Clay Studio Notes: February 2014

It took me a while to get back into the studio after Christmas break. I took some time to work on other projects, shovel snow and then I finally got everything organized and put back after the Clay Camp at WNP.

I spent some of our winter-vortex-apocalypse snow days in January and February at the wheel throwing. If you’re on Instagram you may have been following along (@artbyfuzzy). The kiln is currently cooling after a bisque fire so I should be ready to glaze in the next day or two.

UPDATE: It’s now a day later and the pots are unloaded and waxed. I’ll start glazing this week if everything works out.

Here are a few more goings on:

Ribs by Troy Bungart

You may have heard about Troy Bungart’s pottery tools before. If not, go check out his Etsy store.

Troy stopped at my house during Christmas break. I ended up with this beautiful handful of glory:

I’ve been using them for a little while now and they are fantastic. I’ll have a more detailed post in the future.

Making My Own Stamps

I guess you can call me Suzy Stampmaker. Or that’s what my wife would like to think. She thought it was funny that my Stamp Making Kit came in a polka-dot box and is pretty girly in general. I think it is geared more towards the scrapbookers of the world but I learned about it from other potters. Anyway, I can mark off one item on my list of Goals for 2014!

It took a little work getting the settings dialed in but I’m starting to get some decent stamps.

Poor Man’s Talisman Sieve

I got tired of pushing glaze through a sieve with a spatula or paint brush. It took forever. So I hooked a scrub brush up to my cordless drill. I don’t have a good photo of it yet but it is way more efficient than what I was doing before. I’ll post more soon.

Chop Mark

I’m trying something new with some of the pots I recently made. If you look carefully, you will see a small stamp near or on the bottom of each pot. It is called a chop mark or signature stamp or maker’s mark or impression chop… or whatever. Many potters have a small stamp, often with their initials, to press into each pot that they make instead of, or along with, a signature. I’ve always wanted to make one for myself. Here’s my first attempt.

A big ‘S’ for Schwartz with part of a compass rose inside a circle. It might be a little too complex. Maybe I’ll try again with a simplified design.

Recycling

The juice bottles keep getting fancier and fancier. So I cut one apart and I use the top part to round out anything that gets a little squished when it comes off the wheel. It also had some nice texture along the sides that I’ll have to try on some new pots sometime.

Other Things

My wife and I made it to the Empty Bowls event in Goshen again this past weekend.

My school corporation is extending our school day by 30 minutes to make up some of the snow days we missed.

I signed up for the next Goshen Pottery Workshop.

A few new supplies for the clay studio:

And here’s one more image of a busted cup. My wall thickness has improved but still not quite perfect. Something to keep in mind.