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
Signature Chop Part 2 & Kid’s Chops
Third attempt yields a keeper
After my third attempt at making a satisfactory signature chop, I’m pretty happy with the image, print, and size. It’s a keeper. Though, I am going to make a reverse impression as well – one that will leave an imprinted and not a raised mark. Just in case you missed it, here’s part 1 of this post.
As you can see, it’s much closer to my original design than my 1st and 2nd attempts (see below):
Original Lotus Chop with Initials drawn on my Wacom Tablet
My 2nd-attempt
My 1st-chop
The problem with the first 2 chops is that I wasn’t able to comfortably squeeze my initials into the design area. Working small scale is harder than I thought. I don’t know how those people who paint full scale images on a single grain of rice do it!!
Take a look at the chops the kids in my after school clay class made:
Meanwhile, I’ve been a bit out of sorts the past couple of months – not psychologically or anything, just well, I’m not sure I can pin point it. Sort of like I have all this energy, but no outlet. My solution? I started running again last Monday. I pretty much sprinted the whole way around the park Monday morning with the dogs while listening to The Flobots (my new favorite local Denver band). The dogs were happy to run and I felt a whole lot better! Needless to say, while I haven’t been inactive during my last 6 month hiatus from running – I now know that walking and running use different muscles. No sprinting on Tuesday morning because soreness had set in. By Wednesday, I was like an old lady hobbling around the house moaning every time I had to stand up from a sitting position. Today is Friday – and miracle of miracles, the soreness is gone.
Motivating myself to run isn’t always easy, but I feel so darn good after I do it – plus it’s like meditation to me. My mind feels clearer afterwards and hopefully, it’ll do my body some good too. A couple of years ago, I ran a 1/2 marathon – I’m not sure I want to do that again, but the thought briefly flittered through my mind yesterday. Running any distance over 6 miles, however, is such a big commitment.
Have a great weekend,
~Cynthia
