Clog, The Clay Log

semi-regular ramblings of a ceramic artist and instructor

Writing this retroactively from March and not worrying about because it’s my Clog and I can do what I please.

Easing in the the year (kind of). Hit the ground running by planning a couple valentine workshops with Syd. Felt so good to start the month with some collaboration and new creative energy. It was a c o l d, gray, effectively sunless month - and remains that way as I’m writing this in March. Having a warm, communal space to come to nearly every day this winter has been life giving to say the least. <3

Quilt Mug Workshop, Wheel and Slab Rochestery, NY — Little quilt block stamps Syd and I carved out in preparation for a few workshops in February.

Was so much fun researching all of these (obviously had to reference legitimate quilt block patterns) between a few quilt websites - shoutout to Scissortail Quilting, and library books. Sawtooth Star will forever have my heart.

a winter sausage goes on a snow walk

selling my home wheel

5°f means heated blanket

a rare snowless log

January also brought the next round of classes, so I spent the next couple months teaching a Monday morning Wheel Throwing and Saturday morning Intro to Pottery with wheel and hand-building. Love starting and ending my week with teaching folks; feel like these blog posts are going to end up being me just gushing left and right about how much I love what I do and how grateful I am all the time. And honestly, I am fine with that.

Intro to Pottery, Wheel and Slab Rochester, NY — **Sweet little trays from day one of my Saturday morning Intro to Pottery course at** **Wheel & Slab**.

Did I have to rehydrate them several times to reattached some feet? Yes.
Note to self: flip & cover with plastic next time.

Started really working with my first mid-fire clay body this month, the Tucker mid smooth Red , which has been lovely to work with for throwing, manipulating, and hand-building. Fairly plastic when throwing, and burnishes so smoothly with a metal rib when trimming on the soft leather side. Can get a bit crumbly/cracking if it’s too dry while manipulating, but smooths out nicely if you rehydrate a bit, and rehydrates well - which helped a lot in my multi-step process.

Have primarily been using it in a series of gothic inspired house planters, with integrated drip trays and lil standing feet. Vision is somewhere between if-walls-could-talk and the-house-is-dying-and-taking-us-with-it; which, feels well, relevant. Re-read one of my favorite horror novels, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia to really boost the inspiration, and it came with the punches as usual. Here are a few of my favorite lines that really hit home.

mexican gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia — I’ll write more in-depth about it as this Gothic House Plants collection continues to come together, but this really encapsulates much of how life in the Anthropocene feels. The longer you stare at the facade the further the cracks grow; there is so much blood and bone beneath it all. Everything they’re built upon, everything they’re built out of - old growth and ancestors.

Two of my first couple Gothic House Planters featuring impressions made with some star and eye bisque stamps I carved last fall

left: freshly stamped, right: pre-feet

lovingly out of focus <3

the first planter, very much a prototype with its tiny base and confused feet

out of focus 2: dump, pot, pot

A few attempts were made, two of them successful

a rare throwing photo

a freshly thrown, untrimmed, un-warped pot

forbidden chocolate shavings

the slip looks like chocolate pudding

freshly warped

trimmed and warped by hand

two planters with drainage holes punched

tall planter with stamped stars

out of focus as ever :]

I’ve recently been referring to anything new I’m working on as a prototype, which originally started as a joke but.. As a recovering everything-I-make-must-be-perfect-the-first-time person, it truly helps take the pressure off and give myself space to experiment, mess around, and not feel like failure has stuck when things don’t immediately turn out as envisioned. These planters have been a prototype p r o c e s s, and figuring out the process has been really empowering in a way. Watching them take shape, and really become refined and closer to my vision - from the first few that feel a little unsure of themselves, to the last couple that now feel fully fleshed out and fluid. I say watching as if I’m not the one making them, but in a lot of ways with clay it really does feel like they take on a life of their own and I’m just here to see it through.

My final process for these:

wheel throw fairly evenly, with standard plant pot size in mind (4”, 6”, 8”10”etc), leaving extra thickness at the bottom to trip and eventually warp/press the feet out (I did attached feet to a few of them, but was much happier with the results and time saved by pressing the rest)
dry to leather soft and slice about 1/3 to 1/4 of the way up from the bottom while still on the bat to create the drip tray
flipped over the top half and attached a thin slab to create a bottom for the planter, and trimmed a gallery to fit in the bottom drip tray
slightly rehydrated top and bottom pieces and stretched/warped them with my hands and some handmade bisque stamps
punch a few holes in the bottom of the planter portion so they can drip dry into the drip tray/saucer

Loving how these are coming together, and excited to share the glazes I’m working on that I think will really emphasize the house element of the vision, pulling inspiration from Victorian wallpapers and prints.