Your never too old...

to learn new things!

Last year I promised myself that I would learn to do modern calligraphy. I have been making cards and mostly using stamps for greetings because I am not too confident with hand lettering. I found some basic info on youtube and played around a little. Last week I found an online course on the "teachables" platform. The first month to learn basic strokes is free. The next few months of lessons are reasonably priced and you can pay as you go. So now I have all these practice drills on nearly every surface of the house. Jeff patiently refers to them as my "sheet music". He is right... it does look like sheet music. Leave it to a musician to see that.

If you are curious, here is a link to the course: The Happy Ever Crafter

Now that I look at a photo of my drills I can see that my ovals on the left hand sheet look wonky. I guess I better get back to practicing those!

New Letter Stamps

I have been struggling with some of my letter stamps. I have 4 or 5 different sets. Some are rubber stamps, one interlocking set that is designed for clay, and another metal set that I believe are jeweler's stamps. My largest font are rubber stamps and they are not well made, making it difficult to line the letters up. They are also not very deep, which means I am often carving them out. The stamps that I use on the standard piggy banks is starting to show some wear, particularly the letter "A." Last month I searched the web for a deeper set of stamps, with a font that appealed to me. The only one I found was $66 dollars. The size was fine for the standard size piggy bank, but really too small for the large pigs. I decided I needed to think about it before plunking down the dough.

Lo and behold, last week on facebook, another potter posted a link to these "stone stamps". She was using them to letter dog bowls. I was able to order a set for under $5 and have them shipped to Walmart for free. I wasn't sure how easy they would be to work with, since there is no handle or guides on them... but for less than five bucks I was willing to take a chance.

I practiced on a salt pig and once I got the hang of it, moved on to orders. The size is great for the big piggy banks, and will work well for short names on the smaller banks. Lining them up was pretty easy. Now I wish they were available in a smaller font too!

Here comes the bride...

My good friend Bonnie's daughter was married in June of 2012. They had a small ceremony in New York and didn't have a wedding reception until this year. This wedding plate commemorating their special day, came out of our last firing of 2013... in the nick of time for Bonnie to give it to them for Christmas!

I knew I was making it way back in the summer. I am such a procrastinator. Something I should work harder on overcoming this year.

In the past I would stamp the letters and let the glaze pool into to the recesses. The problem with that technique is that if the glaze was too thick the lettering was obliterated. I have now switched to applying black velvet underglaze to the lettering. I am much happier with how it stands out. Next on the list is personalized piggy banks!