Pottery Blog - The Corner Pottery Workshop

The Corner Pottery Workshop

Sponge Printing

This is a very old decorating technique that the Scots did particularly well. There are potteries still using traditional motifs but it can also be used to create more modern or abstract patterns.

Find a design you like

Have a look on Google for some inspiration. Nicky Mosse and Emma Bridgewater both use more traditional designs. Ben Thomas designs are more contemporary and he layered stamps in an original way. If you’re short of time or intimidated by making a drawing, you might look to clipart on the web.

Generally pieces are decorated with more than one stamp. You can submit up to three images for three different stamps.

How to design your sponge

Draw out your design with black ink on white paper. We’ll be printing onto small dishes (oval: 20×10, round: 18×18). Make sure your motif will fit on the dish. For example, if you want it to repeat 5 times, the stamp will need to be small enough to fit 5 times. I would draw it at the actual size that I want it to be.

If this is getting a bit complicated and you don’t want to fuss with sizes, I will shrink or enlarge your design on the computer. It will be approximately 3 – 5cm

Photograph your design in good light without any shadows. Try to get a crisp, in focus photo. You can put all of your designs on one photo.

Email me the photo at “large” resolution. (this is how it looks on my mac) Let me know the approximate size of your stamps.

A note of Caution about fine lines

The thickness of your lines is important. A ball point pen line is too thin. A sharpie marker is thicker than necessary (and it makes the design quite chunky) but it’s okay if that’s what you’re looking for. Generally, someplace in-between is just right. Use a fine-tip felt marker if you have one.

Also, keep in mind that the sponge stamp squishes a bit when you’re printing. If your lines are too close together, they may squish into each other. So, leave an amount of white space between lines that is (at minimum) thicker than a ballpoint pen.

September 6, 2025
CLOCKS

May 2025 Course Homework

Try to make a clock that means something to you. It can be inspired by your pet, your garden, your football team, a holiday, or your sweet old Aunt Rose. You can find ideas on my Pinterest Site.
Your clock will be constructed with a combination of some (or all) of the techniques you’ve already practiced in class: slab building, modelling, and pinch pots.
Consider where you want it to go – hang on the wall, on the mantlepiece or gift-wrapped for a friend.

Design your clock

You’ll need a ruler, some heavy paper (or card), scissors, and a pencil.

Sketch the clock front

Maximum Size: 18x18x10cm
It can’t be bigger, but it can be smaller
1. Draw an 18×18 square on your paper and design the clock front within those dimensions.
2. For your clock face, trace around the circle you drew in class. The point of the minute hand reaches the outer edge of the circle.

Make your pattern

Once you’re finished sketching the front, measure all of the dimensions and then draw your pattern pieces so they’ll match up.

Decorating

Here are some things to consider when you’re making your design

3-D Considerations

Your clock is basically a box. You’ll tack on any 3-D elements: sprigs, stamps, and modelled sculptural elements. All sides of the clock can be decorated (except the back). I’ve ordered some number stamps (approx 1.5cm high) if you’d like to use those for the hours.
If there is something you want that I don’t have, you can make your own sprigs or stamps at home with some air dry clay or Fimo.

Painting Considerations

Your clock is made with white earthenware clay. You can add colour by painting it with coloured slips and underglazes.

Coloured Slips

You’ll use slips to change the base colour of your clock (if you don’t want it to be white) or anyplace else where you want a solid colour. Also use slip to fill in the stamps for mishima.

Underglazes

You’ll use these to add painterly details to your clock and for the numbers (if you haven’t used stamps).
Underglazes are not opaque and won’t cover a dark background colour. (So paint the base slip colour a light colour.)

Schedule

w/c 2 June: Make your clock form

w/c 9 June: Paint on slips

w/c 16 June: Paint with underglazes and finish up

May 30, 2025
Plan for classes next week
Squeeze in a last project

Next week you’ll be painting your fabulous shrines. It’s hard to estimate how long this will take. I want you to take your time and enjoy it. However, if you finish early, you can make a final project.
All of these options are made from white earthenware and painted with coloured glazes. Here are your choices:

Spoon rest
I found these on the internet and I think they’re charming. It’s a quick slab build and will be a good project if there isn’t much time left. I’ll have the patterns for these, but you can certainly come with your own idea and pattern. You know how to slab build so you can work on this independently. Maximum size is 10x15cm

2. Pinch pots

You can make either a lidded pot or a little mug and decorate them with stamps or incising. (These examples are both unglazed) I will lead with this project because you haven’t made them before and pinch pots are more complicated than you might think. These also take longer to make and so will depend on how much class time is remaining.

3. Your own idea

If you have an idea for something, go ahead and make it! However, keep it on the small side and you do need to finish by the end of class
March 8, 2025
Shrine Pattern Making

A shrine doesn’t have to be religious. We all have something we revere, a pet, a family member, nature, a holiday or even a favourite car.

Inspiration

Find inspiration for your shrine in the architecture and decoration of churches, reliquaries, mosques, Shinto shrines, or any other lavishly decorated object. Don’t forget that the Taj Mahal is also a shrine! Look in books or online for photos.

