Good-bye Presents – Initial Ceramic Pendants
12 glazed star shaped stoneware pendants
Yesterday was bitter sweet – it marked my 20th wedding anniversary to my hubby and it was also the last after school clay class of the year that I am ever teaching. The kids are bummed, but I think glad that they had the opportunity to take clay classes after school in the first place. As a little good bye present, I made each of my students a little star shaped pendant with their first name initial decaled on the front.
Initial decals etc.
Decals after application but before firing
I searched long and hard for a fun font to use for the initials – and ended up using this one…I think it’s called “101 Starry Nights” or something similar. Although, if you look closely, there’s one anomaly – the “C”. I used a font called “Parry Hotter” for Cole who is obsessed with Harry Potter.
Close-up before firing decals
Initial pendants after decal firing
Star shaped initial J after decal firing
I didn’t get a picture of the final gift – I added jump rings to the pendants and strung the stars with waxed cotton cord. I think they liked them….
So with that, I want to thank my pint sized pottery rock stars for two terrific years!
~Cynthia
Rice Bowls & Show and Tell
Set of 2 rice bowls with chop stick rests
In my mind, there’s no better food than anything Asian – I could probably eat a derivative of the Asian food every day of the week as long as it contained rice. Maybe I just like eating food with chop sticks. 
I’ve been throwing a little bit more than usual as I reclaim clay and decided to turn some bowls into rice bowls – I’m not sure if they should be larger or not. What do you think? These probably hold about 2 – 3 cups of food and measure about 6″ wide at the rim and 3.5″ high.
Rice bowl
Do you know what I hate? When my chopsticks slide off the side of my bowl and hit the floor – so with that in mind, I added 2 little chopstick rests to each bowl. I contemplated adding a divot to the opposite side for the chopsticks, but after testing it out, the bowls don’t really need it. The chopsticks can rest either as shown, or inside the bowl in more of a vertical fashion. I might make a few sets of these to sell at the Colorado Potters Spring Show – I wonder if I could find some chopstick wholesale to include with the bowls if I look hard enough.
Next up, “Show and Tell” (though isn’t my blog all show and tell?):
Before – oval serving dish
Remember this little oval serving dish that I made about about a month or so ago? I decided it looked a little plain so I decided to add a decal to the piece which dresses it up nicely.
After – Oval serving dish with water lily decal
Much better! I’m also pleased to be getting a lot of mileage from my water lily sketch that I made using my Bamboo Fun Wacom Tablet. After assessing my studio glazes, I think I need to expand my glaze palette. I’ve found that a good contrast between glaze and the sepia tone of the decals works really well. I’d like to add a good matte white, maybe closer to bone/off white. Actually, what I’d really like is a nice reduction look off white with little crystals…probably more difficult to achieve in oxidation. But, I can still wish.
Porcelain pendants with laser toner decals
People reading this who know me in real life are probably laughing at me right now – I’m adding decals to everything in my studio, much like I “marbleized” everything in my home several years ago when I was really into faux painting. 
I can’t help it, everything that I make without a decal looks naked right now. Since taking this photo, I’ve added bails to the pendants and they’re now available in my Etsy Shop – or they will be after I write this post.
We’re headed up to Steamboat Springs tomorrow for a little spring skiing. I’m bringing my laptop because supposedly, the condo where we’re staying has wi-fi. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some photos of one of my favorite areas & a really gorgeous part of Colorado with you.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
Homemade Clay Stamps & Roulettes
Stamps I received from 2 other EMT members
Back in February, I participated in the Etsy Mud Team’s (EMT) stamp exchange. The EMT is a group comprised of Etsy Sellers who make any type of clay work (as long as it starts as wet clay and isn’t pre-purchased bisque ware). Nearly every month, we have “challenges” or swaps and not that our membership is swelling, it’s always fun. I don’t participate in every swap or challenge, but aim for about every other one. Yesterday, I had a chance to play with some of the stamps that I received as part of the swap. I did ask both EMTers whether I could use my new stamps for ceramic jewelry that I plan to sell – and both Ericka and Jude replied yes. Thanks so much!
Ericka O-Rourke, otherwise known as Elm Studios, made the polymer clay stamps and hails from Pennsylvania. Jude Prevost, known as Muddy Waters on Etsy, made the bisque stamps and calls Canada home. I love both sets of stamps – and have been playing around with combining textures from both potters to make some new porcelain pendants.
Stamps I sent to 2 EMT members
On my end, I sent two EMT members a roulette and 2 smaller stamps to use as they wish in their work. One aspect of making these stamps that I really appreciate is that I made roulettes (clay stamps in the round – perfect for rolling out a continuous pattern or texture) for the first time ever even though the project has been on my to-do list for a long time. To make the roulettes, I rolled out slabs of clay and wrapped the slabs around paper wrapped card board toilet paper rolls. After the clay had stiffened, but before it had shrunk too much which would make removing the card board support tricky, I pulled the clay rolls off of the card board supports and then let them set up a bit more to almost leather hard. In the evening, I carved designs onto the clay tubes free style. The other stamps I made from plaster molds I had made of a starfish and a button.
