Pottery: Finding a Style
Back to Pottery
Recently I started doing pottery again. After a 25 year break, I was relearning how to center, how to trim, and struggling with ways to glaze. I really enjoy the social aspect, hanging with women (mostly) of a variety of ages, many retired. I am working to fit in more pottery studio time with family and community obligations, such as Shabbat and yom tov preparations, synagogue board meetings and tasks, and taking care of others.
I have been exploring different styles for my pottery. The process of creating a pot starts with wedging some clay, then throwing a form on the wheel. A few days later I trim the pot. At this point it is called greenware. One can apply underglazes or slip to greenware. One can also carve into a pot. Then the pot goes to the kiln for the first time and gets bisqued. Many potters wait until this stage to add color to a pot. Once a pot is bisqued, one can add glaze. Most of the pots pictured on this post are glazed with a clear glaze so one can see the designs of the underglazes or slip.
Blue Slip Pottery
I love working with slip. I have tried red, green, orange, and black slip. I seem to have great success with the blue slip. In particular I keep carving little flowers into all sorts of blue slip pots.
Flower Themes
I enjoy drawing flowers on a pot. Often the flower is rudbeckia or black-eyed susan. I call some of my designs “blue-eyed susans” because I use blue underglaze instead of black. Rudbeckia is native to New Jersey. I have some in my yard.
Sometimes I just draw imaginary flowers. I have to move away from the idea that every drawing on a pot has to be botanically correct.
Great Grapes on Pots
You will also see my grape illustrations on some pots. On Shabbat we say kiddush on grape wine or juice. It seems like a natural to have grapes on a kiddush cup. I have an old silver kiddush cup that inherited with embossed grapes. I look at it for inspiration.
Hebrew and Torah Themes
I am working on improving my Hebrew lettering on clay. At the same time I have been studying Hebrew calligraphy. Both are hard. I will continue to work on my lettering skills.
Pottery Forms
Many of the forms that I have done recently are bowls, mugs, and small cups. I have also thrown plates. I started working on covered dishes (see above). The intent of the covered dishes is to warm food for Shabbat on a blech. I have also created candlesticks (see below). The kiddush cup is a form that I am starting to explore. I find people have different ideas of what a kiddush cup looks like.
What kinds of pottery forms would you like to see?
You can see more on my pottery page.