Clay Roulettes Redux
Clay Roulettes
Several weeks ago, I participated in a stamp exchange with other members of the Etsy Mud Team. Swaps are fun – you just never know what you’re going to get in return. I was pretty happy with the ones I received, but didn’t know how the recipients of my stamps/roulettes had used the ones I sent. Yesterday, the recipient of one of my roulettes, shared some photos of work she has made using a roulette (left one in photo above) I posted last month. Lisa has really integrated the roulette into her work nicely – take a look at the photos below:
Platter using roulette for the rim – Photo courtesy of Lapella Pottery
Pen pillow – my personal favorite! Photo courtesy of Lapella Pottery
In my opinion, Lisa and her hubby, Alex, are Etsy success stories – they’re really selling a lot of pottery online. So go on, check out their awesome hand built and wheel thrown work in their Etsy Shop.
But, let’s not stop here…what happens when a clay roulette is “super sized”?
Tire roulette
This site was brought to my attention by another fellow Etsy Mud Team Member – pretty dang cool, huh?
Meanwhile, I had hoped to do a ^04 decal firing this afternoon, but it just didn’t happen. I’ll start the kiln early tomorrow morning – I’m going to bed as soon as the bread is done baking, hence the late (for me) night post.
~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
