When you’ve got twenty cylinders stamped, trimmed and at the perfect leather-hard state,
you’ve got to start attaching handles quick before the cylinders dry out. So I start by
wedging my clay, making sure it is the same clay as the cylinders themselves. Then I cut
the wedged clay up into smaller pieces and pound them against the table to create these
little “carrot” shapes.

Then I pick one up from the fat end at pull handles the traditional way. Basically by dragging
a wet hand down the “carrot” tube from top to bottom. The slippery friction makes the clay
stretch. By switching around your hand positions, you can create handles of different shapes
and widths. When I get mine to the right size & shape, I quickly give ’em a flip and loop ’em
over. They sit this way for a few minutes so that the clay can stiffen up a bit. If you try to attach
them when they are too wet, the handles don’t hold their shape… they get all mushy looking.

When they are ready, I cut off the portion for the handle that I need to attach to the mug
cylinder. Each one is then scored & slipped, and carefully attached to the cylinders.
Paying close attention to the placement & size of each handle and how they “fit” to the
cylinder itself. As I finish each handle, I put the mugs back on my plastic ware boards,
give them a quick spray of water and then wrap them up again overnight. I like to keep
them wrapped in the hopes that the moisture levels between the cylinder and the handle
might even out a bit so they can dry & shrink more evenly later.

Today, while I was attaching my handles, I was also watching this informative DVD of
Tara Wilson as she was demonstrating at the 2009 NCECA Conference. She makes these
wonderful forms, very clean, very smooth, very voluptuous. She does a lot of darting &
altering of her thrown forms, and then fires them in a wood fired kiln to create wonderful
flashing surfaces & finishes. Always fun to watch someone else show how they do
their work… as I continue to add my handles… again… and again… and again…

All class demo bowls trimmed & unwrapped.
All mug cylinders trimmed & wrapped.
Tomorrow it’s got to be handles, handles, handles!!!

The bowls from Tuesday night’s class are now up in my studio. And a few of them
“needed” a little more work. A little stamping… a little detailing… a little refining.

Another bowl fine in its simplicity… but even better after a ring of stamping!

During class, we reshaped this split-rim bowl into a clover. Sure. Cute enough.
But with a couple little balls of clay to cover the pinch marks and a line of stamping
to help accentuate the alteration lines… even cuter!

Another split rim bowl with pinched accents. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of seeing
the pinch parks as they look somehow “unfinished” to me. But with a couple balls of
clay and a small stamp…

Frequently, the simple ring of stamps is still the solution.
Makes that basic bowl not quite to “basic.”

So now they’re all “detailed” and back under plastic. Still a little to wet to trim.
Hopefully they’ll be ready for trimming later tonight to finish them off.

So we’ve opened the flood gates, and I’m back in studio production mode!
Monday night I started by throwing a bunch of cylinders that will become mugs.
Tonight they were ready to be stamped… so I did… again, and again, and again…
And here’s the “proof”… before & after and the stamp that did all the hard work!

So now they’re all stamped, but they were still too wet to be trimmed. A little squishy still.

They’re all wrapped up overnight so they don’t dry out too fast. Hopefully they”ll be ready
to trim and add handles in the next day or so. Don’t want them to dry too fast!!!
Most people don’t realize how important TIMING is in pottery. Catching the clay at the right
moment to stamp, then a little later to trim & add handles. Waiting for “leatherhard” can be
tough. But if you miss the window of opportunity, your clay can get too dry too fast
and then it might be too late to stamp… or worse yet, too dry to trim!

For my class last night, it was Bowls Night. Where my beginning students learn how
to make a bowl on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad! Yes, we’ve all been there.
Thinking that cylinder flopped a bit but you “saved it” and turned it into a bowl.
Well trust me… I can tell if it was made as a real bowl, or a flopped cylinder!
Real bowls have a nice rounded bottom inside… NOT a flat bottom with a corner,
and then swooping sides that you think makes a bowl. It doesn’t.

So last night I first showed my students how to throw a bowl on purpose.
And then while they went back to their wheels to make a bowl or two, I stayed at my
wheel and threw eleven more. I then called them all back for Making Bowls Part Two.
Where we take my twelve “matching” simple round bowls and make each one
different from the next.

