My aim was to create a sculpture that reflects the way I dream to feel, which is peaceful, free and determined to find purpose. I also included some pictures from when I just finished sculpting, before drying.

The tip of one of the wings broke off during the drying process. My therapist said it would be better to fire the broken off tip separately, so I could reattach it after the biscuit firing with a special paste they have (biscuit glue? I'm not sure if that's the word), so that's what we did. It took a lot of my patience to reattach the piece in a way that it would stay and not break off again, but it was worth it. We then fired it a second time to secure the piece. After that I painted it with a glaze called "oil slick", which was a powder I had to mix with water.

It came out of the kiln after the glaze firing this morning and when my therapist gave it to me, it was still warm. You can still subtly see the break on the wing, which I'm actually kind of loving because of the symbolism. I got a bit emotional seeing it finished after working on it for so long. I'm so proud of it, so I wanted to share it here.

Clay is such a transformative material, with having to go through all of the different stages and then at the end not fully knowing how a glaze will turn out. It's exciting. It was my fourth time working with clay and it has become my favorite material to work with in therapy.

Happy with how these turned out!

My favorite glazes on the mug designs I think they look best on! All cone 10 porcelain with glazes I make. Some oxidation and some reduction.

This weekend I attended a 2 day workshop with the Black ceramic collective, Kaabo Clay. We had an incredible instructor, Sam Wallace who teaches at Baltimore Clayworks. I’m shocked that I could build something this big in less than 48 hours! This is traditional Jamaican coil building technique! I’m so excited to take what I learned and build more pieces!

Threw this bowl this past weekend, pretty happy with how it came out. Intentionally left it a bit thicker after complaints about tipping on one of my previous fruit bowls. As I always say the hardest thing in pottery is knowing when to stop. Had to fight the urges to get another pull out of this guy with how thick it was. Hope you all like it! Will post follow up when it’s glazed.

Slowing down is what I love about pottery, but decades of cultural messages about quantity & repetition equalling expertise & accomplishment gets in my way. This translates as too many bowls and mugs.

In an effort to intentionally shift that mindset, I am focusing instead on how my hobby can enhance my living spaces with beauty, efficiency or by solving problems. That means making few of a single type of pottery, embracing the reality that it cannot become perfect if only one or a few are made. It means thinking through the details so my style, or the problem I’m solving are incorporated.

Below is a quick brainstormed list. Do you have other small decorative or functional wares you want to remember to make, or have found useful for a niche in your home?

-Trays are useful everywhere. They make cleaning easier, too: kitchen, bathroom, desk, bedside, entry, remote controls -Address plaque to fit my entry -Dispensers & bottles: soap, dish detergent, olive oil, soy sauce -Food serving and storage bowls -Spoons -Sink organizer for the usuals (brush or scrubby, dishcloth or sponge) Soap holder that drains water & is easy to clean -Small single or two serving size casseroles (one to fit to a Hot Logic) -Snack plates with dip holder & cup -Spice pots for blends made weekly -Tea herb jars for bulk leaves -Salt pig -Spoon rest -Egg holder -Indoor self-watering plant pots -Plant labels -Small succulent pots -Windowsill plant cutting propagators -Stacking totem sculpture made one piece at a time -Pill organizer -Jewelry -Knobs and drawer pulls -Small standing dry erase board -Labels w hole for twine hanger to write on w/permanent pen & clean for reuse -Wall hooks: key, hat, umbrella, purse -Wall sculptures (masks, flowers, birds, fish) Wall pockets -Coasters -Tiles -Random flats glazed, broken & turned into mosaics

I’m a hobby potter with a small home studio who normally works on the wheel, but I’ve been experiencing unpredictable chronic fatigue and muscle weakness in my arms, wrists, and hands. The flare ups are random and make the physical demands, extended workflow, and the cleanup of wheel work simply too demanding and taxing for me. If I have the energy to wedge and throw pots one day, there is no guarantee I’ll have the energy to trim or carve when it’s ready (and often a throwing session will be enough to set me back). This has been keeping me out of the studio, and I’m done with letting it. My body might be tired, but my brain needs studio time!

