I was awake early this morning, on my day off work, but managed to stay out of the garden, so that my stonemason could repair our concrete/stone steps in peace. Instead I did some baking, and played with some clay, making some stamps, and clay marbles which will be eyes for my garden frogs.
I'll post better photos of the stamps once they're bisque fired, and I can try them out. But they should be quite useful. Same with the frog eyes.
I thought I would be able to load the stamps and marbles inside the big
dove tree platter I made last week, but I had covered it too well, so it was not dry. If I had thought about it, I may have forced it to dry in the beautiful sunshine today. But instead I have allowed it to dry slowly in the cellar, and I'll transfer it to the kiln shed on Sunday.
So I decided I would do a bit more slab work, and make some smaller plates, and they could also carry my stamps safely through the bisque firing.
The first plate I made was this little one. I tried out this silicone mold (designed for fondant, I believe), and lined the rim with little roses. I think if they don't break off, this will look really good. I made a little surprise underneath :
Instead of a regular coil for a foot, it is a little coiled snake. I am pretty happy with the result. My pottery friends encouraged me to make more. So the next plate also had a snake underneath:
...and a snake on the rim, encircling a design made from my handmade stamps :
My third plate was decorated with my handmade stamps :
...but no snake underneath, just a ring-shaped foot cut from a slab :
For the fourth piece, I used the circle from the center of the foot in the previous piece, and added to it stamped pieces :
The beauty of the little bowl is from the underside :
Not bad for a 4 hour drop-in workshop :
...and then I had a way to transfer my new stamps and marbles to the bisque firing :
I can't wait to get back on Sunday, and see what inspires me next.
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