Category: Pottery + Ceramics

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Coping With Crafts | June-ish 2025

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Sewing | Summer Outfit

I have been wearing this combo a lot lately. It’s perfect for gardening, dog walks, potting at the studio, and everywhere else.

I had a pair of thirfted shorteralls (I refuse to use the word shortalls) that I outgrew a few years ago and have been missing ever since. Then I saw True Bias’s Riley pattern and knew the white Carhartt denim in my stash would be a perfect combo. I’m also wearing a hacked Seamwork Orlando.

A hummingbird took a shower.

They came together pretty quickly and I excitedly used some vintage feed sack cotton for the pockets and tags. I especially love the back pocket detail.

I ordered some vintage French laundry initial tags a while ago and have slowly been adding them to my makes. They are a lot smaller than I thought they’d be, so I used some of the feed sack cotton again. I machine stitched this one on, but will hand sew all future tags because the P got a little obscured.

I LOVE this shirt. After making this version, I knew I needed another one. The denim is light weight, maybe 5 oz, and it’s the perfect layering piece. I changed the construction on the bottom placket edge a bit to reduce bulk.

I took a Procreate workshop a while back and decided my iPad needed a better travel case. This quilted fabric was originally going to be a wall hanging that sat unfinished in my stash for a few years.

Wildcraft workshop | Weave a Sunhat

Textile Indie teaches really fun and rewarding basketry classes at Wildcraft and this sunhat was my third workshop with her. I managed to take only a few process shots, all of which include me trying it on. The construction was way more complex than I thought it would be, but it was so much fun to try a more involved basketry project.

While this hat fits my giant melon and was woven pretty neatly, the shape is not quite right. It’s too square at the top and really accentuates my big head. I’m pondering ordering supplies and trying to make a more rounded one at home.

Glaze Fun

The pottery studio I have a membership at only has paint on glazes available, so I decided to turn these pots into “test tiles,” which made the process of glazing way more enjoyable. Three nerikomi pieces have made it through glaze firing. I’m waiting to share them once more are finished.

Knitting | Port Jacket by Ozetta, plus an oldie refashioned.

I started this jacket in January and have been slowly working on it, trying to manage hand and wrist pain. Most of it was knit using the Portugese knitting style where the yarn is held around your neck. I think my flat knitting tension is a lot more consistent with this technique. I want to focus on adding a few more cardigans to my wardrobe and now feel pretty confident they won’t have obvious knit and purl rows.

The way the button band is knit is straight up magic – how does this even work?! I really waffled on my button choice. I planned to use the vintage buttons on the left, but didn’t like the combo of dark brown yarn and yellowy wood. I bought these too big toggles (right) in New Zealand, which if they’d been like a 1/4″ smaller would have worked pretty well. Then I found these vintage dark brown buttons in my stash and loved the way they looked.

I just wove in the last end this morning and now the whole thing is drying. I’m hoping I’ll get to wear on chilly mornings this summer.

In other knitting news, I’m still working on this duplicate stitch project. I also redid the collar since I hated my first attempt. Here’s what it used to look like. A really kind fellow knitter fixed the shoulder I accidentally unpicked while trying to redo it. I could not make sense of the stitches, but she fixed it in a couple of minutes!

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Nerikomi Mugs, Plates & Art

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After months of “research” (watching videos and saving posts) I finally decided to just try it. I bought four colors of mason stain, carefully mixed them in my garage, and made my first mug. For future reference here’s what I used:

  • MA6600 – Best Black
  • MA6471 – Old Gold
  • MA6126 – Hazelnut Brown
  • MA6109 – Deep Brown

I mixed 5% of the wet clay body’s weight of stain into 3 lbs of clay. I chose 3 lbs because it felt like a manageable wedging amount. After mixing the black, I decided to bump it up to 10% for a more saturated color. White porcelain is generally recommended for mason stains, but Clay Art Center’s BC 6 fires to a creamy white and I was curious if it’d work. It’s also recommended to use the dry clay body’s weight, but I didn’t want to introduce more dust into this process.

This technique uses small balls of clay that are kinda pinched together and shaped. The handle is made with a “log” of balls and attached before trimming. The piece is then slowly dried to leather hard and trimmed inside and out. I learned the ball technique from here and here. Once bone dry, I used a sanding sponge to smooth everything out and crisp up the lines.

I also used the ball technique to make a small plate.

Once the first mug had survived the bisque, I felt ready to spend a little more time playing with patterns. I layered deep brown and unstained clay slabs to created these zebra lines.

You can be really ordered and precise with this process, but I actually really like not knowing how shapes will turn out when I’m a little sloppy. So many fun surprises happen when I just let go.

These plate forms were perfect for these slab experiments.

Nerikomi produces a lot of waste, so I wanted to try using leftovers to create a wall hanging similar to these beautiful things. I also tried making flowers, but there’s not enough contrast between the gray background and hazelnut brown petals. Some of the leftovers were really dry, so I really hope this thing stays together.