Bowl Demo #1 – Plain Round Bowl
Sure, they could all stay this way. A simple round bowl with a simple finger spiral.
Something as simple as that finger spiral put in at the very end makes that simple
bowl more personal. It’s YOUR finger that made that spiral!!! Pretty neat, huh?

Bowl Demo #2 – Plain with an Indented Flower
But how much fun is it if your “simple round bowl” reveals a little flower on the bottom
when you finish eating your morning Cheerios?! This pattern was created with a simple
church key tool designed for pressing dragon scales. Also, a great place for glaze to pool.

Bowl Demo #3 – Fluted Rim
With a couple quick flicks of the fingers, the simple round bowl now has a fluted rim.
I even used the corners of my square bat to help me line up and keep my fluting evenly
spaced around the bowl.

Bowl Demo #4 – Flanged Rim
So the top “inch” of this simple round bowl was flared out to create this great flange area.
I add a small indentation around the inside where the change of angle happens to help
delineate where the inside ends and the outside begins. This trick actually decreases the
capacity of your bowl, but makes it look a lot larger!

Bowl Demo #5 – Fluted Flange
Sure, you can flare out the flange. Sure you can do fluted edges. So why not both?!
Just put it together. It’s really just that simple.

Bowl Demo #6 – Wide Flange
And if a “one-inch” flange is fun, why not knock down more than half of the bowl height
to make a very dramatic flange?! It’s the kind of bowl you would expect in a fancy restaurant
where the put one small morsel of fancy food in the middle and charge you a fortune because
the presentation is so impressive. And just wait… that extra wide flange is also a great place
for some stamped textures… still to come!

Bowl Demo #7 – Split & Pinched Rim
This time, the rim on the simple round bowl was split the point of my wooden knife.
I simple pressed it in as the bowl was rotating on the wheel. Once it was split all the way
around at a good depth, I pinched it back together in eight places.

Bowl Demo #8 – Split Rim Filled
Again, I split the rim and we usually talk about how nicely the glaze will fill the split area.
But if glaze fills it well, how about some small coils & balls of clay? Which we just placed
into the groove while both bowl & pieces were wet. Then I squeezed the split rim back
together very gently while hoping to connect all of the balls & coils. I kinda like how the
bowl is so smooth & simple inside, but the rim has this sort of unpredictable randomness.

Bowl Demo #9 – Split Rim Clover
And while we’re splitting rims (and not hairs)… who’s to say a bowl needs to be round?!
Not me. So we split the rim and then altered it into kind of a clover shape.

Enough altering bowl shapes… now it was time to introduce colored slips!

Bowl Demo #10 – Spiraled Slip
After a simple coat of white slip to cover the interior, I dragged the curved end of my
wooden knife through the slip to reveal the contrasting clay color as the wheel was spinning.
A simple technique with striking results. Plus a little textured depth from the remaining slip.

Bowl Demo #11 – Chattered Slip
A little more intimidating, but it’s a simple as covering the entire interior with slip,
then taking your rounded rib tool and chattering through the slip while the wheel is spinning.
It’s the combination of rhythmic tapping, moving up and the wheel spinning that creates this
look. But you have to commit. If you start and get flustered, you’re going to see the mistake
in the middle. Once you start – just breath and keep going.

Bowl Demo #12 – Stenciled Slip
Enough random slip play… so I found a ballerina picture in the newspaper and my
teaching assistant Maureen cut it out for me. I wet the newspaper and carefully applied her
to the bowl’s interior surface. The water is pretty good at sticking down all of the edges. Then
I took the paintbrush with white slip and carefully covered all of her edges. Once covered,
I could slather the entire interior to get an even coverage of white slip. Once solid & smooth…
I had to peel the newspaper back out very carefully to revel my tiny dancer!

So there they are… the twelve bowls that came from my bag of clay.
Remember, all twelve bowls started out very plain, simple, round and mostly matching.
But with a little determination, my students realized that it’s not all that tough to make
each bowl different with a few basic techniques.

