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
How to Unf@4k Your Pot Ep 3
A new episode of How to Unf@4k Your pot is out. It covers trimming and decoration. Here is where you can see it and a list of corresponding blogs: TRIMMING YOUR F$%KING BOWL UNF$%KING YOUR TRIMMING OK, YOU’VE MADE A BOWL…NOW WHAT? I hope it helps you in your ceramics education. Become a patron and help … Continue reading
New Webseries – How to unf$%k your pot
Hello All, I’ve launched a new web series entitled – How to unf%$k your pot. In it I will be going through different lessons in pottery making. As they come out, I will embed them into previous posts about the same lesson. You can see what I mean in my wedging post. However, the following … 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
Let’s talk about your hands
Obviously, its winter time. As I write there is a powerful blizzard is assaulting the north east, blanketing us with snow. Now if you’re like me, pottery is in your blood and you work with clay no matter the weather of the temperature. Also if you’re like me, you find that the skin on your … 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
Elevate your cup, make a goblet
First off I will apologize, because no matter what I tried I could not get the video I shot for this post off my phone and working properly. So I will do my best to be as informative as I can about first half of making a goblet. Second, why you should want to learn … Continue reading
Bottles vs Pitchers
Last weeks post focused on throwing a bottle and the possibilities that that shape had. Today I’ll go into finishing the shape and how to make it into a pitcher. The important thing to note is that what makes a pitcher different than a bottle is 1 thing, a spout. Another feature that cements the … Continue reading
Every cup needs a bottle
Maybe its me, but I don’t think ceramic bottles get there due. I mean as shapes go, people tend to gravitate towards bowls, plates, cups etc. Once a potter has gotten some experience they want to graduate to tea pots or chalices. More often than not though, you don’t hear students asking about how to … Continue reading
Sparano Arts 