The Process

After forming pots on a wheel or hand building with slabs of clay I can play with the surface to provide the soda with interesting textures to flow into and around. I make small stamps and molds out of clay from anything with an interesting texture-natural or manmade. Some of my favorite textures are made from shells and stones. Buttons and children's toys can have some great textures and forms too. I cant resist an interesting texture and have collected at least 100 stamps and molds of various stuff.

Carving designs into the surface of a piece is another way to take advantage of the way soda loves to record marks. I sometimes carve designs into leather hard pots or slabs. It is really fun to see depth form in a design by removing clay-another one of those magic times. I divide the area into a grid and start a design. I usually start with a basic idea and then let it flow around the pot. If the idea is more structured I sketch the basic composition and transfer it to the clay surface. Loop tools work well for this part but anything that gets me where I want to go works for me. I often use the edge of a shell to get a really deep rich texture on bottles.

The clay type,form, surface treatment, soda moving around the pot and my own ideas of how the piece might be used are all considered from the beginning to the end of the process.