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Hi folks, Today I was working on the Wedding Jar that I had made for a nephew, and was trying to accent their lettering for names and dates. I had stamped these in, but it was not quite clear so I cleaned them up and added a stain over top thinking to do a little mishima to bring the letters up. However, due to the curved surface I lost some of the letter forms. What to do. I used a small brush after engraving the missing areas to flow the glaze in, and that worked. At the same time I decided to use the brush with a white engobe to accent the flowers of the mountain laurel I had stamped into the form. My tip for the day though is much simpler. I had problems with getting the right amount of slip or stain on to the fine bristled brush. I tried a lot of different techniques and then tried to dip a sponge brush into the container of slip or stain and lay it over the top of the container loading the brush up from that. It worked perfectly with just the right amount of stain or slip to work into the brush and keep the fine work when painting on the pot. I was an art teacher, working with a lot of media, especially watercolor, acrylic, and inks. This technique I had never heard of, but it would work well with almost any media to keep from overloading a brush. So. . .. do any of you have some technique that would work well with the use of stains, underglazes, glazes, even if brushing, spraying, or other technique? Post it here, it would be great to hear from you. best, Pres

I usually have a commercial sponge pad that I used with wooden bats on the wheel when throwing large bowls and plates. Lately I have been at a loss as I could not find it in the studio. Last week I was throwing plates(patens) for communion sets and was looking again for my sponge pad. Could not find it so I decided to try something new. I put a piece of plastic from a clay bag cut to a square on the wheel with the bat pins under it, placed a bat over top, and used a knife to cut the excess off. After removing the bat, I dipped the plastic into the water bucket, smoothed it back on the wheel head and replaced the bat and threw the plate. It worked just great, and the same piece now has been used for 10 plates. Still will get much use out of it. Do you have a recent studio trick, or an older one that others may find of use? best, Pres