In this two hour workshop, you will make and decorate a lotion bottle made of stoneware clay. The first hour will be focused on making the actual bottle and decorating it with applique. The second hour will be spent glazing it. You can make a bottle similar to the one pictured, or come up with your very own design – maybe sea oriented, or even sports related. The bottle will then be left to dry for a week before being fired in a kiln. The actual bottle, with lotion pump, will be available for pick up with in 3 weeks.
This workshop will take place Tuesday, February 12, from 6 – 8 pm. If you can’t make this date and would like to schedule another time, use the contact us tab and let me know what date and time would work for you (min 4 people).
One of the best aspects of my retirement, has been sharing my love of pottery with others. The last year, I have been offering pottery lessons as well as single night ceramic workshops at my home studio. With the new year, maybe you would like to add some relaxing creativity to your schedule, and here are a couple of ideas to do that.
Prescott Community Center Pieces
One of the workshops has been through the Prescott Community Center. This workshop is a 6 week project oriented class. Each week, students work on a new project. They have made mugs, bowls, plates, and butter dishes. All of which have been beautiful and unique. The great thing about pottery, in particular hand building, is you can make a professional looking piece, with no
experience. This spring, I will be offering two more workshops through Prescott. Once Prescott has the new catalog up, I will add a link.
High School freshman mug
On my website,I am offering an 8 week, 16 hours , pottery lessons. Currently, two of my students have both challenged me in very different ways. I have one young woman who is a freshman in high school. She is an artist, and combining that with her pottery, she has produced some really wonderful pieces. She has challenged me to be more artistic in my own glazing, and take more time in the final process. I love throwing, but glazing, which can be the make or break it of pottery making, has always been the worst part. I can make a beautiful pot, only to ruin it with my glazing.
Left Handed Bowl
My other challenger is a gentleman, who is left handed. I have been teaching pottery, off and on, since college, some 30 years now. I have never had a left handed person – or if I did, I didn’t know. Only recently have pottery wheels been able to go both directions – clock wise and counter clock wise. You could buy Shimpos way back then, which went both directions, but they were very expensive. As I am learning, people who are left handed are better suited to work on a wheel that turns clockwise, rather than counter clock wise – which most of us right handed folks use. I have to think twice when trying to help, and even with that,
Fairy House made at Workshop
some times I still don’t get it right!For me, throwing, at this point, is pretty much second nature. I don’t really think about what I am doing, I just do it. Despite the challenge, and my help, he has made some really gorgeous pots.
Another workshop which has been popular is “Make a Fairy House” or ” Make a Toad House“. If your neighborhood toads and fairies are homeless, this is the workshop for you!
Zentangle Platter
Another recent workshop was with Donna Spencer, a certified Zentangle teacher, a woman I met through the gallery I used to manage. She was one of the participating artists who made some of the most beautiful intricate pen and ink designs, called Zentangle. We ran a workshop combining zentangle and clay, and the attendees, limited to just 4 folks, made some gorgeous platters.
Donna and I are offering a new workshop in March, which will combine Zentangle and Sgraffito. Sgraffito is an ancient technique used to decorate pottery where a design is scratched into the clay. The workshop is limited to four folks. During the workshop you will make the platter, learn about Zentangle, and create your own beautiful design on the platter. Instead of applying the glaze, as in the previous workshop, you will scratch away the glaze to create the design.
Oak Leaves – Zentangle and Sgraffito
Lastly, I will be offering a workshop Sunday 2/24/19. The workshop will make a lotion or soap dispenser. For more information about that workshop, click here.New Workshop – Make a Lotion Dispenser
I hope to see you soon at one of my workshops, so I can share with you my love of clay. Not only is it a creative venue, but you will also find it is very relaxing and good for the soul.
I started working with clay in 5th grade. The summer camp I attended had the best studio space, where I spent most of my time. The ability to take a lump of nothing, and transform it into some thing functional and beautiful is without equal. Maybe you remember the fun of working with clay from your youth?
Because of my love of working with clay, I want to share what I know and experience on a regular basis with others so that they may also reap the benefits of playing with clay. Whether you have played with clay before or not, it is an opportunity not to be missed. It is an amazingly easy way to relax and have a huge sense of accomplishment – in a very little time!
For a detailed listing of what we will be making, click here. Chose an item and contact me to schedule a time. I am retired, so my schedule is wide open.
Here are some pictures of one class that I held recently. Their casseroles have not gone into the kiln, yet, they should be done by the weekend, and I will add those pictures. As novices, each and every one looks beautiful, and has the added benefit of being functional, too…dishwasher, oven, and food safe, as well as microwavable.
Do you have some friends who want to play in the clay, or would you like to stop by? Check out the schedule, or if that is not convenient, contact me directly. I am happy to schedule a time that works for both of us. Also, working with clay makes for a great parent/child activity or even date night!
Working with clay is one of the most satisfying forms of art that is out there. To take a lump of clay, without form , and turn it into a beautiful piece of art, that is also functional, is incredibly satisfying.
Hibiscus Serving Platter – July 16th
Mug or Cylinder – You Decide! July 23
Now you can participate in that activity! Every Monday evening, I will lead a group of 4 people, max, in different hand building projects. The projects will last about 2 hours each, and require absolutely no prior clay experience.
Tree Baking Dish – August 28
(If you can’t make Monday, I am happy to schedule a day/time that works for you)
Butter Dishes – August 13, 6:30 – 8:30
The cost of the workshop ranges from $30 to $50 depending on the size and complexity of the project, and includes all materials.
The following are tentative projects (Links will be added as I complete examples)
Projects will basically be finished in one night, and I will complete with final clear over glaze. Should you have time and desire, you are more than welcome to come back and do the final glazing of your piece when time permits, at no extra charge. It will generally take two weeks for a bisque fire, and then another week for a glaze fire. Firings in the kiln are dependent on having enough pieces for a full load. If any of these ideas are something you would like to do, but can not make Monday nights, please contact me to schedule another time that is more convenient.
As I complete an example of the projects noted, I will post the class on my website, so please stay in touch!
My studio has A/C or heat, or an open door to the woods beyond.
Looking for one of the best ways to relax? Learn to throw on a potter’s wheel! Let me show you how!
I have been throwing for more years than I care to admit. I have gone back and forth between eathenware and stoneware, and am currently working with stoneware clay. As a clay, it is extraordinarily forgiving, and I have found, pretty easy for even beginners to make something nice.
The attached video shows me throwing an oil lamp. I first started making these in college. The inside piece you can fill with lamp oil, and around the outside, you can make a ring of oasis and add flowers and a glass chimney. It makes a stunning table centerpiece. Because I have been working with earthenware, pretty much exclusively for the last decade, I have not been able to make one of these. The oil slowly leaks from the porous earthenware clay. In college, graduation weekend, I realized I needed cash for gas to drive home. Most likely I had drunk most of my budget with days still to go. Being ever resourceful, I took my oil lamps decorated with locally picked flowers, to a local restaurant and sold them, providing enough cash to get home. What I didn’t realize, until years later, was I had filled the rings with apple blossoms, which, when I dropped them off were gorgeous…but, apple blossoms don’t last as a picked flower. I always figured that was one of those karma things that would come back to get me.
