Category: Pottery

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!!!

I timed my kiln firing so these year of the snake themed cups and saucers would enter the world at the Lunar New Year.

They are hot out of the kiln, and i haven’t had time to make studio photos, but here are a couple snapshots of our latest cups and matchy-matchy saucers!

If you’d like to see them in person, I’ll have some on display this friday (31 January 2025) at Final Friday at The Pendleton Art Center in Cincinnati, oh.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is glazing day—not my favorite part of the pottery process.

It’s messy and not very creative.  You can’t have pretty flowers without a little rain and pulling some weeds.  

We don’t get to have a kiln firing without glazing day!

GLAZING DAY UPDATE:

I’m doing the happy dance!
Unloaded the kiln to 4 new teapots –including this goat and owl and a bunch of other wheel thrown porcelain goodies!!!

Teapots are considered the ultimate test of a functional potter and after lots of practice and failures:

I’m happy to report that all the lids fit, handles feel good in the hand, and they pour great!!! 

I’m getting ready for Lunar New Year 2025 with some SNAKE cups!!! This has been an adventure because the shape of a snake pushed me out of the normal way I compose a surface design…lets hope 2025 is full of creative breakthroughs for all of us!!!

*work in progress–still plenty of carving to go before they go into the kiln

 all carved and ready for the kiln!

My collection of snake cups have grown–now to get them in the kiln in time to celebrate Lunar New Year-Year of the SNAKE.  

–i think we need a snake teapot? yes?

We kicked off 2025 by making a lot of pots, and now its time to decorate them all–my favorite part of the process!  

I know it’s winter–and not garden season, but while trying to decide what  to decorate my cups with, I was daydreaming about how I’d like to plant tomatoes this summer, and they found their way into January’s designs.

Here’s a closer look at the work in progress, including a lucky bunny cup: a happy bunny surrounded by four leaf clover.

Since i have the black, red and green colors out, I need to make some cardinal (Kentucky’s state bird) cups.  I’m snowed in right now, and the cardinals at my bird feeder is the only splash of color i see when I look out the window.

I’m looking forward to these cups drying out and then we can have a kiln firing!  Will update soon!

During the turning of a new year, I have a tradition of doing something  symbolic to set my  intention for the upcoming year.  

I usually do some sort of creative work, and this year it was firing my kiln and throwing pots on the wheel. 

The kiln firing was a success!  Lots of new pieces with my owl design.

This batch included a few lidded spice jars

If you are familiar with my work, you know that I inscribe my name, location and date on the bottom of all my pots. 

2024 was a really big year for me in the art studio!  

 A big, heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you who have believed in me and my work and helped made this possible, and lets hope for a wonderful and creative 2025!!!

I’m working on an owl pottery project–just finished carving these owl themed designs. Will be ready for the kiln after they dry. Stay tuned!

I just got back home after a wonderful week at Arrowmont School of Art and Crafts: ‘considering the teapot’ with Yoko Sekino-Bové.
I need some time to process everything I learned, but in the meantime, here’s a snapshot with 5 of my projects from the workshop.

These pots have been fired once, but still need to be glaze fired.
stay tuned and I’ll share more once I get settled back into my home routine.

You might remember a couple of months ago I made a bunch of forms during the spring pentaculum residency at Arrowmont?

I’ve been blocked, and unable to finish them because they have already been fired. My normal technique is to decorate while the clay is still wet–allowing me to carve and scratch and inlay the surface.

With a fired pot, I have less options-the obvious one is to brush underglaze designs, which is a little bit out of my comfort zone.

After a few hours of painting, I gotten into a flow of using just underglaze and a brush–instead of carving, and I’m really happy with the surface designs I’ve created so far!

stay tuned to see the cups after the final glaze firing!