Same clay, same day, much like many other days…
doing a bit of decorative stamping with my handmade clay stamps!

Here we go… the first stamp is always the toughest. Once you press that first one in, you’ve kinda committed to doing it all. And it’s difficult to stamp with my fingers crossed! HA!!!

So the cylinders that were thrown yesterday were ready today to start stamping. They were under plastic overnight so now they are at a good stage that I like to call “wet-leatherhard.” Not quite stiff enough to trim yet, not quite wet enough to be squishy or sticky… but instead firm enough to hold its shape, and yet wet enough to press in good impressions with my handmade stamps.

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So for now they’re all back under plastic wraps… drying up a bit more until they are leatherhard and ready for trimming. And then… the ever-popular task of adding handles to all of them!!!

Last night in my SURFACE DECORATION class we all tackled stamping as their technique-du-jour! Not only did I bring down my pre-made bowls for them to play with… but I also brought some of my own handmade stamps! So we talked about some fun stamping techniques… and then I set them loose to do their own stamping!!!

Adding a little texture, pattern & design to a large platter… using one of my handmade clay stamps. Pressed into the rim of the platter one stamp at a time… one by one… by one… by one…

Always fun when you walk into start teaching your Intermediate Wheel class… and two of your students are already busy working on their pots! Looks like I’ve taught them well… perhaps too well?… seems my work here is done! (mic drop)

Stamping mugs again… using my own handmade clay stamps to make the impressions. I press them in when the clay is a soft-leatherhard. Still a little malleable, but not at all sticky. If the pots dry out too much, the stamp won’t go in deep enough to make a good impression.

MUG 1 –

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Next up we need to do some trimming… carving out a footring on the bottom! Then a few handles… and voila’... soon we’ll have more mugs!!!

Trying to get a few more things done in the next two weeks… throwing, stamping, firing, glazing, firing… before the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR on July 30th & 31st. So I did a little stamping on another large platter. Here it is from the start… row after row… one stamped impression at a time!

I mean… one row is nice… but two might be better…

So why not go for a third row of stamps???

And if three rows are good… lets go one row further!!!

Looks like there’s just enough room left for one more row of stamps…. so let’s go for it!

Spent a little time in the studio this afternoon “finishing up” some of my recent class demo pieces. This was a request from my Intermediate Class to make a large two-part stacked piece. Kelly requested a planter… but I kinda think this landed somewhere “between” planter & vase?! I stuck with planter… and added drainage holes and threw a water trip tray today to go with it.

Stamping flower pots with my own handmade clay stamps…
one impression at a time… over & over & over…