I haven’t glazed anything yet (only three things are bisqued), but I’m planning to use Mayco’s Stoneware Clear (fired to cone 6). One of the mason stains recommends using zinc glaze for best results. Fingers are crossed!

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May Update (plus some other months)

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It’s been a minute. I’ve still been making, but sharing feels kinda weird. Here’s some stuff that I’ve been busying my hands and mind with…

New Zealand Possum Scarf

A person holding a knitted swatch in olive green yarn, seated on a wooden surface with a patterned fabric in the background.
Close-up of knitted pieces in progress using olive green possum yarn on a patterned blanket.

While in New Zealand in March, I bought this possum yarn in the most perfect color. If you want to learn what the hell possum yarn is, here’s a pretty thorough blog post.

Graphite Ingrid Top

A person with curly hair smiles while sitting on a couch, gently petting a small, shaggy dog beside them.
A knitted black top with a textured pattern laid on a colorful patterned surface.
A close-up of a knitted top in progress, draped over a couch, next to a blue bag and knitting needles.

I finally finished this knitted top. Good grief, this pattern. You can read more about why it was such a slog to finish it here. Some additional notes on this pattern are that I redid the neckline picking up every 2 out of 3 sts instead of as instructed and used a different cast off method for both the neckline and hem. The first neckline attempt flipped out at the back and the thought of having to sew the entire hem this way made me want to light it on fire. I used a stretchy knit bind-off method from an Ozetta pattern instead.

Some Ceramics

A handmade ceramic mug with a textured, brown and yellow glaze, sitting on a wooden shelf among other pottery and colored pencils.
A green ceramic pot holding various art supplies like pencils and markers, placed next to other decorative pots on a wooden shelf.
A close-up of a textured orange ceramic mug held in a hand, with a patterned cushion and a colorful blanket in the background.
A handmade green ceramic mug filled with tea or coffee, sitting on a textured teal surface beside a patterned cushion.

I think I’m finally finding a rhythm at the pottery studio. I’ve made several mugs, pots, and bowls, all while using new-to-me clay bodies and paint-on glazes. I even made my first nerikomi project.

A pottery workspace featuring a wooden table with various clay materials, a bowl of black clay, a sketchbook with floral designs, and a digital scale.
A workspace featuring a small bowl made of grey clay filled with black powder, accompanied by a jar of liquid and a dropper, with additional clay objects in the background.
Four different colored clay pieces on a wooden table with various pottery tools and materials in the background.

The studio I’m a member at doesn’t allow dry media like mason stains, so I had to do this in my garage with a respirator on. It was messy, but I’m definitely getting better at wedging!

A handmade ceramic mug with a patterned design, resting on a wooden surface beside a yellow sponge and tools for pottery, with plastic wrap in the background.

I’m really hoping this little nerikomi mug stays together as it dries. I also need to figure out how to clean it up a bit. The clay was really wet, so some of the black clay created a film on the unstained parts. This process was slow, but I’m really excited to explore this technique more!

I’ve been sewing a little too, but nothing is photographed 🙂

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February Update

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Things feel dark as fuck, but I’m still making shit. I hope you are too.

A very stained shirt.

After years of flawless use, my go-to washable marker let me down. On a white shirt, no less. I also used the shittiest interfacing I have in my stash and it has not held up to the numerous stain remover and bleach baths this shirt has been subjected to.

It’s the Closet Core Jenna. It was worked on over a few months and I plan to make a light-ish weight denim version soon. I learned how to do the burrito method on cuffs and waistbands when I was taking patternmaking classes in Oakland, CA but had never tried it on a collar before. IT WORKS SO WELL!

My one pain point in the construction was hem gusset. There’s no way to stitch it down neatly. The white fabric is a little sheer, so there was no hiding that it doesn’t quite line up with the shirt hem. I took them off and I’m kinda mad about it.

A very big bag.

I’ve been toting a lot of things back and forth from the office. Several paper bags have ripped on me, so I made this huge tote out of this really fun Japanese fabric my husband bought me a few years ago. I added a lining too.

A very lumpy mug.

Who doesn’t want to press their lips against ceramic lumps? I’m not sure why I went with this texture, but I did. It kinda reminds me of a corn cob.

And another brown sweater.

I like what I like. Finally joined the fronts and back together – there’s only 7″ inches before I can start the ribbing.

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12 Weeks of Pottery

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I FINALLY secured a spot in a pottery class in Portland, which, if you live here, know is a feat. Studios are brimming with people and it’s hard to worm your way in.

It all came back like riding a bike and honestly, I was much more skilled this time than when I last had a membership (2015-16). I wonder if years spent thinking about throwing pottery helped.

In this class, you get 20 firing slips and I used all but one. I also blew through two bags of clay and had access to lots of surface design options like under glazes and slips.