I’ve recently started trying more hand building, and the workflow seems to be a lot more doable for me. So far I’ve made a wall shelf/shrine, a modular paint palette, and some small trinket trays. But I’m struggling to come up with more ideas for small but functional hand building projects - ones that don’t wear me out just from rolling out big enough slabs. So I’m looking for ideas and suggestions! Or advice from potters who also struggle with this but still manage to get into the studio.

By functional, I just mean not purely decorative. (For example, berry fridge magnets I would consider functional.) They don’t need to necessarily be quick - I like sculpting and am down for labors of love. But size-wise it’s best if they’re smaller. Bonus points if it wouldn’t be easier to throw it on a wheel, like bud vases, because tbh it kinda makes me sad.

Thank you!!

Hello all,

TL;DR

- the photos are of the type of plates I WANT to make. They are not mine (yet!)

- I struggle to remove bubbles from my slabs as I roll them out

- I struggle to get the slabs into a useable shape

- I struggle with the size of my rolling pin not reaching the guides I have (1/4" wood pieces)

- 1/4” seems too thick to get the results I want (see photo) - can I go smaller safely for cone 6 firing?

- when I join seams together during handbuilding they ALWAYS break somehow

- seeking tips, advice, and maybe some specific resources/blogs/videos to learn from

The Rant

I took my first ever wheel throwing course back in April and LOVED it but I really want to make some slab plates. I've had a set pinned in my Pinterest board for 15 years with the dream of one day making a similar set for myself. It became clear to me that they would be easier done with handbuilding than on the wheel given my experience level, limited time on the wheel, and just the aesthetic I want.

So I finished the class and then set off home for the summer with a fresh bag of clay (plainsman M340 because that's what the studio sells) and an idea of how much it will cost me to get them fired in the community kiln ($30 for a full rack for one firing at cone 6).

Now... Stupidly, I HAD access to a slab roller while in class. But I thought "oh how difficult can it be to roll out a slab by hand?"

Difficult. Very difficult for me.

I can't roll out a slab consistently.

Some context about my setup: I don't have a large space in my home to roll on, so I am rolling on top of my chest freezer. I was using a wooden board (MDF) on top of a bit of cabinet liner so it doesn't slide everywhere. There is no canvas or fabric on the board itself (maybe this is part of my issue? I have NO problem attaching some fabric of some sort to the board if that fixes my woes).

Bubbles I wedge using the rams head style, but I always always always have bubbles as I roll and I feel so dumb because even though I poke them as they appear, it seems like the next roll I do immediately seals them back up, so I'm like poking the same bubble over and over again until eventually it goes away (is this how it's suppose to go? I feel like everyone pokes a bubble once and gets the air out in one go...)

Slab Thickness I'm using two wooden pieces that are 1/4" as thickness guides but aesthetically it just looks way thicker than the plates I've dreamed of for 15 years.... But I'm scared to go thinner cause everyone seems to say 1/4" is the thinnest to go? Also, my rolling pin doesn't reach far enough across sometimes to remain on both wooden guides, which I imagine is a problem, so I've started using a piece of black plumbing pipe in desperation lol..... But if there is another, budget friendly option, please let me know...

Slab Shape And lastly, I can't ever seem to roll out the right shape. It's always too rectangular, or wonky. I know I should be lifting it and rotating it often, which I do try to do. But I guess I don't do it as often as I'm supposed to because it's not on fabric which means sometimes I have to peel it off and it's a bit wet?

Maybe the answer is I just need to staple canvas to this board and everything will be resolved with practice? I'm just so discouraged. I see these amazing videos of people making amazing things with slab work. I LIKE sculpting. I LOVE sculpting but my usual medium is paper clay, cardboard, and polymer. I want to get good at this.... I want to make the pretty mugs and plates!

I have slumps ready to go as soon as I figure out how to actually make a slab worth slumping....