This is how they sit overnight wrapped up in plastic to keep them “workable.”
When I come back to the studio tonight, I’ll unwrap them, do a few touch-ups, maybe
some stamping and a bit more surface decorations here & there. When they dry to a good
leatherhard state, I can do some trimming and call ’em done. More photos to come…

My ultimate goal for this class demo is for my students to realize that the clay is not precious.
That they need to make more pieces and get to the point where each piece they make is no
longer considered precious. So that they are more willing to play with their clay.
Twist. Alter. Flute. And if it doesn’t work… who cares? They can make it again…
and try again… and again.. and again.. until they get what they like!!!

It’s just clay.

It’s been a slow start for me getting back into the studio.
I’ve been quite the slacker through the holidays. Enjoying some time off.
Sure, a few small projects here & there. But tonight was the night to actually kick-off
some full production mode! And why not start with my favorite?!… MUGS!!!

So I started by wedging up some balls of reclaim clay. Wedged and ready to go…

So then the throwing began… and it felt GREAT to be back behind the wheel!!!
And as always, I prefer to throw on my plastic bats. I have quite a few of these square bats.
Love ’em… and they take up so much less space on my work table! As you can see, part of my
table is already covered with my large plaster bat and a large pile of goo… aka – reclaim clay!

Once they’ve dried just enough to not be squishy & sticky, I wire them off the bats again
and condense them down onto my plastic ware boards. Again, it’s all about conserving space
on my work tables… so I have room to make more!!! Plus, it’s a lot easier to cover them all
with plastic like this, than if they were spread all over the place on twenty separate bats.

Next up?… stamping, trimming, handles, slip painting, drying, firing, glazing & firing.
Wedging & throwing is the easy part… and just the beginning of more to come.

You know how I LOVE reclaim clay.
It’s a little extra work for a LOT of “free” clay!!!
For those of you who might not know, “reclaiming clay” is basically taking all of your
trimmings & dried clay scraps and reconstituting them back into real, useable clay!

And since my studio is still basically clean through the holidays, I’ve been finding it tough
to really get my act together and get back into full production mode. Still on holiday?!
You know how when there’s no wet work under plastic, pieces that need to be trimmed,
or a kiln deadline approaching, it’s so easy to put things off. If you don’t get started, then
you’re not “trapped” by the calendar. I’ve been meaning to get “started” again…
but instead, I seem to be finding a lot of “little jobs” to fill my time.

Like making stamps.
Like blogging.
Like reclaiming clay.

Next, I need to finish applying to my Summer Art Fairs… and then
I may have run out of those “little jobs” and I’m going to need to start throwing again.
And I can’t wait.

I’ve seen this technique before done by a few artists I reallly like.
It’s a much better way to get clean linework & details in your stamps. Because you
actually draw the design you want to see first, and then carve it out so the stamp
is the same as your drawing. A much better way if you want illustrative, figurative,
lettering or intricate lines. I’ve only “played” with it before, this time, I’m going to
focus & make more… and we’ll see where this new direction may take me?!

First off, I started drawing some different patterns on grid paper. I love using grid paper
for all of my doodling. I find it so much easier for me to get good proportions and more
balanced designs. Trying to remember that they’re just doodles. Draw lots of them!!!

Once you find a few designs that you think would make good stamps, the design needs
to be transferred to a sheet of plaster. So I started by flipping over the paper and rubbing
my pencil all over the back side of the design. Basically leaving carbon all over the “back”
of the design. Then you flip over the paper, place it on the plaster slab and trace over the
design. If you press hard enough, the carbon transfers to the plaster. Then you can trace
over it easily to get an “exact” replica of your doodle.

Once your design has been transferred onto the plaster, you can start carving away the
plaster “under” your design. Basically tracing over your design with a sharp tool. Use
whatever tool seems to work the best for you. A needle tool was a little too thin & pointy
for my liking. This tool has a pointed Xacto blade on one end and this curved tip on the
other. It seemed to work the best for me. But of course, different tools with different
points & different widths will give you different results. I must admit, it’s not as easy
as Kristin makes it look in her video. The plaster is very scratchy, and somewhat tough
to keep a clean, straight line. But… the cleaner your lines, the cleaner your stamps!

