I enjoy making my own stamps for texture. It's really quite easy. Just roll a small log of clay, then carve or impress a design! After it is bisqued, it is ready for use.

For the orange-ish and white bowls above, I used the same floral style stamp. But notice how different it looks under the 2 glazes. Each glaze accentuates the same stamp differently. Where it is heavier or lighter gives a totally new look to the impression.

The dark navy texture at the end is one of my most popular textures. I created it by using the edge of a wooden smoothing tool for clay and pressed in the star like design. The circles in the middle where pressed in with the end of a tiny straw.

Here are a few recent lidded boxes I made. I'm calling them "Gratitude Boxes" because inside is a small pad of paper and a tiny pencil for you to write down things you are grateful for during the month. Put the written papers in the box and let them marinate. At the end of the month, open your box and read through what you have written. Guaranteed to help you feel better after a crummy day!

  
  At a recent show, I had a customer ask me if I made pitchers. I have made teapots, but never any pitchers. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a design. And found out that pitchers are a lot of fun to make!

​I used some of my handmade stamps to decorate the surface with turtles and ocean waves. 

  I always find it challenging to apply to a show with a theme. In this case, I had to create pieces that evoked peacocks. I find these birds so interesting! Originating in India, they have been brought to the USA by collectors and added to neighborhoods and gardens, such as the Arboretum. Only the males posses the unique fan tail and when unfurled, use it to attract mates.

  This is one of my pieces that was accepted to the Pasadena Society of Artists Peacock Show at the L.A. County Arboretum.

  I chose to concentrate on the distinctive feathers and color palette of a peacock's train. In this piece, I used the surface decoration style of mishima and drew a stencil-like bit of the feather. The background glaze colors mimic the real life colors of an actual peacock.

My second Earth Globe was a success! It is bigger than Earth #1, and is about 7" round. I will be entering it in upcoming gallery shows. If you are interested in it, please contact me.

I'm excited to be progressing with my 2nd Earth Globe project. This one is larger than the first I attempted. That allows for more detail with the carving out of continents. All land masses have been carved out and removed. What is left are the oceans which support the entire globe, in more than one way!

I am in the process of brushing wax on the entire inside of the globe so that glaze will not attach to it. You can see what I'm talking about if you look back in my blog archives for 'My Blue Marble", the first globe.

And since I still think of Sept as the beginning of a new period of the year, I have a new studio apron to welcome in the fall. Sewn by yours truly!