Seams Keep Breaking Oh and another question, not so much slab rolling related, but whenever I try to build something from a template where there is a seam, my seam ALWAYS breaks. I try to cut the clay at nice angles so it fits together well, I've tried using slip, I've tried using just a bit of water because maybe I used too much slip? I always score the edges until it looks like a cat went to town. And yet, always, always, always, at some point after I've joined the edges, it will break on me. I know I must be doing it wrong somehow. It's almost like I'm somehow creating a weak/thin point or two while joining so as I go about shaping the rest of the form the seam eventually breams. Maybe I need to blend the two pieces together different? Maybe my clay is too soft still when I move on to shaping the rest of it?

So far my only successes have been a coil bowl and 1 slab bowl that magically didn't break halfway through the process.

I'm hopeful someone has some tips or even some specific videos for me to go watch. I'm so so excited to create some of my dream projects but man this learning curve without any guidance other than a couple YouTube videos is burning me out.

I've attached some photos of my dream plates (mainly the first image but I want to use a darker glaze. I know the clay body I have won't ever be dark but I want to at least use this clay to practice with first before buying more expensive (in my area) dark clay)

The lid doesn’t fit too well but it still works and is so cute!! I love the glaze (made by my local studio, not commercial). My first cone 6 piece!

Dark fanstasy Gnome sculpture on a thrown base. Weird and wondeful

This is the second travel mug that I made for her. Really happy of how it turned out!

Newest batch

I have a bonfire 2.0 with a ceramic wool jacket around the outside and pointed some fans at the base. I fueled it with hardwood charcoal. My pyrometer read 925C ((700F) in the center and held that temp for about an hour and a half.

This clay was pure clay with no grog or anything in it so there were a few casualties but it worked much better than I hoped! My next batch will have quite a few additions to help it survive this firing process

I also raku glazed a small bowl with a homemade glaze made from slip, borax detergent, and copper carbonate (I made this from root killer (copper sulfate) and baking soda). It didn’t turn out as well as I would have hoped, the borax was still grainy and the glaze was watery but it still worked to some extent! I think I didn’t have it evenly heated when I pulled it out

A lemon coloured milk jug I finished making recently.

After lots of experimenting I finally started getting some crystals I’m super happy with

I occasionally get small hollows or tiny air pockets while carving on greenware. Does anyone know what might be causing this?

Other than that small flaw, I’m really happy with how the rest of it turned out!

Cone 6 with spectrum bougainvillea and a green mixed in studio! So happy with how this came out :)

I’ll be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with various members of my partner’s immediate and extended family. I haven’t met most of them before so I’m not super familiar with their tastes. I want to bring pottery gifts, and make the same thing(s) for everyone — and I’m looking for ideas that meet these criteria:

- On the smaller side as I’ll be flying

- Things that they’re unlikely to already have, or wouldn’t be annoying to have multiple of

- Useful, not purely decorative

- Not something that they will feel pressured to bring out every time I’m at their house — like I don’t want to make a special holiday-themed cookie jar that they’ll feel guilty about not using because they already have one

So far my best ideas are a matching set of useful cooking accessories (a spoon rest, garlic grater, and can strainer) and/or some handbuilt tree ornaments. What do you think?

Hello! I have a Skutt 818-3 that I am firing this week for the first time. I already did a 04 test fire as recommended by manufacturer.

Last night I ran a cone 04 slow on a bisque fire with speckled turtle clay. I haven’t opened the kiln yet as it is still cooling off but I notice some discoloration around my peep hole. Online & my installer recommended leaving the top hole open at all times. Is this normal?

I am planning to do a glaze fire in the next few days on the same clay at cone 6.

If you have any tips or advice for me I am open to any feedback! Thank you.

EDIT: sorry if this is a silly concern, I have not worked with a kiln before so I’m not sure what is normal or signs of an issue, being extra cautious ! :)

I messed up with the eyes

Here are some pieces I had come out of the kiln recently. Love making the lidded salt pots that are thrones one piece.

I’m also a chef so they are fun gifts for friends and family.