Drove up to The Ceramic Shop on Saturday to get more clay. I got more Laguna bmix, Laguna 60, and KY Mudworks Brown Bear. While I was there I scored a Dolan knife which I've been eyeing for a while and is always out of stock. I also managed to NOT buy any more glaze. I did get some Amaco black Velvet Underglaze to make some "ink" to do screenprinting with. The dogs came along for the ride and mostly just snoozed.

I made two more attempts at the cala lily candle holders. I like these two a lot more. The grace in it has lot to do with how the first join happens and shaping the flower. The clay has to be just at the right stage of dryness too. Wet enough to shape, but dry enough to stand on its own.

I saw a chip and dip plate somewhere recently and had it in my head that I wanted to make one.




I used my larges GR Pottery form as the base, I think its 13x17, but its the largest oval they have. I then cut 2 long strips that were 4 inches high to go around the outside edge. I used a fairly fat coil to secure the edge on the inside. Last I added a compartment in the middle to hold the dip. I secured the sides and the bottom with a coil there as well.




I let it setup overnight and then cut handles in the sides. It's really hard to see the pattern right now, but it is heritage lace with trees, bears, and deer. Fingers crossed this makes it all the way through the process.

I use my GR Pottery forms a lot for various things. My favorite stacking form is the middle 3 hexagons. It's the perfect bowl for pasta, salad, ice cream.... During ClayShareCon I bought a stack with the intention of having Craig make me a permanent stack. He glued them together, sanded down the sides, and added a handle. It worked so well and no lines!




The handle made it really easy to pull out. When I just stacked them I'd always end up with a nail mark getting out the smallest one.




When I had it upside down to create the form I stacked spacers to cover the handle. This handle took two of the 1/2" and one of the 1/4".




I left extra clay at the rim because I was going to do something with it, but ultimately decided to trim it.

I might have a rolling pin problem. I bought several in the last few months and needed a place to store them. Craig made me the last one, but it was a bit complicated. During the studio tours for ClayShareCon I noticed that someone had what looked like wine bottle holders on the wall. It seemed like a great idea so I bought them. Rather than put them up individually on the wall, Craig made a board that we hung with 7 of them.

The funny thing was that Craig didn't realize that the holders were angled so that the cork of the wine bottle would be wet. He lined up the screws. Once he saw it he was all frustrated that it's crooked. I'm just happy to have my pins not precariously stacked in a bin where every so often I drop one on my feet.