Slowing down is something we all need to do a little more of in today’s high pressured world. And what better way to do so than to spend time mindfully making ceramic vessels? The bonus is that they make heartfelt sustainable gifts or aesthetic additions to your home for enriched beauty, joy and inspiration.
Relaxing into the organic process of hand-building with clay guides you to release expectations for the outcomes and instead lean into the joy of the process. The beauty of clay is that its is very forgiving with the potential to be smoothed and re-worked, added onto, altered or simply squashed into a ball to start over. This is the healing power of art. But it is important to release the idea of perfection and allow organic forms to flow, mirroring the imperfect and intuitive forms of mother nature. Allow yourself to delve into that dreamy creative flow and connect directly to the Earth as you shape the clay with your bare hands.
Shared with friends, family or The first stage of the ceramic process is to use a range of simple tools (for slicing, smoothing and detailing) to hand-build your clay pieces. Once you are happy with their forms, allow your pieces to dry out. Then you’ll need to look up a local pottery firing service that will fire your pieces. The first firing is called “bisque firing”. Once this first firing has been done, you can paint on your glaze (I like to use white glaze to keep my pieces simple yet elegant). Please note, there is often a long wait for glaze firing at pottery studios so I highly recommend booking in your pieces for the kiln in advance (especially if you are giving them as gifts for a particular date)!
If you would like to be guided through the techniques and process of making your own ceramic vessel, I am running an upcoming clay & carrot cake workshop. We will be spending a slow Sunday afternoon playing with clay, eating organic vegan carrot cake and listening to chill tunes. You will have access to a big ball of clay; tools for cutting, shaping, smoothing and detailing; and my teaching guidance. After the class, I will fire your pieces and paint them with white glaze. This will be followed by a glaze fire. The nature of ceramics is a bit of a slow process but you will be contacted as soon as they have come back from the kiln! Then you can display your art in your home with mindful appreciation for its organic beauty.
If you would love to weave the wonder of ceramics into your home but don’t have time to sit down and make them yourself, you might like to shop some of my handmade ceramic art pieces for sale here x