Notes from the studio
Short essays on throwing, trimming, glaze and fire — and why handmade ceramics behave as they do.
- , GlazeHow Glaze Changes the Character of a CupThe same thrown form, glazed three different ways, becomes three different objects. Glaze is not decoration on a cup — it is half the cup.
- , StudioThe Quiet Work Behind a Finished BowlFor every minute a bowl spends on the wheel, it spends hours in work nobody films: wedging, drying, sieving, loading, waiting, judging.
- , CraftWhy Handmade Ceramics Are Never IdenticalVariation in handmade ceramics is not a marketing line. It is physics: clay, hands, glaze, and fire all refuse to repeat themselves exactly.
- , ProcessFrom Clay to Cup: The Making of a Small Stoneware PieceA small cup passes through seven distinct stages and two firings before it is finished. Here is the whole sequence, and where it can go wrong.
- , StudioIcelandic Light and Japanese-Inspired CeramicsIceland and Japan are far apart on the map and close in sensibility. Working between them is less a style than a discipline: leave things out.
- , CraftWhat Makes a Handmade Cup Feel Good in the HandYou judge a cup within a second of picking it up, before you can say why. The reasons are physical: weight, balance, wall, rim, and surface.
- , ProcessTrimming a Ceramic Bowl: Why the Foot MattersTurn a handmade bowl over. The foot — the ring of bare clay it stands on — is where a potter's honesty shows. This is how and why it is trimmed.
- , ProcessHow a Handmade Yunomi Cup Is ThrownA yunomi is a tall, handleless tea cup. This is how one is made on the wheel, from a lump of stoneware to a form that fits between two hands.
- , GuidesWhat Makes Ceramics High-End? An Honest Answer“High-end” gets attached to a lot of ceramics that are simply expensive. From inside a studio, the word means something more specific — and more testable.
- , GuidesThe Difference Between a Bowl, Yunomi, and Tea BowlThree forms that look related and serve completely different lives: the bowl, the yunomi, and the tea bowl. A short guide to telling them apart.
- , GuidesMaking Ceramic Work for Daily UseThe highest compliment a cup can receive is being used every morning for years. Here is how work is made to survive that — and why it should be.