My Pottery

My pottery reflects a crossover of traditional Japanese culture celebrating beauty and unique in a Western function ware look.  They use the term known as wabi-sabi where “wabi” is unbalanced and “sabi” is damaged beauty.  The philosophy of wabi-sabi is applied to many aspects of life but it is best captured in Japanese style pottery where the most treasured pieces are often wobbly, wavey, cracked, repaired and even incomplete.   

Much of my pottery falls into the house or functional wares category.  I do not make enough to call it production ware so functional art ware category comes to mind.  Piggy banks and Idaho mugs have proven to be my most popular art pieces.  All the pottery are microwave and food safe.   It has been said you needed to throw a ton of clay before becoming a commercial potter.  I am a retired and will always be a hobby potter even though I have thrown more than 3 tons of clay.  I can see my skills improving but still learning.  All my pottery is gifted for a cause and I enjoy the wonders of the gift giving process.  

Early pottery was signed LLASS, but a hand/wrist injury of my past made it difficult to read.  A clay LL stamp was used to replace my signature starting in November 2016.  Users of my pottery commented I needed a better marking method.  In December 2017 a 1" round glaze stamp and year date was added to mark my pottery along with the LL clay stamp.  The round stamp imprints Larry Lass Pottery Troy Id with LL  in the center.  The stamp ink is 0.05 lb silica (see clay mix below) and 0.05 lb mason black mix carried in a rubber based printer's ink.  It is rolled with a rubber roller and the roller used to transfer ink to stamp.  Turpenoid brush cleaner is used to moisten dried ink mix between applications to new bisque ware.  The stamped ware dries overnight before applying wax resist to prevent over glazing.   In 2018, stamping technique improving but not always readable.  A new stamp to read L A R R Y  L A S S Troy ID with LL in the center in 24 pt Hevitica was used in late-January 2018.  The new stamp with capitalized name with extra spacing and larger type printed better.  The old stamp either had to much ink and letters ran together or not enough ink so it faded in the kiln. 

The new stamp is still working.  I found it needs to be cleaned often to remove dry excess ink.  The rubber roller has stopped rolling, so using it as a squeegee to smooth the ink.   

In 2020, the plastic plate was replaced with a ceramic tile and ink mixed fresh using a 6" craft stick.  The squeegee was replaced by using the wood craft stick to spread the ink mixture on the ceramic tile.  

In 2024, the tile used for mixing was replaced with canning jar flats because I had a bunch of them.  Later I started to use the plastic advertisement sent in the mail.   I found the canning lid flats were curved so difficult to get an even thin spread of ink mixture.  I also removed the printer's ink and used linseed oil as the carrier/solvent mixed with a palette knife.  The stamped pot sets overnight to allow the linseed oil to become hard before waxing the bottom of the pot.  The stamp is cleaned with soap and water and dried so stamp cleanup is easy.  In 2025, I started to stamp greenware just before firing to reduce smudging that occured when bisque ware was stamped.