The Spring Colorado Potter’s Guild Show and Sale is just around the corner – the sale opens on April 30th at 5pm. Eeek – that’s about a month from now and I need to make some work. Yesterday, I did a bit of inventorying and I have about 40 items made so far to include in the show. Each member is allowed 105 pieces which can include a few sets. That means that I can make another 65 items between now and April 30th – sounds like a lot, but after doing some math, if I make 4.55 items each day for 14 days straight, I could make it. That doesn’t seem like an overwhelming # does it?
It’s Saturday morning, and I am heading to the studio – I’m inspired to make a covered baking dish that I watched Laura Ross make on a Ceramic Arts Daily video. I love that she combines wheel throwing and hand-building techniques – a woman after my own heart!
Have a great weekend,
~Cynthia
Bisque Texture Plate
Gingko Bisque Texture Plate about 12 inches x 18 inches
Last fall, I made a bisque texture plate by impressing leaves from a ginkgo tree that I planted in my front yard about 2 years ago. As you can see from the photo, it cracked right smack down the middle (a crack developed along one of the stems while drying and then during bisque firing, the heat did the rest). It doesn’t mean that I can’t use it anymore, but the crack limits the size of work that I can make with it. Each side is still large enough for me to make the base for a hand-built mug (see below) and when I had an hour to spend in my garagio the other day which wasn’t enough time to really get into any kind of production mode, but just long enough to test out some of this plate’s other possibilities.
Hand Built Ginkgo Printed Mug
Ginkgo Texture Close-up
The texture is pretty to look at, but also very delicate and fine which proved a little problematic for printing purposes. After my first try, the impression was spotty at best, so I had to smooth out the clay and try again. Since my bisque plate is fairly delicate, I placed a towel underneath the plate and then put my clay slab on top and used a rubber mallet to make sure that the entire surface would be left with an even impression. After tapping the slab with the mallet, I used a rolling pin and my favorite Sherrill rubber rib to smooth out the clay on the non-printed side.
Ginkgo Plate Trio – still green
Since I knew I didn’t have enough time to make a mug, I decided to make a few small tea bag/soy sauce dipping sized dishes with the amount of clay that I had impressed and ready to go. I’ve been lacking motivation after taking such a long break from my studio, but know that doing something even if it’s small, is a step in the right direction in regards to getting back into some kind of a routine.
Small Ginkgo Plate
As with any type of printing – whether on paper or clay, the reverse is always true and what shows up. If you take another look at the ginkgo mug (above), you’ll notice that the ginkgo leaves are not raised as compared with these little plates. That’s because I impressed actual leaves into the slab I used for the mug, and I used the bisque plate for this one which left a raised impression. I’m not sure which one I like better – I’ll have to decide after I glaze it. If I prefer the former, I’ll have to make another impression of the bisque texture plate and then bisque this one – or wait till spring when my tree leafs out again.
Pink Glazed Flower Pendant
I’m still making jewelry – this one is available in my Etsy Shop for $20.00.
Porcelain pendant with slip inlay – still green
To make the jewelry just a bit more interesting, I tried my hand at doing a bit of mishima or slip inlay on a porcelain pendant. After it’s glazed and fired, I’m going to add a ceramic laser toner decal for a third layer. It might be just a bit too busy with the slip inlay, glaze and decal, but it will be a good experiment. I was a bit too hasty when I removed the excess slip and then I sanded fairly vigorously on top of that. Note to self – don’t rush…. Once it’s fired, I’ll add a silver plated Aanraku bail (used by dichroic glass artists) to the back with epoxy glue.
Meanwhile, ever put the wrong cone in a kiln sitter and not realize your mistake until it was too late? I’ve over fired a kiln once before and you think I would learn, but luckily, this time I put a cooler cone in the sitter rather than a hotter one. Yesterday, I fired the kid’s work for my Tuesday clay class and this morning when I went to pop the lid open, everything looked just plain drab ugly. I grabbed the box of cones that I left laying out near the kiln and luckily I put a cone 018 in the cone 06 glaze fire. Thank goodness I noticed my mistake early enough and since class isn’t until tomorrow afternoon I replaced the cone with the correct one and am refiring the kiln as I write this post. It should be cool by tomorrow morning in time for me to unload and pack the work for class.
Bonus – it’s freezing in Denver today and we’re expecting a high of only 18ºF so my garagio will be nice and toasty when I head out in about an hour to work since one of my kilns is firing.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
