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.”

It’s Day Three of my Facebook Portfolio Challenge.
So far we’ve had Mugshot Monday, Texture Tuesday…
and now I’m calling it “Working Wednesday.” Photos of work in progress.

And today I nominate Marjorie Woodruff, my first wheelthrowing teacher at Lillstreet, to take part in the Facebook 3×5 Challenge!!!

I just posted my SECOND pottery video on YouTube!!! Whoo-hoo!!!
And let me just say for the record, this one went a LOT faster in iMovie… and I remembered to shoot the footage in landscape mode so it fills the screen this time!

Click here for the YouTube video : Bowl Stamping by Gary Jackson.

I think it might have been the hint of Spring yesterday that “inspired” me to make flower pots. So I spent the day in the studio throwing tall flower pots. I decided to make them in two pieces, instead of the attached water drip plate version. Today I focused on the flower pots… the drip plates will be another day.

It was an extra productive day today… as I not only threw all of the pots, but I also had the time to stamped them all as well. It was great how quickly they were drying. When I finished throwing the last one, the first ones were getting stiff along the top edge – perfect for stamping. Talk about a pottery assemble line!!!

Anyone out there want to see how this class demo platter went from plain to fully stamped???
You’ve been asking… there’s a “very good chance” that there may be a video in the works?!

And the stamps that did most of the “magic”…

Guess who is playing with iMovie???…
and might just have something fun to share later this evening???

Tonight I stamped… and stamped… and stamped some more!
My cylinders were still a little squishier than I would like them to be, yet I persevered.
It was a synchronized rotation of unwrapping some, moving some, re-wrapping some, rotating, testing, touching and stamping mugs as they were dry enough to stamp. Sometimes I like them on a little softer side so I can manipulate & move the clay more. Tonight was one of those times… plus, I just wanted to get them done!

So, after a well-orchestrated evening of stamping, I got them all done.
Ten per ware board. One ware board at a time.

Finally, all four trays of mug cylinders have been stamped. So it’s 40 mugs under wraps for the night while they dry up a bit more to a drier leatherhard. Hopefully, I can trim them all tomorrow… and then add handles to them all this weekend?!

While the whole “Keep Calm…” trend is wearing thin, this one struck a chord with me!

And now I’m apparently very “calm” now… after making a batch of new stamps!