5 Reasons to Keep Making Pottery

Not that I need any more reasons to make more pots! Anyway, here are 5 reasons that I continue to press on. I’ve made a lot of bad pots but I feel like these recent pots give me some new direction and inspiration for my future work.

Dripping (C)up

Do you see what I did there? The ‘C’ is optional so it can be read “dripping cup” or “dripping up.” Get it?

Technical Info: Fired to ^6 in oxidation, Warm Brown Stoneware. Glazes: Licorice inside, Jen’s Juicy Fruit and Waterfall Brown outside.

Inspired by: Justin Rothshank’s seconds shelf dripping mug and a discussion with Dick Lehman about firing lids on teapots.

Why I like it: Fairly unique?, interesting color patterns, the glaze becomes part of the structure. I like how a little bit of bare clay shows through near the rim even though that was probably an accident.

Where to go next: I’ll continue to fire things upside down. And explore “glaze as structure” instead of just a surface decoration. I think that I could get some longer glaze drips if I get the right firing program set up. I’ll also look into different shapes and textures to see how that affects the glaze drips. I just made a pinch pot with some grooves and stamps just for this purpose. This is actually my third or fourth attempt at this. I have one that is in The Cup: An Interpreted Object. It was my first attempt at firing something upside down and I had some blistering glaze issues which actually look pretty cool. I only finished one before the entries were due or I would have entered this one, above.

Lehman Inspired Cup

Technical Info: Fired to ^6 in oxidation, Warm Brown Stoneware. Glazes: Jen’s Juicy Fruit with Iron at the top, Light Brown (based on MC6G high calcium semi-matte) below the rim.

Inspired by: Dick Lehman’s presentation at the Goshen Pottery Workshop and his fantastic work which I’ve seen a lot of recently.

Why I like it: This is probably my best result from my first batch of pots trying this new alteration technique. I like the texture and how the glaze flowed down through it as it melted. The colors are nice. I like the matte surface around the rim.

Where to go next: I don’t like the overall shape of this one all that much. It seems too round or it doesn’t have enough of a foot. Or maybe I should have made it wider and just made it into a bowl? After trying this and looking at more of Dick’s work I see that he makes his cups taller, usually has more clay cut away underneath and gets more of a spiral motion along the outside. I’ll continue to work on altering some wheel thrown cups and see what I can come up with. I’ll also try some different glaze combinations to see what looks good over the texture.

Side Fired Bowl and Side Fired Cup

Technical Info: Fired to ^6 in oxidation, Warm Brown Stoneware. Glazes: Clear Liner inside both. Outside of the bowl was dipped in Bone White. Outside of the cup was dipped in Dark Brown. Jen’s Juicy Fruit and Waterfall Brown make the running glaze.

Inspired by: All those fancy wood-fired pots that are fired on their sides. Bowl form inspired by a wood fired Rothshank bowl. Cup form probably inspired by some combination of  Rothshank, Lehman and Pletcher.

Why I like it: The colors of the running glaze, the shell marks, the way the shells affected the glaze around them, the organic shapes, the contrast of the bright, glossy colors and the semi-matte neutral colors.

Where to go next: I’ll still side fire things, even though it is a lot of extra work. Maybe with a longer hold at the peak firing temperature I can get the glaze to run all the way around to the other side. Maybe I’ll try some other forms as well.

World Map Vase

Technical Info: Fired to ^6 in oxidation, Warm Brown Stoneware. Glaze: Bone White. Black and white ceramic decals added and re-fired to ^04.

Inspired by: Justin Rothshank decals, my interest in maps and charts and old books, Galileo’s Daughter.

Why I like it: I like how the colors remind me of an old book with yellow pages. And the early world map adds to the feeling that it has been around a while. The world map makes use of the whole surface like a globe, there isn’t a clear front and back.

Where to go next: The shape of the vase could improve. Maybe I could try one of those flattened bottle shapes. The decals would be a little easier to apply at least. Or maybe just a straight-sided vase. Then the decals wouldn’t wrinkle as much at the edge and I would have more room for the top and bottom view of the world map. I should also consider making the surface smoother, without the throwing marks. They just look kind of lumpy on this vase. I hope to use more world maps and maybe some other maps and charts as well.

Bonus Reason to Make Pottery

My first wood-fired piece! Hooray! Thanks for reading. Up next I hope to give a quick summary of my after school clay camp for the staff at WNP.