Never mind jewelry and new shoes. Who cares? I went shopping for studio tools.
Bought some nifty and extremely useful items from vendors at NCECA 2015, and also added some items from elsewhere.
There's this wheat etched roller from www.4clay.com. Their booth was fun to check out.
(Texture roller for clay from Socwell LLC)
I'm thinking about having them make me a signature stamp for signing my work. We'll see. I blew the budget for now on this NCECA trip!
And these hand cut wheels and stamps from Stanley Hurst at meccapotterytools.com, whose motto is "Impressions last a lifetime; make a good one!"
(Mecca Pottery tools. The square and rectangle stamps have different designs cut into the other ends.)
They have a beautiful handmade feel which is unlike the neat laser-like etching of the wheat design roller tool. There's a place for both in my work.
Can't wait to use this brush with the copper ferrule (below at bottom) handmade by Joe Campbell. I tried out many of his brushes using water on colored paper, and chose the one that made the mark I liked best. I came back the next day and bought the other brush for a friend.
(Joe Campbell brushes)
It's going to be extremely helpful to use these dinnerware hump forms (below). In fact, I intend to start using them next week.
(Hump forms for making square dinnerware)
They're from GR Pottery Forms (www.grpotteryforms.com). I will roll slabs and drape the clay over the forms to shape square plates in two sizes, salad and dinner. The forms are very dense grained, the clay won't stick to them, and this set comes with an edge finishing tool for the vessels I will make from them. I'll throw bowls and cups on the wheel to create full place settings. My head was buzzing with designs and plans while I pondered buying these. Once I have some color and surface ideas planned, which I hope to have by June, I'll be offering a wedding registry! (Look for developing information about that on this blog over the coming weeks.)
I had already ordered this set of 11 biscuit cutters online before going to the conference, from Bill van Gilder's excellent site (www.vangilderpottery.com), to facilitate handbuilding perfect circular components for lids and bases and foot rings.
(Biscuit cutter set for making round components on handmade pieces)
And I had just bought this adjustible measurer (below) online from John Fulwood at Kissimmee River Pottery (www.riverpots.com), to measure vessels as I throw them on the wheel. This is a very fancy version of a tombo (Japanese measuring tool) to help me know whether I'm maintaining constant sizes for sets. I won't be making huge numbers of sets, but I will be open to commissions once I have prototypes of the dinnerware up on my website.
(Fulwood Measure from Kissimmee River Pottery in NJ)
I'm continuing to invest in the business, and it's exciting!