Lace Bowl

 My favorite piece out of the last firing was a lace-patterned bowl with sliptrailed blue flowers - so naturally, I made another one. 

Creativity, Serenity, and the Value of Repetition

 I often hear this from students or new potters: "Oh, I could never make the same thing over and over, how boring! Where is the creativity?" When I hear this, I think, well, you do you, but my friend, you are missing out.

Repetition, especially on the wheel, is not what it looks like. For me there are two modes: design, and production (a term I use loosely, because I am not really a production potter; they sometimes throw 500 mugs a day!) In my designing mode, to a casual observer, I might appear to be making the same thing over and over again, but I am making small changes each time: the shoulder on this one is a little higher, or the foot is a little wider, or there's an accent line at the neck, maybe the next one gets spiral throwing ridge. I am very mentally engaged, making dozens of small decisions about which version best approximates the one in my head. I do occasionally sketch forms, but I tend to do my sketching on the wheel. That's the creativity bit, and it's deeply satisfying.

The other mode, though: that is one of the true joys of pottery. I do return to the same forms often; so often that my hands can do it on their own, with little attention from my brain. Once I sit down, I let my hands do their thing and my mind can wander, or rest. It's work, in the sense of physical effort, to be sure, but like many other forms of physical effort - hiking, say, or yoga - it's mentally restorative. The serenity found there is the reward for the long months - years, if I'm honest - of frustration as you climb the long, steep learning curve of the potters wheel.

I was back at the wheel today, basking in the serenity.

 

It's been a while since I posted here! Sorry, and thanks for being here to read this one. I post more regularly at Patreon, where you can subscribe for free (or just pop in to read, without subscribing.) If you enjoy the posts & would like to see more, subscriptions start as low as $1.50 a month. 

 

Spraying the Soda

 I get a lot of questions about how soda firing works. It's pretty simple, really: when the kiln reaches ^9, I spray a mixture of baking soda, washing soda, and water through ports built into the kiln wall for that purpose. The sodium in those compounds turns into a glaze on the ware (and everything else in the kiln.) I use draw rings - little loops of clay - to determine when I have sprayed enough soda into the kiln. Pulling the draw ring out through the spyhole is my favorite part of the process! Well, except for unloading. 

Check out the whole video (free!) for members at my Patreon page. (You can buy the post for $3 if you prefer, but it's free to become a member. )

Pumpkins 101: Thrown & Altered

 Check out the full video over on Patreon! 

Throwing a 6 Pound Pasta Bowl

 

ETA: I have no idea why this post got so much traction, but if you are new here & you liked this video, check out my Patreon page! 

Class Demo: 2-quart casserole

A student took this video of my 2-quart casserole class demo. The second half, the lid, will be available on Patreon. 

After firing, this piece will hold about 2 quarts. 

Creating the Nautilus Pattern with Slip

After drying & firing, there will still be a raised texture, but the ridges will be much lower than they appear here. Still, this technique is best on a serving platter rather than, say, a dinner plate. 

 

Finishing Day

 

Yesterday was finishing day in the studio: trimming & slip trialing bowls. 

Finishing the Berry Bowls

...to be continued

When I tell people I'm a potter, they usually think of the wheel (more specifically, they usually think of that scene from Ghost!) In fact, throwing on the wheel is only about 10-15% of what I do. Even for each individual piece, the throwing part is less than half of the making. For these berry bowls, throwing takes about 6 minutes each; finishing is more like 20 minutes. You can see the whole process in the video at this link. 

Hands, Brains, and Happiness: It's all connected

My pottery friends often say of their messy hobby: "It's cheaper than therapy." It's meant as a joke, of course, but like the best jokes, it contains a grain of truth. Neuroscience has some possible explanations for why your pottery hobby can help prevent or ease depression. 

The Effort-Driven Reward Circuit

Dr. Kelly Lambert, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond, has written on the subject of behavior-induced neuroplasticity Lambert believes that human brains are innately wired to induce well-being when performing certain physical tasks. She calls this the Effort-Driven Reward Circuit, involving brain regions connected to emotion, reason, and creativity, and it could be key to a happy brain. Lamberts notes that in the 19th century doctors sometimes prescribed knitting to address anxiety. It makes sense to her:  "Repetitive movement, increasing certain neurochemicals, and then if you produce something - a hat, or a scarf - there's the reward."

Work has changed since the environment our brains evolved in! For many of us our work tasks are almost exclusively intellectual, with very little physical activity. A hands-on hobby with a creative aspect can help spark up that neglected brain circuitry & generate some of those happy-making brain chemicals. 

This must be what inspires me to say I am a dopamine queen. (I sometimes think I've never been interested in recreational drugs, because I sort for employ brain chemicals for a similar purpose. I used to be an oxytocin queen - yeah, don't do that. Lotta bad decisions came out of that.) 
Anyway: tl;dr: get into your studio & make stuff! You'll be happier for it. 

Shop Update Preview

 I spent the day today photographing ware. I'll spend most of tomorrow listing them online. Choose your faves now! 