You do need to be very careful to keep your work area clean of the plaster dust.
I covered my work area with a sheet of plastic to catch the dust. I can then empty it easily
into my garbage can. Plaster dust & chips can ruin your clay if it gets mixed in. So by all
means DO NOT let the dust carvings get mixed in with your clay, fall in your splash pan,
or get into your reclaim buckets. And as always, be sure you are not breathing in any of
the plaster dust as you are carving your designs.

Once you design has been carved out, take a piece of clay and carefully press it into the
carved relief pattern. Be sure to press hard enough to get clay into all parts of the pattern.
One good thing about this technique is you can press a stamp at any time in your carving.
Carve part, press a stamp. Carve some more, press another stamp. Keep testing it until
you love the results! And then press a couple stamps... and save the mold for later!!!

When you get to the the “final” stamp, press in your clay and keep a little extra clay
in the center to act as the knob. Press all around the design and what clay “pops up”
through your fingers becomes the knob.

After you press in the clay, give it a couple seconds and then remove the clay very carefully.
The resulting stamp will be on the bottom of the clay.

But when you’re going to be using them as stamps, remember that what you’re pressing
into your clay will leave a lasting impression. So it’s not just the raised design, but it’s also
the perimeter of the pressed clay. So to clean them up a bit, and get the perimeter to go
along with the design, I took my Xacto blade and trimmed away the excess edges.

And when you’ve made a couple, do it again and make some more!!!
You can use the same slab of plaster over & over again. Put your carvings all over the place.
Doodle. Draw. Carve. Test. Carve. Refine. Press. Trim. Finish. Repeat. Repeat again.

After making a couple of these “raised line” stamps, I was wondering if I could add a bit more
of my own technique? So I added a few impressions ala my own stamp making style into the design.
My thought is that it might add a nice contrast to the clean line work of the raised stamp pattern.
Nice lines AND a little geometric “pop-out” in between!

After I had made a few, it was time to let them sit out to dry. Once they’re dry they can go
into a bisque kiln. Remember, you want to keep your stamps porous so they release cleanly
from the leatherhard clay.

We’ll see how they work after they’re bisqued. I’m excited to be trying something new…
and yet a bit apprehensive to see how I can work them into my own style.

Over the past year, I’ve gotten a lot of comments on this blog and Facebook asking for me
to show how I make my stamps. To me, it’s pretty simple. It’s a piece of clay. Some tools.
A little squishing & carving. Nothing too technical. In case you’re still feeling a little
apprehensive, here’s a photo tutorial of how I make my stamps. And thanks for asking.

I start by rolling some simple coils. Different sizes. Different widths. I try to keep them
clean, uniform and smooth. But that’s just me. I do roll a few of them out so they have some
time to stiffen up a bit before adding the designs.

Then I pull out a collection of tools. Anything I can use to press into the clay to make an
indentation. Nothing special. Just some random tools.

Then I start pressing the tools into the ends of the coils to make my stamps. I always put
a different design on each end of the coil. That way I get two stamps for one piece of clay!
What could be better?!

But before you start randomly pressing in patterns, there are a few things to remember…
1. Whatever pattern you press IN to your clay coil will be what sticks OUT where you press
it into your pot.
2. The impression left in your pot will appear to be the opposite of design on your stamp.
3. If you try to do letter stamps, they’ll need to look reversed on your stamp to turn out
correctly when you press them into your clay.
4. It’s not just the design, but also the perimeter shape that will make impressions.
5. You need to make sure your indentations & lines are wide enough & deep enough for clay
to be able to get in there. A lot of people try to “draw” with their needle tool, but then find
out later that they’re not getting a clean impression. That’s because they either left it all
scratchy from the needle tool… or more likely it’s too thin – no clay can get squished in there!
6. All of your stamps need to be dried and then bisque fired prior to pressing into clay.
7. I generally wait until my pots are on the slightly wet side of leatherhard for good stamping.
If your pot is too wet, the stamps will stick too much. If your pots are too dry, the stamp
won’t go in far enough to make a clear impression… or worse yet, crack the pot.
8. When pressing my stamps into the pot to create the design, I make sure that I have a finger
inside the pot opposite where I’m pressing the stamp. So that I have even pressure –
stamp pressing in, finger pressing out, squishing clay between the two.

