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

DIY Shrinkage Rule

One of the tricky things about making pots is that clay shrinks as it dries and fires. It is not all that bothersome until you have a custom order for mugs that need to be a specific height and diameter or you drop a casserole lid while unloading a too hot kiln.

10% Shrinkage Rule next to a standard ruler

 Whenever I have needed a pot of a specific size, I have sat done and done the math and then  proceeded to make the pot to the size I computed. This works fine, but is time consuming when done over and over. Finally, as I walked out the door to go to Highwater Clays, Alex said, "Honey? Why don't you just buy a shrinkage ruler?" He's brilliant, I tell you!

But I got to Highwater and they were all out of shrinkage rulers.  When I got home, I decided that since I could do the math, I should just sit down and make a shrinkage ruler specific to my clay.

We use Highwater's Speckled Brownstone, which has a shrinkage rate of 10%.

The first step is to subtract 10% from 100% giving us 90%. This means the size of a fired piece is 90% of the size of the thrown piece.
Convert 90% into decimal form, or .9.
Next we need to figure out what one fired inch equals in freshly thrown clay, so we'll divide 1 by .9, which equals 1.11. So, 1 fired inch equals 1.11 inches in wet clay.

Now we have enough information to create our ruler. I used a paint stick for my ruler. A) it is free. B) I have them laying around all over the studio. C) Did I mention free?

Now, I find it hard to figure out on a standard ruler exactly where 1.11 inches would fall, so I converted to centimeters. 1.11 inches equals 2.8cm. I marked my ruler down to quarter inch increments (every 7mm) using an ultra fine tip Sharpie marker.

I converted to metric to more easily mark my ruler.

Considering that most shrinkage rulers cost about $13 and this only took about 5 minutes to make, I think this was certainly worth my time.

Wabi-sabi Dishes

We've been creating some dishes with the wabi-sabi philosophy in mind. While not letting go of our ideals of good craftsmanship, we have tried to let the beauty of imperfection remain in this line of work. 

Wabi-sabi is often defined as "flawed beauty" or "wisdom in natural simplicity". 

Lined up on ware boards.

Glazed in Deep Lagoon.

Glazed in moss green.

Dropped Platters

Last month, we saw this article in Ceramic Arts Daily about making pottery using dropped slabs. We had done this sort of thing on a smaller scale (with shorter drops), but we wanted to try it as an alternative to pressing slabs into slump molds.

First, we created a variety of wooden frames. 

This set creates a large platter, a dinner plate, and a salad plate.

We placed a frame on a ware board. Ours are smooth plywood covered in a fine canvas that would normally be used for stretching your own painting canvases.

We lay the slab into the frame, gently lifting the edges so it begins to slump into the frame.

We hold the board with frame and slab about chest height, take a big breath.....

...and let go!

When it lands, the clay slumps into the frame. If a section doesn't quite slump, we'll lightly sponge it to press it into the frame or we will drop the slab again. Dropping again can warp the sides a bit because the slump farther. It is really cool that the edges usually trim themselves in the process!

This one was wiped with a sponge to get it completely in contact with the frame.

This is a finished plate!

This method is loads of fun and we laugh a lot while we make these! 

The plates are firing very flat and stacking very nicely. We are enjoying coming up with fun designs for the glazing.