POST HOLIDAY SALE

Poster for Etsy Mud Team Post Holiday Sale
Originally uploaded by intothefire

The etsy mud team has organized a post holiday sale and raffle! I am offering a 10% discount on everything in my shop!! Check out all of the great shops participating.

Teapot Critique 2

First, let me say thank you to everyone that gave me input on my last teapot! I took what everyone said into account and made this one. Let me know what y'all think!

New Teapot!

I just wanted to post a picture of the new teapot form that I'm working on. I just got some bamboo from my in laws and plan to make handles out of it. I would really like some input--and be honest!

Ring Jug Demo 2

This is part 2 of the Ring jug Demo:

This is a centering technique for trimming that I learned from my former professor Virginia Scotchie--I thought it was really cool, but you may already know it. All that you do is get the bat somewhat wet--not too wet, but just good and damp.

Next you take your pot and wiggle it on the bat until it makes a seal. It is really important for the piece to be leather hard--if it is too dry, it wont stick. I also do this for lids--it works so much better than using coils to hold it in place. Coils also get in the way, especially for ring jugs. It only takes a minute or two for the pot to attach--you don't have too long to get it centered before it attaches pretty well.

I have always used a needle tool to center my pots while trimming, but center however works for you. I just mark a line as it is spinning and move away from the line until the line goes all the way around telling me it is centered.

I like to use a wide trimming tool to trim ring pots--the smaller ones tend to be harder to get an even curve.
The last step in trimming is to smooth out the trimming marks. I then throw a neck and either roll or pull a handle. You may have to wait a little while for the pot to release, but then you attach the neck and handle, and voila--a ring jug!

Ring Pot Demo

I've kinda always wanted to do an online demo, and I had a few free moments this evening so I decided to demo one of my favorite pots--a ring jug. Ring jugs have a great southern history and they are just lots of fun to make. People always ask--those things are hollow?? Anyway, they are really easy to make; just a double walled pot that is closed in. It takes a bit of trimming to get it just right, but its really neat to have a perfectly round ring jug in the end.


First, center a wide flat hump, about the size you want the widest point of your jug.


Open up as wide as you want the hole in the middle of your jug--make sure to allow enough clay to pull up two walls.

Separate your hump into two parts, getting it ready to pull up the walls.

Pull up the inside wall. The less clay you leave at the bottom, the easier it will be to trim.

Pull up the outer wall and curve it in at the top. Leave your walls relatively thin at the top.

Score the outer wall. You can score the inner as well, but it's not necessary, the clay is usually wet enough not to need scoring at all.

Roll the inner wall over the outer making sure that they overlap about half an inch.
Use a rib to smooth out the seam. You can use a pretty fair amount of pressure--the trapped air inside will keep it from collapsing.

Trim off as much excess as you can now, it will make it much easier to trim later. I've tried to trim the excess in the middle with very little success.
Run a wire underneath the pot, and let set up till leather hard. Maybe I'll do a trimming and attaching demo for the neck and handle. I don't know. Anyway--that was fun. Hope you enjoyed it!!

Steel Stamps

All of the talk in the Mud Team forum on Etsy got me thinking about how special my stamps are to me. A really close friend of the family passed away about a year and a half ago. He was a really great craftsman and had an abundance of truly interesting and just old tools. A while after he passed away, his wife invited my father and me to visit his garage and see if there was anything that we wanted. One of the things that called out to me were the old pair of wooden boxes with numbers and letters imprinted all over them. When I opened them up, there were some awesome serif steel stamps that appeared to be waaay older than me. I didn't know what I would use them for initially, but it wasn't long till they made it into my pottery. I think that they work great and every time I use them, I think about Fred and how great he always was to my family. I miss you Fred.

Salt and Pepper

These are my first attempt at the stopperless salt and pepper shakers. I've been using them for about a week, and find that you have to be careful how hard you shake them. I like a lot of salt and pepper, but it's easy to get a little too much. Anyway--they were fun to make and are interesting to use. The glaze went on a little thick--can't see the S and P very well. After a little more experimentation, they could be pretty neat.

Soda fired teapot

This is my favorite piece that I think I've ever made. It was a pot that I made last semester and fired in the soda kiln at USC. I've been debating whether or not to list it on Etsy. I've gotten really attached to it and I worry that I'll never be able to make its equal. Thanks to intothefire for the photoshop tutorial and the great slides that it produced!
The picture of the interior doesn't do the drips justice. They are really vibrant and contrast with the nearly black glaze very well.

New Vases

These are all variations on a new vase form that I'm working with. I think that it's pretty nice, and thanks to Keith Phillips for the inspiration with the little handles--they are just too neat not to try--and they look great on almost anything. Here's a few pics.

First Post!

Hey everyone! This blog is going to be used as a creative outlet where I can post how my pottery is coming along, things that inspire me and stuff that I want to try. I may put demonstrations if I find some cool techniques/glazes/slips or whatever. Mostly I just plan to rant about whatever I feel like. Enjoy the randomness that is sure to ensue.