Carved Mugs

Jade Green Mug, 14 ounces

Teal Blue and Bone Mug, 8 ounces

Butternut Gold and Cobalt Blue Mug, 18 ounces

On the Wheel Today

We put handles on yesterday's mugs first thing and then decided to keep exploring faceting. Today we threw large bowls and then faceted them before bellying them out. There are a variety of shapes with a few standouts.

This one is nice and practical.

This one will really look nice when glazed.

This one aspired to be a pasta bowl.... a noble venture.

This one was the first of the day and is nice, but too conservative.

On the Wheel Today

Today is the day for faceted cups. We worked through a number of styles and found some keepers.

Stopperless Salt and Pepper Shakers Revealed

A little while back we showed some stopperless salt and peppershaker forms in a leatherhard state. Well, they are glazed and out of the kiln!

Big City Salt Shaker

Lotus Flower Salt Shaker

Dandelion Salt Shaker

Flasks and More Flasks

For the past couple of weeks, we've been working on stoneware flasks. Alex made a few for Christmas and we fell in love with the form and flasks began to fill our shelves.

Bone and Iron Red Flask

The flasks are hand built with thrown tops. They are larger sized flasks - more for coat pockets than pants pockets, but Alex can fit one in the back pocket of his baggy jeans.

Butternut Flask

I like leaving the seams showing. It gives the flask a more touchable presence. Plus, I love rustic pottery.

Teal Flask

Most of the flasks are made from slabs cut with a wiggle wire, but this one was made with paddled slabs. We make our own clay paddles, which you can see here.

Cobalt Blue Flask

We fire the flasks on wads even though we are working in ∆6 oxidation. I like the look of the glazed bottoms and we can be sure they won't scratch your table top.

Wave Flask in Deep Lagoon

Stopperless Salt and Pepper Shakers

Our friend, Keith Phillips, wrote a wonderful article about making stopperless salt shakers in the May/June 2010 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated. The article gave detailed instructions on making these and referred back to an Etsy Mud Team challenge from a couple of years ago. In that challenge, we entered a stopperless salt shaker that we carved with a detailed wave design.

Finally, we have come back to the form and have created a few more of these carved salt shakers. Here are three that will go into our next bisque firing. One has a dandelion design, one has a lotus design, and the third is carved with a funky cityscape.

Dropped Platter Video

A few weeks ago we posted a Dropped Platter tutorial. We got some great responses and several requests for a video. So, for y'all who requested to see it in action, here's the video!

Tapas Plate Demonstration

This is a demonstration of our making tapas plates using slabs of clay and a foam cushion. We use this method to make a number of items we sell including olive trays, candle holders, prep bowls, and more.

Bamboo Brush Tutorial