Empty Bowls

During the Puyallup Fair, all the potters do demos and get an opportunity to show their process. The customers in turn love to see what goes behind going a piece of pottery. It is a great way to show people the effort that goes behind every piece we potters make.

Most of the potters at the fair do demos making bowls for the empty bowl project. Some potters throw the bowls, other might trim them and others decorate them. It is a great collabrative project. You can find more information about the empty bowls project here. http://www.emptybowls.net/

This year there were some beautifully thrown and trimmed bowls, which I decorated. I decorated these with a black slip and spent a lot of time on each one of these. These were then glazed by Dianne Kimball who does beautiful pottery too. She choose some great colors for these bowls which really highlighted the decoration. Attached is a picture taken by her... I wish I could see them in person, but they are already sold. Glad to know the money from that sale will be feeding someone in need.

Diwali Diyas

Diwali is a beautiful festival of lights celebrated by Hindus all over the world. You can call it the Hindu's Christmas. There is cleaning of the house, decoration, giving gifts, and lighting the house with diyas.

Diyas are small oil candles usually made of clay. They are lit with ghee (clarified butter) or oil with a handrolled cotton wick. With modern times and people being more cautious of fire hazards, you can find several in wax like candles too. I make these unique diyas or tealight candle holders which have Indian motif stamps on them. When lit up they look just beautiful. The light hits the designs in just the right angles creating beautiful shadows. Do check them out in my etsy shop. http://creativewithclay.etsy.com/

Butter dishes

I have been working on butter dishes for more than a year now. Seems like a long time but it takes time to get the design of any product final. My challenge was to create butter dishes with lids in which one could keep a stick of butter.

Throwing these is an option, but that resulted in round butter dishes. Keith from Mudstuffing pottery makes an excellent design where they are thrown and altered. http://mudstuffing.setupmyblog.com/?p=269

I wanted to extrude them and after making several dies, I really like what I have now. In addition to having a lid these butter dishes also have space to keep you butter knife on the top of the lid under the handle. They remind me of palaquins or dolis or palkis which are these beautifully adorned carriers for women in India. The bride got into them and the men carried her in these palaquins to the husband's house.

They are not fired yet, but they are big enough to fit a stick of butter. Hopefully I will glaze them soon and post them on Etsy.

New forms: Sugar and creamer

I have made small jars before. But after meeting with Ginger Steele (http://creativewithclay.blogspot.com/2008/09/pottery-trade.html) I was interested in trying some small creamers too. She is such an inspiration to push your limits and trying something new. A great potter to talk to.

These were thrown on the wheel, then altered to be oval. Using Ginger's method of templates I made the spout for the creamer. They were then decorated with slip. I like the way they turned out and I hope they look good when glazed.

Slip decoration

There have been several requests from potters, friends and customers who want to see the process of my slip decoration. So here it is....
These are done on my Bollywood inspired mugs and of course I have to listen to Bollywood music while making them. If you put one of my mugs against your ear you might still hear some music. :) I hope you enjoy the clip.
The music track is taken from the movie Saawariya starring Ranbir Kapoor
To purchase, please visit my store http://creativewithclay.etsy.com/

More slip decoration

I was browsing etsy and came across the wonderful work of Kristen Kieffer. She stamps her work, uses sprigs and slip to give them that ornate look. The pieces are also altered and carved. You can see there is lots of detail in every inch of her pieces.

The pieces are glazed in nice soothing colors. I have seen her work published at other places too, but coming across her website was great. Do have a look at her process and you will really appreciate the patience it takes to make good handmade pottery.

http://kiefferceramics.com/

Colorful bisque firing

Almost every potter I know is excited after a glaze firing, just like me. We can't wait to open the kiln. Just take a peek even when we shouldn't. I have even used a torch light through the key hole to peek in. Pretty desperate and still don't see a thing.

A bisque firing on the other hand is just a boring stack of white pots. Looking at the pile just reminds you of all the glazing work ahead of you.

However this has changed for me recently. With my new glazing technique and slip decoration for my Bollywood theme pottery, I realized that I am getting equally excited about a bisque firing. The pots come out white with bright colors and love the way they look waiting to be glazed. They pop with color and I can't wait to glaze them. See the pictures below of the bisqued and glazed bowls. This is something that is always exciting about new work.... you get excited over something you never even thought of. Very soon these bowls will be listed in my shop too.