Preparing the Larder

I've been going through the pantry lately, playing the game of "what can I cook with what I have leftover from canning last summer" before the growing season takes off! In doing this, I've been thinking a lot about pickling and storage crocks.Making crocks also gives me the opportunity to play with my new stamps, which I am incredibly excited about. I made positives of the molds I made a few weeks ago, hoped the clay was set up just right, and went to town.

Positives of new stamps

Finally getting a small stamp with my studio name on the bottom of my pieces!

Trying out just the last name since I've been stamping just the first name for a long time

It's taking some getting used to in order to make sure the lettering is on level and in the middle, but I keep reminding myself of the many pieces I've seen stamped with letters and names that are backward, upside down, or misspelled!

I like how the handles look, and I enjoyed the opportunity to decorate with cobalt again. Spending time with all of the pieces at the Ackland exhibition gave me some inspiration for designs. The crocks that are pictured are to hold roughly two gallons, and were made with about fifteen pounds of clay each. Since making these I have made some one gallon crocks, and hope to make some smaller 1/2 gallons as well.

I'll be curious to see how the painted cobalt withstands a wood/salt atmosphere. I think I might try to fill a slip bottle and decorate that way

Handles are such a good place for running and placing glass!

I'll never claim to be a painter, but I think I can do plants and flowers decently

This is one of those instances where I had done a rough drawing of the cobalt design, and then it evolved as I made it