It’s been awhile, but tonight I finally loaded another electric bisque kiln. It’s been a busy
summer and I’m now faced with the reality that summer is almost over… and we’re zooming
towards the Fall art fair season! And I need to replenish the inventory. Quick.

Kiln Layer #1 – Mugs… and only mugs!

Kiln Layer #2 – Mugs, ovals, soap dispensers and piles of tiles. The dispensers are
upside-down because they’re still a little wet and I wanted the air to get around them.

Kiln Layer #3 – Some new bowls, votive holders and more tiles!!!

Kiln Layer #4 – Plates, platters and a LOT more tiles!!!
Plus one little test tile painting by my studio neighbor Lisa Harris.

Kiln Layer #5 -Some more new bowls, votive holders and… oops, ran out of tiles to fill!!!

And you know how I love a well-loaded kiln?!…
Well, this one is filled to the brim. Not much space left at the top. I actually held my breath
for a second as I closed the kiln lid and hoped NOT to hear any smashing!

You know I love making mugs.
In fact, if I could only make one form for the rest of my ceramics career,
I’m pretty sure it would be mugs!!! So today was a pretty good day…

With just enough time before teaching my class tonight,
I added some colored slip details to these newly assembled & stamped oval vases.

It was a productive evening in the studio. A lot of stamping & piercing…
and now they just need some colored slip accents before they start to dry!

Votive candle holders… and a few more mugs waiting for their handles!

I spent the afternoon in the studio trying to finish up some pieces with a few slip details.
As if the obsessive stamping weren’t enough, frequently I also go back and add a dab of
colored flashing slip into each stamp. I love how the soda firing makes these colors pop,
and adds another layer of interest into my work.

Who doesn’t need a little more obsession in their life anyway, right?!

Last Tuesday, I did some repeat demos for my class for those that missed them
the first time… or didn’t find them quite as easy when they tried to do them!
Totally fine by me. It’s their class and I’m more than willing to demo whatever they want.
And now I find myself with another demo platter thrown and waiting to be stamped.
Well, tonight was the night. First, I started by unwrapping the original platter which was
finally to a good state of leather-hardness to be stamped… just a little softer than
“trimming leather-hardness” typically is.

Then I start by making the first row of impressions with the chosen stamp pressed in one,
by one, by one, by one… again, and again, and again… until you get all the way around
to the other side! And I always have my fingers crossed that they’ll line up just fine!!!

Then it’s time for a second row of stamps to start the pattern…

After a couple more stamps, and a few smaller accent stamps at the bottom of each point
and the stamping portion was done.

Then it was time for a little rim fluting & curving to give the platter a gentle undulating
design. A simple touch to give the platter a completely different look.

Here’s a close-up of the curved rim – just before wrapping it up with plastic for the night.
So now it’s a waiting game until it is dry enough for trimming.

After camp today, I stayed in my studio to do some stamping, trimming, detailing
& slip painting. Happy to report that all of the squared-off bowls are now done &
drying overnight! Mission accomplished…

Kind of ironic, as I watched the latest “Mission Impossible” movie on DVD while working.

After stamping the platter, I decided to throw a batch of small bowls this afternoon.
I received a lot of comments about the squared-off bowl I made as part of the latest class
demo on altering bowls. So I decided to make a few more!

Stamping, trimming and detailing still to come…

So here’s the platter I threw for my class demo last Tuesday night.
I was hoping to keep it wet enough to stamp it as “class demo part two” next Tuesday.
But it was getting a little too dry a little too quickly. So I had to stamp it today. Here’s the
“demo” I was planning to share… this time in a sequential photo format.

The chosen stamp prepared to make its mark on the platter!

Just getting started… pressing the stamp into the moist clay one, by one, by one…

One row of stamping done. I always love to see how a basic platter can be transformed
so quickly with just a few impressions!

And if one row is pretty, a second row can only make it prettier, right?!

But why stop there? So I finished it off with some scalloped edge stamping. And some small
detailing with notches in the rim and small indentations in the stamps at the points.

Here are the three tools that did all the work… a stamp, a wooden tool… and my hand!

The trouble with throwing twenty-four cylinders and stamping them for mugs,
is that at some point you need to make twenty-four handles to put on them.
Tonight was that night. Two dozen handles. Two dozen attachments. Two dozen mugs!

So I started with some wedged B-Clay to match the B-Clay cylinders.
I cut them into small chunks, then threw them down towards my wedging table
at an angle to create a slight carrot-shaped wedge of clay.

Then I started pulling the handles in the traditional way. Kinda like milking a cow!
I typically pull them into a nice strap shape, then add a little concave curve to the front
side of them. When I get them to the right width & thickness, the do a quick flip-over
and stick it to itself. That way I create a nice “pre-established-mug-handle-curved-shape”
to let them set-up in the right form. Waiting a few minutes until the are a bit stiffer and
no longer wet, shiny or squishy!

I then start attaching the handles to the mugs by cutting out the portion I need of each strap.
A little scoring & slipping on each to attach them to the mugs. After several mugs, with a few
Olympic moments on my TV, I finally got to the end of all twenty-four.

Then it’s just a quick misting of water and wrapped up for the night. I always like to let them
“even-out” their moisture levels between cylinders & handles before I open them up and let
them dry. So tomorrow night, I plan on painting some of them with a bit of decorative colored
slip and then they’re off to the drying rack.