Stamp 2-9-15

I walked out to the studio this evening to work on my stamp for the week and noticed this frost pattern on the front porch.  I took several pictures of it but could not capture the essence I was looking for but did enjoy the spiral pattern.  When I was doing the drawing I wanted one that was slightly larger on one end so that when I stamp into the clay and flip the stamp over it will create a spiral pattern down the piece as I stamp around.  We will find out if it worked when its bisque fired and I can try it out!

I started out looking at frost on the studio porch. But couldn’t quite capture the essence of what I was looking at.

this frost almost looks like ferns or grass waving in the wind.

I used sketch # 14 to create the stamp.

Stamp 2-8-15

Check out this decorative grass I saw on my run this morning! Isn’t it cool the way it spirals in?

Another view of the decorative grass. Looking forward to the sketches and stamp that will evolve from this.

here are my sketches and lump of clay. Looking forward to creating!

nice long elegant spiral…

Introducing stamp 2-8-15

Stamp 2-7-15

So I started out these sketches with my middle and last initial.  L for Linore and S for Schissel.  Then I started day dreaming about curves and breaking it down a little further to individual parts of the letters and came up with this leaf pattern.

Initials that dissolve into imagination…

I settled on sketch #23

The beginning. I have cut out the outline of the leaves

I cut away the excess clay.

and cleaned it up, taking out the inside of the leaves and giving the outside edges a clean crisp line.

The finished stamp. 2-7-15

Stamp 2-6-15

This pattern will require 2 stamps to be made

This turned out pretty neat. When its paired with the next stamp it should make a pretty cool pattern.

Stamp #2

Completed stamp #2

Stamp 1-5-15

I spent some time looking through some old graphic design books, did some sketches from them and ended up with this:

The beginning sketches

Selecting the sketch. I chose #5

Without further adieu. The finished stamp!

Stamp 1-1-15 The Beginning of Noticing

Its the first day of the new year!  ( My husband says I am the best at pointing out the obvious)

So I went for a run to bring in the new year with energy.  I tried to be mindful of the patterns I was passing.  I noticed a vine crawling up the tree, berries on a holly bush, some sort of weird red orange berry with yellowish caps.  It must be poisonous because even the birds are not eating it.  I got lost in my own mind for a while and then opened my eyes to see a crack in the side walk that made me think of memories and why do we choose to remember events.  Its not like I go into  a moment saying “I want to remember this for the rest of my life”, but sometimes things just stick with me and they are not all that significant. Like the time I smashed my thumb with a hammer and called my fried Blaine because I knew he would understand just how badly it hurt, because he had just done it a week or so before.  Why do I carry that memory with me.  Whats so stellar about it?  I have smashed my thumb plenty since then but they don’t stand out.

Any way, I digress.  When I finished my run I came back and spent some time sketching out patterns I saw or thought of.  Sketching is the 1st part of creating a stamp.   I started out with an explanation point because hay its the 1st day of the new year!!! Its going to be great! Below are the sketches I came up with and I am particularly drawn to the tear drop shape.  I connected it together in several different ways and think that will be one of the 1st stamps I create.  I think it will not stand alone and may need an additional stamp to help ground it into a pattern.  As this progresses I will try to take more pictures of the little things I notice and tie them into the stamps I make.  My hope is that readers will be able to see some small connection between the finished stamp and the inspiration behind it.  Cheers on a beautiful sunshiny day in Asheville NC, oh and if I didn’t already mention it…. Its the 1st day of the new year!  Happy New Year!

The finished stamp

sketches for the 1st stamp

Detail of the sketch I want to turn into a stamp