About Ceramics

I don't have much to say about ceramics. I'm still setting my foundation and learning.

My Background

I took a class in high school and it was the highlight of my life! Looking back, it was a source of Flow for me in a way I'd never experienced before. I could hyperfocus and lose track of myself and my surroundings quickly. Every piece I made had a bit of me within. Seriously, I caught myself drooling several times on my clay on the while while getting a shape just right.

At the time, it was all I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I spent days daydreaming about things I wanted to make, equipment I would need, and all the amazing colors waiting to be explored. 

After leaving school, my bubble burst and I gave up. I was a poor kid from a poor home and I'd left home as soon as possible. My prospects at the time were a lifetime of working in Retail, which doesn't pay. College was way too expensive to consider. Equipment would cost money I didn't have. Even if I had equipment, I was renting some of the cheapest places and moving every year, and was never going to find a landlord that would support or allow me to use a kiln. Then, the bubble-pop, the internet eventually gave me career stats showing that pottery as a profession would never make enough money to pay my bills and let me own a home. The dream was never going to be more than a dream.

I went in to business management as a career instead. I'd say it was a dreadful mistake and believe it. However, a long and successful career in Financial Services and IT did pay well enough for me to buy a house and the requisite equipment. Post-Mortem: A long and successful career in Financial Services and IT was a painful and slow path to the desired state configuration.

My Present

Anyway, I've spent a lot of time between ages 16 and 40 casually thinking about and learning more about ceramics as a process. I know in theory what I do and don't want to make. Now I get to let me hands take over and figure out what comes naturally to them and what needs practice. 

I'm aiming for a balance between functional pieces and eye candy. I have strong opinions about being wasteful, and I like a little decoration in my life.

There's a studio in Denver that hosts raku workshops, so raku is where I'm kicking-off. I've been able to practice small vase shapes and bisque them in my studio. I'll finish them in the raku style and they'll be the first items I sell.

I'm designing small dishes for trinkets and snacks. Think about the handy little dishes you can use for measuring ingredients, holding a handful of candy, or soap, or screws, or rings, or anything else you want to keep together in a controlled location. I'm not interested in making tableware. I don't want to compete with the robust market full of experienced bowl and mug potters, and I can't stomach the thought of selling tableware that could chip and break if I do a bad job.

I'm prototyping snail and cat sculptures, carved pumpkins. I'm thinking of things that are small, colorful, and smoothly curved. I'm not much of a painter, so these will be mostly about the shapes and not about realistic colorations.

I also have a huge interest in sgraffito. I couldn't tell you why I like it so much, but I could tell you sgraffito designs are the ones I like best. I love looking at mandalas and so I think I'll go in that direction also.

I'm in Instagram, and I'll be on be on Shopify soon.

Interested in ceramics? Click the button below to check out my shop or email me direct at studio@mossandclover.space

Coming soon: A link to the shop that doesn't exist yet.  😁