So here’s a few examples of a few new stamps. I won’t really know how they’re really going to
work until after they’re bisqued and I can actually use them for the first time.

After some time, I’ve made a few new stamps. Each one a little different. Of course,
when they come out of the kiln and I use them for the first time, there will be favorites….
and there will be some that aren’t quite what I was looking for. But that’s okay. You can always
make more. And just because they’re not making the mark you intended does not mean that it
is a bad stamp. Save it for awhile, try it a couple times, and you may grow to love it more later.

One last thing before I set them out to dry… I print my name on the side of each one.
Working in a group studio area and teaching classes, you never quite know where your
stamps may end up. I don’t think that I’ve ever really “lost” one, but it never hurts to label
your things just in case. So yes, every stamp gets labeled before they dry.

Once they’re dry, they will go into a bisque kiln firing. All of my stamps are fired once
so they are sturdy and porous. If they were fired to cone 10, they would become vitrified
and no longer porous – which also means they would stick to the clay. If your stamps stick,
they will not release from the clay cleanly and your impressions will not look as clean.

So there’s my quick photo tutorial of how I make my stamps.
My biggest suggestion is to make LOTS of stamps, and learn from every batch.
Learn how to make the stamp you want. Learn how to use your stamps on your pots
to get the stamped designs you want. Learn to make pots with stamps you love!!!

During this past holiday season, my metalsmith friend Sarah Chapman and I were already
planning the “next” holiday season. You know how we’re never satisfied… that’s us, always
moving forward… always working on the next project. So there we were working in Sarah’s
booth at the “One Of A Kind Show.” We both decided that she needs to try making Christmas
ornaments. And you know I’m always up for a challenge… always willing to “gently push”
my friends to play along with me. Thus the “2013 Ornament Challenge” was born.

So here’s the deal…
We’ve both committed to making a new & different holiday ornament every month in 2013.
I will post all of our ornaments here on my blog and we’ll both link to it on Facebook so
everyone can keep up with us. As we get closer to Christmas, there’s a really good chance
we may be asking for your input as to which of the monthly designs were your favorites
to help us decide which ones to make more of to sell for the holidays. Some ornaments may
be one-of-a-kind… some may be production… some may be a disappointment…
some may even be a Gary & Sarah collaboration of clay & metal.
Who knows where the ornament challenge may take us?… dare to dream, huh?!

Here’s Sarah’s entry for January. With a wonderful message to kick-off the New Year.
And according to Sarah… “It’s what everyone could use more of !”

And here’s my entry for January. Mine’s not quite a “done” as Sarah’s is. That’s me… slacker.
But working in clay is a little different than metal. It’s really tough to fire just one piece.
Or even five pieces. The problem is, you need to fill an entire kiln before you can fire them.
So I hate to say that the majority of mine will be somewhere in the leatherhard or greenware
state. I’ll try to re-post them again whenever they’re glazed and finished. So my ornament
this month is a wreath… trying to stay in my own style, use my own stamps, but still making
something new! I made five wreath ornaments so that I have a couple to play with when I get
to glazing & finishing. Hoping at least one of them turns out great…

Well, there it is… the kick-off of our “2013 Ornament Challenge.”
Our plan is to keep this up every month. To push each of us out of our comfort zone…
and force each of us to work on something new & different throughout the year.
And a great chance for Sarah & I to play with each other even though she’s
up & moved to Minneapolis. With this, we get to play long-distance every month!!!

For more about my metalsmith friend Sarah Chapman…
WEBSITE: Click here to see more incredible work by Sarah Chapman.
FACEBOOK: You can also follow Sarah on Facebook by clicking here!

Click here to follow me and Fire When Ready Pottery on Facebook.
Just be sure to click the “LIKE” button… and to “SHARE” with your friends!