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!!!

Lots of stamping… lots of patterns… lots of textures! Always fun using my own handmade clay stamps to create the surfaces on my mugs. All pressed in one by one… by one… by one…

And then after using MY stamps all night… I taught my SURFACE DECORATION class how to make their own! So now that’ll be able to go even further in their own personal stamping journeys!!! Handmade clay stamps for the win!!!

Never one to back down from a challenge… I kinda felt obligated to make a clock for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN as well. Sure, I coulda’ done a cartoon… but I felt this was more my style! The twist was that I used my student’s stamps that they made during a previous THROWDOWN challenge!!! They had no idea that I snuck them out of the bisque kiln & used them on my clock before I distributed them during the next class!!! So much fun to show it off during our final class! Fun clay clocks for everyone!!!

I’ve made a LOT of clay stamps over the years… so why not challenge my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students to do the same?! So last week in class, they were each tasked with making three handmade clay stamps during class. Easy enough, right?!

Except for the fact that they had to choose three random words sight-unseen… and then make a stamp that represented each word!!! Not too tough… except for the fact that they couldn’t even “test” their stamps to see how they did until they dry & are bisque fired. Some of them were pretty darn thick, so they’re going to take awhile to dry fully!

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.

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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!!!

So I’ve been doing a little stamping today… making more mugs with a bunch more stamping!!! So I thought it might be fun to show-off the before & after… and the stamps that did most of the work!

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So for now, they’re wrapped up under plastic… waiting to be trimmed & handled on another day!

Getting back to basics… throwing cylinders…
making textured impressions one-by-one, stamp-by-stamp!
You know how I love making mugs… always a good place to start up again!

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And for now they’re back under wraps drying a bit to leatherhard… at which point I’ll be able to trim the bottoms and then add handles! Back to making mugs again!

Stamping a large platter… adding a textured border around the edge using just two stamps! Each one pressed in one-at-a-time! Making single impressions that add-up to a beautiful textured surface. Perfect for another Texture Tuesday!

After a bit of an extended holiday-hiatus, it felt great to slowly get back into the studio… watering plants… checking on projects still under wraps… spritzing… spraying… and making a new batch of handmade clay stamps for some of this year’s new textures & patterns!

Kickin’ off the New Year with some New Stamps!!!