How to make things look the same part 1
One of the top questions I am asked as a pottery teacher, especially by my students who have progressed passed the basics of wheel throwing is: How do I make multiples of something. Essentially, once you have an understanding of how to make something you want to be able to make it over and over … Continue reading
Working from home in quarantine
It’s been some time since I’ve written a post, but now that time is no longer as much of a factor, here we go. Like many others my work situation has changed drastically. Luckily, I had already set up a studio in my home. With all this downtime, one of my big projects was to … Continue reading
Pottery life lessons
Every Saturday, every other Sunday and one Saturday night a month I teach a pottery workshop at Choplet.com that is meant predominantly for beginners. I mean, absolutely, 100% never touched clay before beginners. o As I go around helping everyone out I find I keep spouting the same pieces of advice that sound like they … Continue reading
Where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing
For several months now I’ve been working on an ongoing commission of 850 tumbler cups. You can read about the start of it here. It has been an all encompassing process that only until recently, I’ve been able to emerge from. What I would like to discuss today are some technical tips for doing a large … Continue reading
What to do with a closed form
In last week’s post, I discussed making a closed form vessel and gave some reasons why you’d make one and what could be made. This week I’ll give a little how to on one of the options, a custom lid jar. Before that, I’d like to mention that 4 blog posts last month were featured … Continue reading
If one wall is good, 2 are better?
Last week I posted about how to make a chip n’dip. This week I’m taking that lesson one step further with making a double wall vessel. In my opinion, the point of creating a double wall piece isn’t for functionality or practicality, but rather for design and artistic expression. Creating a double wall mug or … Continue reading
Everyone loves a chip n’dip
Last week I went over how to make plates quickly and easily. This week we’ll extend that technique to the classic shape of the chip n’ dip. First off, it should be noted that this chip n’ dip (like almost everything else in pottery) creates different products depending on the size of the pieces. So at … Continue reading
Glazing, the elephant in the room
Once a session I give a long glaze lecture to my class at Choplet. I say a lecture, because that’s really what I do. I don’t just show how to stir glaze and dip pieces I really try to breakdown how to be successful with glazing. That’s what I want to go over with you … Continue reading
Can’t handle making handles
Let’s talk about making mugs, more specifically the handles. For years I avoided making mugs, simply because I found making handles to be a major pain in the ass. The main reason for this is that I was taught to pull handles, which is a viable method, but not necessarily the easiest, best or more … Continue reading
How to unF%&k your bowls
As promised in last weeks post, this week I will begin moving on to product specific lessons. This week will be bowls. I am going to start not with specific instructions on how to make a bowl, but rather with solutions to problems you may already be having. Bowls are one of the more intuitive shapes … Continue reading
Sparano Arts 