with all of the craziness going on these days, it’s tough. Luckily, my studio is very safe & isolated these days. Lillstreet has been closed to the public for weeks now, and I am seemingly the ONLY person there working at night… safely “trapped” in my own little work space… well-isolated from anyone else! And as a potter, I feel like I’m washing my hands ALL the time!!!

So they’ve been stamped… and now they’re all under wraps waiting to be trimmed… and then fired… and then glazed… and fired again! I remembered to take photos of the stamps that did the magic… well, for some of them any ways?!

Bowl A

Bowl B

Bowl C –

Bowl D –

Bowl E –

Bowl F –

Bowl G –

Bowl H –

Bowl I –

Bowl J –

Bowl K –

So my reclaimed clay has been sitting out on my plaster bat for about a week in my studio. Tonight I finally decided it was time to tackle the large pile, cut it up, layer it, slice it, layer it more, pound it into cubes and then bag it up. The “real” wedging will happen when I get around to actually using the clay to make something!

Making some porcelain “carrots” before making porcelain handles. I think it’s a god shape to start with… wedged and compressed into this shape before pulling into handle shape.

So I just finished pulling some traditional handle. I just gotta let them set up a bit… and then I can start attaching them to mugs!!! I like to loop then over like this so that they are already most-of-the-way into curved handle shape before they start to set-up. Of course there can be a lot of re-shaping after they’re attached to the mug!

Here we go…
Score… slip… squish… attach… repeat… repeat… repeat…

Just finishing up the latest batch of porcelain mugs on another Mugshot Monday. Handles are attached & under wraps for the night as they start to dry slowly. Tomorrow I will do a little clean-up on them before I unwrap to let them dry completely.

While we’re all secluded and anxiously awaiting to “reclaim” our normal lives… I thought it was time to turn out another large batch of reclaim clay! A big pile of wonderfully gooey stoneware reclaimed clay ready to set-up on my plaster bat until it solidifies enough to start wedging up again!!! Gotta love FREE CLAY!!!

Ready to get some trimming done tonight. This batch of porcelain mugs are coming together… and giving me something a little more “normal“ to focus on!

Tonight I got to do a little stamping here & there… and there… and there… just a few more porcelain cylinders working their towards becoming more mugs!!!

My original plan was to have these sgraffito platters ready for my first art fair in April. Well, that’s been cancelled… but I’m still trying to stay on top of things. So here’s some of my latest sgraffito fun in the studio. Working on a few platters using my favorite DiamondCore carving tools!

Platter #1

Platter #2

Platter #3

Platter #4

Platter #5