Introduction

This is a small, organic, grass-fed blog talking about what it means to be an at-home hobby ceramicist.

You might be interested in this if:

• You’re interested in investing further (emotionally & financially) in the ceramic arts.
• You want to see the excruciating details of what it means to make your own glaze.
• Supporting your local, artisanal content farm speaks to you.

About me & how I got here

I took several courses of high school ceramic classes as a teenager. While most students took one year to satisfy the art class requirement, I took multiple courses because I found ceramics to be a challenging medium that made me think beyond the second dimension. When I finished school I thought, “Well that was fun, but I can’t do this in college”. So a fleeting thought to attend art school was shoved into the junk drawer (something I still regret morally).

I went to college, as I began my Adult Business Job™ I finally had some extra money saved up to pursue hobbies. I remembered how much I loved ceramics and took several courses. Somehow, I had still remembered how to decently throw on the wheel and decided I wanted to continue to pursue it in a more consistent fashion.

After taking multiple classes, I finally pulled the financial trigger and enrolled in a studio. This gave me 24/7 access to a place where I could make a big mess, do what I want, and (mostly) how I wanted it. I’d go to the studio after work and stay late into the evening. My creative energy felt unleashed! I spent about two years there before I began to have feelings. Feelings about wanting to push my creative every further and have more control over what I could do - make my own glazes, implement my own firing schedules, test my own clay, etc. The community studio was wonderful, but could not provide this.

Then I bought a wheel. This was a big deal because it was quite honestly one of the largest financial investments I have ever made in a hobby. I was worried that this would be something that I used for a few months and then fall out of love with. But that didn’t happen. I made more, and threw more clay. When I was comfortable with the idea of investing further, and decided I wanted to make this a longer term hobby, I made it a goal to move into a space where I would have the means to install a kiln. If you’re my ex-landlord, I’m not sure if you ever noticed I set up a pottery wheel in the main bathroom. I think I did a pretty good job cleaning up after myself to make it look like totally normal bathroom things were happening, but if I didn’t, then I’m sorry. I did call it the Potty Pottery, since I used the toilet seat as my seat for the wheel.

Anyways, a few years ago I found a house in Portland (a great ceramics community) that had a shed perfectly situated for housing a kiln. One 30-year commitment to financial loss later, I moved in. A few months later, I saved up for a kiln and bought a smaller-sized Skutt kiln, placed & vented perfectly in the backyard shed. Now I could really do whatever I want. And I’ve been doing it since!

I do hope I still like this whole pottery thing for a while. Because damn I’ve sunk a lot of money into it now.

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