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Easy Handcrafted Ceramic Gift Ideas
If you are a hobby potter, you too are probably known and appreciated for sharing the abundance of your kiln. The following is a list of fun, easy projects that made sweet gifts for family, friends, neighbors, etc. If you can get your hands on a set of vintage letterpress (I found sets on Etsy many years ago), it’s a great way to add extra personalization like a date or fun message.
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Garden Imprints
Thanks to the heat and mosquitoes, working in the garage at the wheel in the summer can be pretty uncomfortable, so I’ve transitioned into the house, hand building at the breakfast table. I remembered that one of my favorite finished products over the years has been little footed dishes with imprints, so I picked a fern and a few flower heads from the dill plants and made a dozen of these little tripod dishes. Several summers ago I made a…
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Kiln Unloading
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It’s Another New Year
I don’t really buy into the whole new year, fresh start, clean slate bit. All of me at 11:59 pm on December 31 carries across to 12:00 am January 1. Chances are high that I’m not changing. Not really. That Costco box of Cheez-its will still be on the counter the next morning, and I will still be sneaking 2-3 crackers at a time and letting their tangy goodness dissolve in my mouth. If you’ve never munched on chocolate and…
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New Pots
This fall I took a class “Throwing and Altering” at the NC State Crafts Center. I didn’t do a good job altering, but I still had a fun time. These are my finished pots. I’m stilling waiting on another two to finish firing. There’s probably another sneaking around the studio without my name and number written large enough. I’ll have to track her down. They were fired in a gas kiln to cone 10. The mugs weren’t altered at all.…
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Hand Building Project: Lace Imprint Casserole
One of the simplest and most rewarding clay pieces I make is a lace imprint casserole dish. This particular piece is eventually headed to my brother. Steps to creating a lace imprint casserole dish: I took a Pyrex style glass casserole dish and created a plaster mold from it. Be prepared that due to shrinking in the kiln, the piece you end up creating from a plaster mold will be smaller than the original piece it is cast…
