1986. First Chanukah menorah (known as a "chanukiah") design. Worked on it so long... I had just taken Ceramics II at Kean College. I threw a basic bottomless cylinder from earthenware on the wheel, cut it right down the middle from top to bottom, and attached the halves end to end. Then I rolled a slab and cut out the stand-up part with the lettering carved in it, assembling and glazing everything in my own first pottery workshop in a corner of the basement.

Here's the other side.

I made small white cups for it that, when Chanukah came around, I filled with olive oil and put a wick into. I no longer have the cups. They rested on the strip in the center of this chanukiah base. Honestly, if you make a cylinder, it's going to be round. If you don't flatten it out somewhere, it's not the best place to rest little cups on top of, at least if you want them to sit securely. Truth- I ended up just melting the candle ends in place on the top of this chanukiah, not using oil cups. ...Notable with this one: it was my first time using gold luster. (Tip: Do not attempt to place a pottery chanukiah with metal luster in the microwave to soften the wax on it for cleanup. Unless you like to watch sparks fly.) I have hardly used metal luster since. It has stinky, toxic fumes when raw, best applied out of doors, and it is finicky.

1986-87. Played with small versions just to see how they would come out. My kids have them now, so few photos were quickly available for this story. Here's one I still have, that my son did with me when he was 9. I gave him the idea of a bent slab, and he did the work. Pretty neat for a 9-year old. It's supposed to resemble the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I think all I did was fasten a coil around the edges to clean up the form.

(It blends into the countertop too well, so here it is against a paper towel...)

1987. My second large design. Reddish stoneware, heavily pebbled ("grogged"). It was built as a castle-like construction and was lots of work. Learned: clay slabs distort easily. They move and crack if not handled "just so". Also, it was an interesting foray into staining clay with metal oxides. I made another, similar one. As a design idea, it was received in an unexpected way: a Holocaust survivor was reminded by the similar one to this Chanukah menorah of the wall at Matthausen concentration camp where he had been imprisoned, when young, during WWII.

(Candle placement is not quite correct. The red candle should be in the candleholder spot on the right, next to the tower. Photo taken in haste before work for the purposes of this blog :)

Drawings, attempts, a carved sculptural chanukiah that cracked in the drying, wheel thrown elements I attempted to assemble into something cohesive... It has been a long, long journey to make a Chanukah menorah I want to make again and again. This is my Everest.

Here's a candle chanukiah I tried a few years ago. This had stresses in the drying as it is made of layers and attached bits, but I dried it slowly so it was unable to really warp as it could have. The glaze was interestingly runny and played peek-a-boo with my lettering, which reads "Chanukah" in Hebrew. I have this at $45 in Jewish Life on my site at the moment.

Last year came these, made on the wheel, altered and glazed in untraditional fashion. I have them on special sale till December 14. ($110-$125, less 10%)

They work well with standard candles melted/stuck into place, then lit. They are the best design concept yet in my studio. But now I am working with the promise of next year in mind. (I am always working with the promise of next year in mind.) I am working on the sort of Chanukah menorah that will operate at the whim of its owner with either candles or the little glass cups that come pre-set with olive oil and wicks in them. That design idea is still developing, although here is the first one of those, that works pretty well. I found rubber inserts that accommodate retrofitting for glass oil cups, and tried them out in the channel at the top of the chanukiah. The shamash (the "middleman" candle used to light the others) will sit in the holder on the front.

A certain amount of engineering/problem solving is needed in the making of a thrown piece where the top has to stay level all through shrinkage and its accompanying slight movement and distortion in the kiln. This has been a bit of a challenge, but I'm on it.

Developments as they transpire...

Chanukiah Designs Over the Years