Tonight we went low & flat… and switched from basic bowls to basic plates.
I showed them how easy it is to throw plates. They’re basically just a low, flat cylinder
with the sides bent down. And then I explained that the tougher part of the process
is trimming & drying. I guess we’ll need to cover that more next week… or the next…

And it looks like I may need to do some stamping before then, right?!!

Tonight my beginning wheel class tackled their first bowls.
Bowls on purpose. Not cylinders that just “happened” to become a bowl.

We work on creating a nice “curve” on the inside of the bowls. And then, once they start
making bowls, I quickly throw a bunch of bowls all “kinda” the same. We then reconvene
for more demos on how to change & decorate their bowls. I try to encourage them to “alter”
their bowls and not just settle for the “round bowl the wheel made for me.”  I also introduce
color slips as a design possibility. So here’s a quick overview of the ten bowls I made tonight.
Each on starting from the same basic shape… but then pushed just a little further!

Bowl #1 – Four Fluted – just four simple flips of the rim.
Bowl #2 – Eight Fluted – if four is good, aren’t eight better?!

Bowl #3 – Flanged Rim – take rim and fold it down
Bowl #4 – Flanged & Fluted – once the flange is folded out, a couple flips to flute!

Bowl #5 – Wide Flange – more flange, more style, less food?!
Bowl #6 – Impressed Petals – a simple dragon-scale tool makes a quick flower!

Bowl #7 – Split & Squared – a split rim, pinched & squared a bit.
Bowl #8 – Slip Spiral – cover the inside with slip then drag a tool through it while spinning

Bowl #9 – Slip Bands & Squiggles – cover the inside and drag again – this time with style!
Bowl #10 – Chattered Slip – cover the inside then do some chattering with a plastic rib.

So now all of the bowls are safe in my studio. I wrapped them with plastic to keep them wet
overnight. Tomorrow I plan on doing a bit more decorating… maybe some stamping?!
Shocking, I know…

Two of my favorites!… Mugs & Stamps!
Tonight my Beginning Wheelthrowing students finished their first mugs!
They trimmed their cylinders, pulled traditional handles and attached them.
Not bad for their third week of class, huh?!

After finishing their mugs, we then switched over to making stamps!
We always do it early in the session so that they can get them bisqued quickly. Then they
can start using them for the rest of the session. Tonight they made their first stamps…
let their texturing begin!!!

So when I was trimming a bunch of pots today, finishing them off and signing the bottoms…
I remembered how many questions I get during art fair season about my signature on the
bottoms. And yes… for the record… I do in fact sign every pot by hand. One at a time.
It never crossed my mind that many people “assume” that there is a some signature stamp
somehow involved in the process. But the answer is NO. I don’t believe in that. Never have.
I think a signature is a signature. And should be done by hand. If I had a “signature stamp”
then anyone could be “signing” pots with my name?! Interns… Apprentices… Imposters?!
I think it’s important that each piece is signed by hand… by me!

So I teach my students to sign all of their pots as well. And it’s one of my “pet peeves”
when they try to sign their pots with their sharp needle tool. I try to explain to them
that it is too pointy and will just make a scratchy signature that won’t look so good and
will have sharp edges all over the place. Instead, I suggest that they use a dull,
round-ended tool like a pencil, chopstick or ball-point pen to “displace” the clay as they
sign pots instead of painfully scraping into it with their needle tool. In my studio, I use
a ball-tipped tool for my signature. I found it, liked it… and bought a few of them!!!

So over the years, I have signed a lot of pots. And like I said, I never knew that many
people have “assumed” that I used a stamp to keep it so consistent. But it’s not a stamp.

But for those of you have known me and my pottery from the beginning…
you may recall some beginner pots that weren’t signed. My “early pots” have my first name
& year carved in with a needle tool. Yes, I did it too… a needle tool. I have since learned
better. But if you find an old pot with block lettering, we lovingly & mockingly
refer to those ones as “vintage.”

Another productive night in the studio. It’s always so much fun
when you pull a bunch of handles… and your cylinders finally become mugs!

Tonight I trimmed a bunch of things, added bottoms to the ovals and
added handles to the mugs. Getting ready to wrap them up for the night
to keep them “workable” for another day. Once the moisture levels “balance out”
a bit, I’ll add a little slip for a splash of color and then they can start drying!

After throwing some basic shapes last night in the studio, I came back tonight
to start the stamping. It feels good to have things “happening” in the studio again.
The holidays are finally over and things are getting back to normal.

So I pulled out some stamps and started pressing them in. Making the first “impressions”
of the New Year. Sadly, the newest batch of stamps has not been bisqued yet, so I’m still
using last year’s stamps… picking from the “thousands” of stamps in my studio arsenal.

Next up… trimming the mug cylinders, adding bottoms to the ovals…
and handles to the mugs! Otherwise, they’d just be cylinders, right?!

After spending some time “de-Christmasing” my studio tonight
and packing away all of my decorations, I had time left to play with some clay
and make a few new stamps. It’s kind of become an annual tradition…
New Stamps for the New Year!

And yes, I do put my name on every stamp… you never know who’s going to
borrow something, where they may “travel” on their own, and I frequently
let my class students borrow a few to decorate their pots!

My firing yesterday was smooth & effortless. I spent the day cleaning my studio
while I was “trapped” there firing all day long. I started early in the morning so it wasn’t
too late in the evening when I finally turned it off for the day. Then, all day Sunday it cooled
and it was still over two hundred degrees when I got there around 6:00pm tonight. When you
unbrick the kiln door, it’s always great to see the results. A treasure trove full of new pots!

Once the kiln is unloaded and the pots are packed up to take home, then the “real” fun begins.
Cleaning. Yes, the kiln needs to be cleaned after every kiln firing. Scraping shelves. Sweeping
out the fire box. Kiln washing the shelves. Sweeping. Cleaning. etc… all of that “glamorous”
stuff that no one realizes is all part of making that one pot they eventually see at the art fair!

Well, it’s finally my soda firing weekend. It’s been a long & productive two weeks getting
ready… throwing, stamping, firing, glazing, wadding and getting ready to load the kiln.
So I rolled my studio cart down to the kiln room. Safe after the trip down the freight elevator –
thanks to the masking tape “safety belts” that I put on the shelves to keep pots from
“jumping off the cart along the way.

And then it was time to load. Which takes me a lot longer than most people.
Especially with my “addiction” for filling all of the kiln shelf spaces. No shelf space left unfilled.
I’ve got tiles. I’ve got ornaments. I’ve got kiln filler galore!!! So here’s the back stack
of the kiln, one shelf deep. With lots of filler. And ready to start the front…

And then here’s the front stack which is two shelves deep. Including cone packs
in just the right places! Ready to be melted down!

So once it’s all filled up with pots, posts and shelves… it’s time to close the door
with individual bricks. Layer by layer. Brick by brick. Then a quick warm-up…
closed up for the night… and ready to fire tomorrow!!!

While bisque kiln #2 is cooling… it’s time to start glazing the pieces from bisque kiln #1.
So the pieces are spread out all over my studio. And I’m starting the process with glaze
inlaid into the stamped impressions and liner glazes.