When pots go wrong (and we have to start all over again)

One of the hazards making handmade wheel thrown pottery is that occasionally the clay ends up being too thin in some places, requiring one to re-throw the piece. Here we have the bottom of a wheel thrown urn being too thin.

And this is just one of the reasons why handmade wheel thrown pottery takes so long to make. (It is a six stage process, requiring several days, even under the best of conditions, between the stages.)

The bottom of this wheel thrown urn was too thin.

Really, really too thin.

Latest test tiles

The latest test tiles fresh from my kiln.

New color combinations April 2016.

Test tiles are a way for a potter to test glaze combinations to see how they look together. It is necessary to do so because of the chemical changes that happen during the glaze firings. Some glazes that you think would look good together will have chemicals that react with each other and produce fugly results. The only way to make sure that the glazes will look nice with one another is to actually use them, and test tiles allow you to do so without having to risk ruining an entire piece of pottery in the process.