Time to do a bit of detailing on the latest batch of bowls. They’ve set-up a bit and are now a “wet-leatherhard” stage. Not quite dry enough for trimming, but stiff enough to hold it’s shape during the stamping process. Gauging the right wetness is kind of mportant when you’re going in to for a full day of stamping!!!

Bowl #1 –

 

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

 

Bowl #5 –

Bowl #6 –

Bowl #7 –

Bowl #8 –

Bowl #9 –

Bowl #10 –

Bowl #11 –

Bowl #12 –

And for now these bowls are stamped and back under plastic for the night.
But then coming soon… power tools to make them berry bowls!!!

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It’s the third day for my Summer Campers and today they had to “finish up” their stoneware pots. So we did some trimming, some stamping, some adding of handles and colored slip detailing. Never too soon to start stamping, right???

It’s been a long morning of stamping cylinders. One step closer to making another batch of mugs. This time I made a few different shapes of cylinders… kinda hoping to find a new one that intrigues me. I also “forced” myself to do all the stamping with the new batch of stamps I made a couple weeks ago. So here are a few new mug shown before & after stamping… as well as the stamp that I used to make the pattern.

Mug A

Mug B

Mug C

Mug D

Mug E

Mug F

Mug G

Mug H

Mug I

Mug J

Mug K

Mug L

Mug M

Mug N

Mug O

Mug P

Mug Q

Mug R

Mug S

So now all of the cylinders are stamped and under plastic.
Next up will be trimming the bottoms and adding handles.

 

Got some plain cylinders that can’t stay like that way for long.
Time to do a little stamping!!!

So I spent the evening doing a bit of stamping. I had a few cylinders that were on the wetter-side of leatherhard… perfect for stamping! So here’s a quick tour of the cylinder before & after AND the stamps that did the magic!!! Some are stoneware reclaim, and others are porcelain. Now all stamped, patterned & textured!!!

Next up?….
A bit more drying under plastic, then trimming… and then HANDLES!!!

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My summer campers are doing great this week…
and it looks like I have a few stamping prodigies in the group!!!

And a beautifully stamped surprise in the bottom of Helene’s bowl…  so proud!

Spent some time in the studio “detailing” this evening.

The second batch of mugs I’m working on is made out of reclaim clay. I’m thinking that they will still go into the soda kiln, but will look smoother & more evenly finished after the firing. Last night I threw the cylinders… tonight I did the stamping!!!

One of my students was playing on YouTube and ran across this pottery video.
Click here for the video.

It’s kind of long… about an hour and 19 minutes.
But if you jump to about the 1:03 mark that’s when “the magic” begins!!!
And by “magic” I mean a crazy reference about ME!!!

Apparently this whole blogging, Facebooking, YouTubing and more has made me “a little famous” in Santa Clara, California?! The instructor in the video makes a specific reference of me and my “oodles & oodles of stamping.” Kinda cool, huh?!

Well, it’s been awhile now… and time for another VIDEO on YouTube!!!
What with the Academy Awards coming in two weeks and all…

This time I tackled a softer platter than I’m accustomed to.
I threw the platter as a demo during my Tuesday night wheelthrowing class. It sat out during class and stiffened up more than I expected. So I brought it up to my studio, sprayed it really well with water and wrapped it up. Maybe too well.

As you know, timing is everything. And I knew that I had a certain “window of opportunity” to do some stamping… otherwise it might be too dry if I put it off any longer. So I forged ahead… and it was a little sticky. Typically I like the pot to be on the softer end of the “leather-hard” spectrum. But this one may have been a smidge too soft. If you watch closely, you can see the stamp sticking a bit… and more apparent, my fingers were sticking to the clay too!

But I decided to forge ahead… knowing that it might stick too much or slump too much.
It’s just clay, right?!

Click here to go to YouTube for “Another Stamped Platter.”