I don’t know why I love this tool so much but I guess every potter has some tool that just can’t be away from the toolbox and this one is mine. Actually it’s an etchers’ tool and was meant for a bright shining life of scratching into copper surfaces. It’s become a bit weathered and worn in my line of work but I find that it’s wonderful for detailed trimming and smoothing leather hard clay.

Here are my two lidded mugs that went to the cup sale.

Here’s the second teapot to come out of the studio firings. I think I like it even more than the first one.

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I’ve been so excited about finally getting back into the studio that I haven’t even thought about documenting any of the new work. I just glazed and put a bunch of work into the communal kiln (my first pieces from the new studio) and I realized I didn’t have images of any of them (and of course with the raw glazes already on they don’t exactly look photogenic.)
So these are some of my newest teapots at my most favorite point of the process, when they are still green.

Maybe this is old news to others but my new studio uses toilet bowl scrubbers to stir the glaze. I love this idea; one scrubber per glaze and the scrubber “lives” in the glaze bucket when not in use.

My old studio used whisks but whisks are expensive so there were only a few and they were “shared” among the various glazes buckets. No problem if you are conscientious about your glaze cleanliness but obviously introduces a lot of problems if you can’t control your glazing area (i.e. a lot of students or people who are not clear on glaze etiquette.) My old studio had major issues with glaze contamination and clean up for the more diligent potters was a lot more work so this seemingly simple idea has me stoked.

Check out the awesome view in my new working space