Centering Larger Pieces

Often the limiting factor of how large you can throw is, how much can you center? I have a new (free!) video on my Patreon page demonstrating a method of centering for larger pieces that will help you get around that limitation! Check out the preview clip here, then head over to Patreon to watch the whole thing (again - this one is free &available to everyone!) If you find it helpful, you can subscribe (free, or starting at $1.50/month) while you are there. :)

More Plate-O-Matic

Proud of myself - I've been very busy making in the studio, even though I have no external pressure to do so. It's the oddest thing - I think I can honestly say that there's nothing I like better than working in clay, but sometimes it takes some extrinsic force to motivate me to do so. Maybe my mental work on discipline is having some effect. 

These pieces will be in the January firing; they will have glaze on the flat portion of the interior bottom, with contrasting glaze dots on the wide rims. The smaller ovals will be the February reward for Pot of the Month Club, the $60 level on Patreon. 

 
I've got a feeling I'm gonna hit the ground running in 2025.

Plate-O-Matic

I learned this super-easy slab technique at the Kansas City NCECA conference. The conference used to feature a space they called the Process Room, in which artists would do quick, half-hour demonstrations of a specific process. (Fun fact! I demonstrated oval stretched butter dishes in that space, at the same conference.) The Process Room was wildly popular; it required an overflow room, and many conference participants parked themselves in the front rows for two solid days. It has not been a feature of recent conferences. I don't know why but if I had to guess, I'd say it's because it was a boatload of work & we didn't get paid? Just a guess. 

But I digress.

In the video I use a repurposed hump mold made of fiberboard from GR Pottery Forms. They are intended for potters to drape slabs over top, then pop the clay off after it's leatherhard, and they do work well for that purpose, but I find the platters made that way to be quite static. The Plate-o-matic process allows for some post-forming manipulation, so the resulting piece can be more dynamic and fluid. If you prefer, you can make your own plate-o-matic dies out of 1/2" slabs of clay, cut to shape & bisqued.

I've got a new video for paid subscribers at my Patreon page, demonstrating this technique! Check it out at this link.  

New Tool! The Bat System

 I've been enjoying a new (to me) decorating technique: a heavy slip applications textured by hand. For some shapes this means throwing on a bat, even for small things, because there's nowhere to touch the pot that wouldn't mar the slippy surface. Bats take up a lot of space on my limited shelving, and I only have maybe 12? I needed a different solution. 
Enter the Bat System! The small, pop-out bat in the center allows me to use shelf space more efficiently while still not touching the pot when I remove it from the wheel. Here's a little video I made, or the slip technique & using the bat system to get the pot off the wheel:

More fun with slip!

 

I've been doing demos for my class of a fun & spontaneous way to work with trailing slip, by applying it directly by hand. The vase above was decorated using a hand-application method. I've been having so much fun with it that I decided to created a limited line: mugs, bowls, plates, tumblers...maybe a sugar jar & butter dish. I want to keep it limited, because it sometimes happens that I get fascinated with a technique for a few months and then suddenly, abruptly lose interest in it - so I don't want to offer this to my accounts only to discover in idk March that I'm painfully bored of it! 

I've started working on how the mugs & plates will look, and I need to think about an interior glaze...maybe a periwinkle color I've gotten in the past by adding Mason stain to my basic white.

 I posted a video for paid subscribers at my Patreon page on the slip application technique. 

In other news, the firing I unloaded last Tuesday was very good! The draw rings have really evened out my game; no more over-glazed, pitted work & no more dry, gritty pots. Most of those will go to stores - I just packed up inventory for the Maine Potters Market & the gallery at Portland Pottery - but I expect to have an update to the online store this weekend.

We've been having a stretch of amazing weather this autumn here in Maine, so I'll probably take Wednesday to enjoy it with Doug. Photography Thursday, shop update maybe Friday. 

Throwing a Knob on a Leatherhard Lid

Today will be the last day of wetwork for this cycle...I'll try to get a live wheelcam event going on Patreon, unless I can't get out of my own way, which regular readers know is all too likely! In hte meantime, enjoy this video! After trimming my leatherhard jar, I attached a little ball of clay & threw a knob. 

 

Wheel Cam!

 It's a throwing week - my favorite! Although I am kind of like a dog that way, every week is my favorite. Tonight I hosted - if you want to call it that - a live wheel cam event on YouTube, making mugs. It's not live anymore, but you can still watch the video:

If you'd like to get an invite when I'll be live at the wheel, become a paid subscriber on Patreon! (I feel like I should create a macro that just types "Blah, blah, blah, Patreon." Sorry to keep banging on about it! I've got this idea that it could be an income stream, call me crazy. 🤪)

Prevent Warping with this One Weird Trick!

One Weird Trick is a recurring feature at my Patreon page, usually for paid subscribers; this particular trick is so useful I wanted to make sure as many potters as possible saw it. The newspaper traps a pocket of air inside the pot, and also lends stiffness to the rim, allowing you to get it off the wheel without creating a distortion that the clay might later "remember," even if you re-round the rim. 

The video is here in its entirety, but if you liked it or found it helpful, subscribe at Patreon for free, or paid options start at $1.50/month. Thanks for being here! 

 

One Weird Trick, Chapter 2

 I've been doing a new thing over on Patreon: trying out the tricks I see potters using in Instagram reels. they are - naturally! - harder than they look. It's one thing to see someone who has done it hundreds of times, & quite another to see someone try it for the first time. It gives you an idea how difficult it would be to learn. 
Anyway, I've got a new one! Posting it here for you to check it out. If you enjoy it, please follow me on patreon. Lots of free content, & even more for paid subscribers.