When Potters Play Together

... we sure can have fun.

It is always a joy meeting other potters and chatting about pottery. We all lead pretty busy lives but it is great to hang out in the studio with another potter. I have been fortunate to hang out in Ginger Steele's studio from time to time. After the Christmas season was over, I made a trip to her studio in Oregon and we experimented with making sculptures constructed with coils.

Check out Ginger's cookie jar with the dog head. I am too embarrased to show what I made. It was a pretty saucy diva sculpture which unfortunately cracked on my trip back home. In any case it was fun and a good exercise.

A week back, Ginger visited our home and our goal was just to play in clay. We extruded some of my pillow shapes and this what Ginger made out of one of them.

I wanted to make some rectangular trays and she helped me make a plaster mold for that and I love the way the tray came out. Look out for these in my shop in the near future.

Ginger liked my extruder dies and had a design in mind for oval casseroles. We went through the process of designing it and I made the die for her which worked like a charm. Here is the casserole I made with that die. I am waiting to see what Ginger makes with that die in her studio.

It was time to spice up Ginger's Etsy shop. So we took pictures of her pots. I showed her how to edit them using picassa for Etsy and we listed her pots. Check out her shop. Really lovely work.

We had a great time and are looking forward to the next time we can play together.

Handbuilt Tumbler Video

Last Friday, my video on making Handbuilt Tumblers/Vases was featured on Ceramic Arts Daily and it was great to get the responses from so many potters and artists. Looking at google analytics, I got hits from all around the world, majority from the United States. I had hits from every State except from North Dakota. Wonder if there are no potters there? And you can see the most are from California.

I enjoy sharing my techniques and it is always fun to see another artist's take on the same technique. If you try this technique or do handbuilding feel free to share pictures of your work in the comments section.

I got more confidence in handbuilding with slabs after taking a workshop from Ginger Steele, a potter from Oregon. I also saw a few videos on Yixing teapots from which I picked up other techniques.

Here are the steps for the process and the video

Cut template for your tumbler or cylinder from a thin slab (1/8 inch) of compressed clay. The clay needs to be a little stiffer than fresh out of the bag.
Roll the top rim with a brayer to round it making it comfortable for drinking. Roll the side of the slab to bevel it later for joining. The brayer can be purchased at a clay supply store.
Roll patterns or use stamps to decorate. This is where you can let your creativity show through. I make some stamps and some I purchase at thrift stores.
Apply slip to the sides and roll over a rolling pin to form your tumbler. To true up the roundness, use a round object like a Styrofoam ball which won’t stick to the clay.
Score and slip to add the bottom. The bottom is finished by running a profile tool (made from a popsicle stick) along the edge.
My tumblers are embellished with buttons to capture the look of embroidered fabric wrapped around and held together with buttons.
These tumblers are further decorated with slip to give more texture.

New Tumblers and Oval Trinket boxes on Etsy

As shown in one of my earlier posts, I was working on handbuilt tumblers and some handbuilt oval trinket boxes and casseroles. I am also working on a video on how I make them and will post it as soon as I can.
The tumblers and trinket boxes are ready and posted on Etsy. I am glad to already have the tumblers along with my other work in a beautiful gallery in Edmonds, WA. Manya Vee Selects. A really colorful gallery where I think my work goes well.

Upcoming in 2010!

I have been busy from the start of the year making some new work for 2010.
Here are some pictures of them in their unfired stage.
I made some handbuilt tumblers and beer steins from slabs of clay which are really light weight and a delight to hold.

I also made a new extrusion die with which I can extrude walls for a container with a gallery inside for the lid. It is quite a versatile die as I can make containers of any shape and size with just this one die. You can see the first picture of the small ones that I made first and then some really big casseroles I made. I wanted to emmulate the look of fabric wrapped around and held together by buttons and that look really comes through.

Another challenging thing has been making oval lids from slabs to fit these pieces and these have comes out great.

These items will be available for purchase in April in my etsy shop.

New Teapot Design with cups

Last weekend I attended Ginger Steele's workshop on Form and texture. We made handbuilt mugs and a teapot with textured slabs along with textured roulettes and learning how to pull handles off the pot. I don't have pictures of the work I made there, but it sure was fun to learn.

What facinated most was the process of making a spout. I love those long elegant spouts which are next to impossible to throw on the wheel. Ginger's technique of rolling the slab on a mandrell was quick and efficient. I got back home and tried one of those spouts on my extruded teapots as seen in the picture above. This is one of my first handles pulled off the pot as well.
The cups are extrusions too which are rolled. I like this new design and will play with it some more.

Thinking about teapots, 5 years back, I made a 22 inch commisioned teapot for which I needed a long spout. I used Steven Hill's method to pull a spout from a pool stick. It came out fine, but it was a little heavier than I would like. I can't wait to play around more with teapots again but it will probably have to wait till the end of the year.