I made 3 plates. I’d like to eventually replace what’s in my kitchen cabinets with more like this. One is still at the studio as I missed the last pickup window before the holiday.

And 4 bowls. Only one is really nice (pictured on the left). The wheel I used during class had some really loose bat pins that caused some really wonky pots. I bought a bat mate, which helped, but then I tried throwing with partially dried, used clay I poorly wedged which led to more wonkyness. I am proud of being able to boss not perfect clay into usable forms.

The theme this session was definitely plants. I made 9 pots and several already have new tenants. I really enjoyed playing with the studio’s green slip on these.

This one was very warped that my instructor encouraged me to play with. I’d like to explore this technique more next session.

I also made two mugs. The green one is slightly too heavy, it was one of the first things I made and I didn’t go as hard trimming as I should have.

I’m taking another 12-week course and then I’m going to evaluate where I want to go from there. Might take the hybrid hand-building and throwing class, or I might get on the monthly membership wait list.

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Ceramic Quilts by Joanna Poag

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Wowwee. The damn algorithm finally got something right and served up these works of art last week.

This is an appreciation post for Joanna, who has smooshed together two of my favorite art forms – ceramics and quilts. They are stunning and you should see them and maybe buy one. I did.

Where Billow Meets Billow, 2022
Semi-Infinite Clouds, 2022
Detail of Hera’s Milk, 2022
A Ray of Light Refracted, 2022 (purchased left)
Detail of Convergence, 2022
Circadian Rhythms on an Empty Bed, 2022
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Pottery + Ceramics

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of purging of stuff. Maybe it’s the new year, maybe it’s my making practice, maybe it’s my partner (aside from his books and instruments, he lives a pretty minimal lifestyle). It’s definitely a combination of factors, but the making practice I’ve cultivated since teaching myself to sew in late 2014 has really influenced how I feel about stuff.

Making things with your hands feels so good. And wearing and using things you’ve made feels awesome. Empowering. Dope.

So I got rid of a lot of stuff. A lot. Like a car-full. The haul consisted mostly of things I hadn’t made but did include a few early makes that just weren’t my jam anymore. I thought about selling the good stuff, but the time commitment involved in that made me feel like everything would just end up back in my closet. So out it (almost) all went. The local thrift store got a whole lot of Anthropologie sweaters circa 2011-13.

First mug I made that didn’t weight a thousand pounds.

My closet now consists of handmade garments, ethically sourced and saved up for pieces, and secondhand. I think I’ll talk more about that in another post.

The purging and organization bonanza later made its way into my making space, which led me to realize I needed a way to view some of my favorite me-made ceramics. They had been previously hidden (yet still functional) in an IKEA RASKOG utility cart next to my sewing table.

They all hold making tools that I want quick access to, but I wanted them to also be showcased. So I bought a little plank of wood, spray paint and some pegboard accessories and VOILA. Now they’re in my face when I’m sitting at the sewing machine. I also made the hanging planter on the top left of the first picture. Good feels.

During purge-fest 2018, I listened to the Love To Sew podcast and learned about the Sewing Makes You Love Yourself challenge. Its goal is to highlight how sewing can make you love your own body and how therapeutic and healing the practice can be. And it’s true for me – sewing helped me get through the absolute dumpster fire year that was 2016, but so did drawing and pottery. So I’m changing things up a bit and declaring that making things with your hands makes you happy/love yourself. Not quite as catchy…

Pottery was my therapy during loss. I took an introductory 6-week wheel throwing class in February of 2016. I signed up because our 4 year old dog became mysteriously sick and we had to put him down mid-January. It was awful. And an empty couch on Saturday mornings was unbearable.

I picked pottery because I’d driven past the studio many times, it was something I enjoyed doing as a child/teen, and it seemed just the right amount of challenging to distract me from my sadness.

It worked. 6 weeks turned into over a year of weekly hours spent at the studio. Yes, I still cried a whole lot, but the public crying almost stopped and I didn’t hate my empty couch as much.

During that year and some change, I took the introductory class twice (I really liked my instructor and it’s HARD), a jewelry making class in which I made giant weird things my instructor wasn’t too fond of, and then did several 3 month memberships, which gave me a shelf for my stuff and unlimited access to the studio.

I also became friends with a fellow K-12 art teacher who was taking the class to inform her teaching. We don’t have the set up at my school for ceramics and I hated my job during the 2016-17 year, so the class was ALL FOR ME.

Taking any kind of a making class is such a good way to meet people if you’re new to a location, or just lonely.

Naturally sewing made its way in to my ceramics and I tried to make pattern weights. They were cool in concept and appearance, but definitely need some refinements for function. I believe these ended up in the donation pile…

All the stuff that didn’t get glazed because of my car.

I had to stop my membership after my car was totaled in early 2017. I had every intention of starting back up once school let out for the summer and I had recovered some of my savings that was obliterated by a surprise necessary car purchase. It didn’t happen, BUT this summer I WILL pick it back up.