Potter, Pottery, Rawware: Notes on the Potting Life

 Photo update: My friend came by and took a new photo for my website. 

 Here I am, doing what I like to do- make pots.

Trimming a bowl. Photo: Maddy Hoffman

It engrosses a sizable chunk of my life. In our home, there is pottery of one sort or another in all the rooms.

One nice perk I get from being a potter is that I keep seconds, and also anything I like too much to sell. After a meal, this is a pretty typical sight in the kitchen dish drainer. There's something about using handmade dishes that is very satisfying!

Different clays, glazes & forms over the years

I have rawware drying at the moment, and there's a fired load of bisqueware to unpack from the kiln and glaze. (There's hardly ever just one thing going on.) Today's freshly trimmed bowls (below), for the next bisque kiln, are approximately 7.5" tall x 10" diameter, and will shrink a little with firing.

Trimming, and decorating with my homemade stamps

Happily, it's a typical day in the potting life!

Made New Pots All Week

Nothing like a good week at the wheel.
Some rawware:

I had shown this vase on my FB pottery page before I paddled the sides or cut the four feet. Came out nice. I will probably use the sides as a flat canvas for glaze work.

As long as I was cutting feet, I kept doing it. (Again, you may have seen these in a photo on my FB pottery page, drying upside down, outside on the railing.) These are small, cute jars 4", 5", 5.5" and 7" tall. They are freely thrown for a nice loose vibe. I covered them with plastic because, if I get the chance before they are dry, I think they are asking for fat little lug handles.

Some bowls:

I also threw and trimmed a 20" round platter with a nice, beefy rim- maybe to be turned into a Seder plate, not sure. Ten lbs. of clay, biggest plate I've ever thrown. I don't know how to photograph a plate that big. It will be much more interesting once it's been glazed, anyway.

Studio reno is in progress. What a mess. But what promise.