Potter's Marks

[Girts]

Potter's marks. How do you mark your finished work? Do you sign it with glaze? Or do you have a tool to impress a monogram, or logo or other identifier? And is there a register somewhere so that Billy Lumsden couldn't mark his work the same as Bernard Leach?

[Joseph Fireborn]

I mark mine with a rubber pen. Then after it dries I scrap off the rough parts. I had a stamp, but I ended up not liking it. There is a registry. Mark C knows about that I am sure he will post it here, I forgot the address. You could do a search for Potter's Marks on this forum and I bet it would come up. I would do it but I am on my phone.

[Babs]

I sign bottom of big pieces with a fine slip pen. post bisque.

Lttle pieces I scrawl an initials , same pen

[Joseph Fireborn]

So I googled "Potter's Marks" 

 

http://www.themarksproject.org/

[What?]

I made a stamp but I still put my initials inside a triangle with a pin tool. Large work gets my full name. I use a ball point pen over a piece of paper for that. Sometimes I apply an oxide or contrasting glaze and wipe back. Always signed on bottom.

[rayaldridge]

When I started making pots again, a couple years ago, after a long fallow period, I thought I ought to have a simple stamp, because such a stamp, in my opinion, can be more beautiful than a scrawled signature.  I did make a stamp, but I had problems with it.  Some of my glazes are thick, and filled the stamp enough to make it illegible.  Folks here pointed out that a stamp was more difficult to read in general, and make it harder to distinguish your work from that of other potters with similar marks.  Mine incorporated an "R" and an "A."  There are several excellent potters with the same initials.

 

Anyway, I finally decided that I needed to change my mind (and this has happened more than once due to input from the forum.)  I started signing my pieces "Ray A."  I use a black underglaze pencil with a rounded tip on leatherhard pots, so there is an indentation as well as a dark line.  This way I can use a high iron glaze or other saturated glaze and the mark will still show.

[High Bridge Pottery]

I bought a ~1.5inch stamp of my logo that was too big and complicated to get good impressions consistently. Ended up hacksawing it into pieces and using the text from the stamp. At first I didn't sign anything or very rarely, my handwriting is terrible and so were the pots   Still need more practice, use a 50/50 mix of iron oxide and some oil, painted onto stamp. Wipe off after bisque.

 

[alabama]

My pottery mark comes from the sharpened point of a needle tool, whether its on earthenware or stoneware. And its stained like HBP's which helps identify the maker. . For the signatures on earthenware pottery, I cover them with dirt, the stoneware signature is stained.

 

Years ago, I read an article about famous Georgia potters, one in particular had developed a glaze he called Meahers gold. Or Meaghers. I was visiting some pseudo friends when I saw a cup that had to be that gold glaze...and as it turns out, the woman who bought it found it a yard sell, for $1.00. Of course, it was stamped on the bottom as well, but at first glance I knew what it was and who made it from the glaze!

 

See ya,

Alabama

[oldlady]

i think his name is Meaders.  a well known family for years.

[glazenerd]

China Marker... on rare occasions.Signing the back of tile is not high up on to-do list. Besides, rather hard to see once the mortar covers it.

Nerd

[GiselleNo5]

After all this time, all these years of making stamps, do I have a maker's mark stamp of my own? HA! NO! I still sign the bottom of my pots with a sgraffito loop tool and then clean it up later. *sigh* Ridiculous.I'm going to do a tutorial on YouTube soon showing how I do my maker's mark stamps. If so I'll share it here.  
 

My friend gets awesome results from the initials stamp I made her and a small rubber stamp she had made for I think $6. That way she can include the whole name of her business (much like Joel's stamp) and it's also signed plus she adds the year it was made. 

[oldlady]

maybe i am the only potter who has heard of using a ball stylus to write with.  it is hard to believe that since whenever i go to a clay supplier there are so few on their shelves.  needles make a mess, dragging a pointy tool through clay just begs for trouble.  the small size ball stylus is perfect for signing pots and the larger ones make good drawings.  a simple wipe removes any powdery residue on a signature.

[Rae Reich]

I have such a short signature, "Rae", that it is usually simpler to write it with the sharpened end of my wooden needle tool handle (or a pencil, even). I made a small stamp, thinking it would look more professional, by taking a reverse mold of my sig in bisqued porcelain, but found it awkward to apply enough pressure on my leather hard, trimmed, delicate pieces for a good impression.

 

For many years I added the year to the signature. It was fun to visit friends and check the dates on their pots. What was less fun was having pots still for sale with dates that showed they had been around for years! So, after the millennium I started using a code for the year - A for 2001, B for 2002, etc. If I'm still making pots by the time I get to Z, I'll think of something else

[Joseph Fireborn]

 but found it awkward to apply enough pressure on my leather hard, trimmed, delicate pieces for a good impression.

 

This is how I felt. I could never get a good impression without damaging the bottom of my pots and making spots appear on the inside from the stamp. 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Oldlady, I initial my pots with the back end of my pin tool because it makes a softer mark.

[dhPotter]

Stamp with handmade bisqued logo stamp. Sign first 2 initials and full last name with China marker. I do like the idea of a wash and wipe over the logo to help it stand out.

 

When I first started putting pottery out into the world I only stamped with the Duck Hill logo stamp I made. A sculptor teacher told me to sign the pot also, because people will look at the stamp and determine the piece was made by a machine - the signature authenticates the piece as hand made.

 

 

[terrim8]

I have a stamp with an image that i like then just my initials with the pin tool.

[Rex Johnson]

After brushing a sig I got lazy and thrifty and use my fathers metal stamps, quick, clean, and easy.

Bottom mark is the clay type...

 

[Stone Spiral]

I engrave a spiral onto the bottom, with my initials. The spiral matches a little tattoo I have behind my ear.

[Biglou13]

when i do sign its not inside foot ring, when i do trim.  some times i work my simplified initials into design, on most yunomi/tea cup pieces and larger  i initial three times,    one vertical swipe for letter L  3 horizontal for E  and 2 for C,   sometimes look like grass,  i use a porcupine quill.