Sketch it

Make a rough sketch of the main features of your design. Think about the stamps and textures you played with.

Decide on the size

I want to hang mine on a specific wall so I put a piece of paper there and sketched out the size and the proportions that looked right to me.

I advise that your maximum dimensions are not bigger than 18x18x8cm (Height x Width x Depth). Bigger than that will be quite difficult to assemble.

Get out your ruler and transfer your measurements to your design. Begin with the back wall. It is the easiest because it won’t have any sculptural details. Start there and then figure out the side walls and the front. Stop there. Don’t worry about the roof and the base. We’ll work that out in class when you assemble the walls.

Make a pattern on card or heavy paper.

Transfer your building design to a heavy piece of paper or card.

We’ll build the basic structure of your Shrine in your next class.

February 22, 2025
Witty Multi-dimensional forms

Yikes! Pottery in the fifth dimension!

This project combines a three dimensional form with one dimensional sketches portraying three dimensions ….and I have no idea what that means!

The painted decoration is a simple line drawing

You’ll build a vessel or other form with white earthenware slabs and decorate with cobalt oxide or underglazes. Look HERE for some inspiration.

Preparation

Paper Template

Make a paper template for the form. Maximum height is 20 cm and maximum width is 17cm. Remember, these are meant to be flatish – just two slabs joined at the sides. Make sure the base of your vessel is wide enough that it will be stable.

Whatnots

You can also make some flat slab ornaments or whatnots. Think Christmas! Have a look on your computer at “clip art” for ideas and print them out.

Bucket

If you don’t have time or just prefer, you can use my pattern to make a bucket.

November 1, 2024
Functional Household Objects

Hand-build something that’s just right for the purpose and make yourself happy.

Look around your house. Do you have disorder? Are your toothbrushes and combs all over the sink? Do you have an over-flowing junk drawer full rubber bands and paperclips? (Or do you just want to impress your guests with a stylish crisp bowl?)

Hooray! you can solve these problems in pottery class.

Remember, clay shrinks so increase your measurements by 10-15%.

Step 1: Measure the offending disorder and make a sketch

Look sternly at the disorder. Ask yourself, what form can contain it? How wide and tall does it need to be? Is it better if it’s square? oval? round? Does it need a hole to hang on the wall? Would handles be handy?

Step 2: Make pattern pieces

You should at least make a pattern for your base

What to avoid in your form

Wet coiling has some limitations. Firstly, it’s wet. This means it can slump easily. Avoid very wide or very narrow angles.

Use gentle angles

Also, wet coiling creates organic, soft forms and doesn’t like sharp corners.

I can be a box – but will have squishy corners

Dimensions – restrictions and advice

The size of my kiln restricts the maximum size of your piece. Yet, it’s difficult to give hard and fast rules because the maximum changes depending on the shape of your form.

Here are some guidelines.

Your form can be smaller. It should fit your disorder! But make sure it is big enough that you can get your hand inside when you’re making it.

Decoration

We’ll also be working with texture and slips. I hope you’ll make handles or some other ornamental/functional feature. You can think about those but we’ll discuss in class.

Good luck!

October 18, 2024
Hand-building Ceramic Figurative Forms
Figurative forms can be a sculpture, a vase, candleholders, a pot…the possibilities are vast and the choice is yours.

Preparation and Schedule for September 2024 Course Students

This is my grande scheme! I expect that working on your piece will take the entire class time. However, we all work at different paces. If you finish early, I have a few small projects you can do while the others keep working.

Before your next class: DESIGN

Find inspiration (see below) and come to class with a vision of what you want to make. Bring a picture on your phone or make a sketch.
Think about the building and decorating techniques you’ve learned. Consider how you’ll construct your form and then how you’ll decorate it.
It would be helpful if you know the final size* of your piece and make a paper template for your cylinder. (Or you can do it in class)

*Maximum permitted size of your finished piece: 20 (height) x 15 x 15cm

If you want to make a candle holder – make 2

If figures just aren’t your thing, feel free to go off-piste

w/c16 Sept: BUILD YOUR FORM

I envision that we’ll discuss your design at the beginning of class and I’ll help you figure out how to make it and get you started.

Think of pinch pots as the method to model a hollow form. For example, a man’s head is actually a pinch pot.
Your practice piece was a slab-built cylinder. This will also be the basis for your form and can be modelled with darts.

w/c 23 Sept: DECORATE

Use one or all of the techniques from your practice piece; slips, wax resist, sgraffito, and slip trailing

Slip trail dots or designs
Add texture with stamps or other tools
Paint on wax design and then paint over it with coloured slip
Paint on slip shapes, cover with wax, sgraffito through the wax, brush on black underglaze and wipe with sponge
Sgraffito into slip
Cover vessel with wax, scratch through designs, apply and wipe off black underglaze. After firing, “colour in” the design with underglazes

w/c 30 Sept: APPLY UNDERGLAZES

Your piece will be bisque fired so you’ll be able to “colour in” the shapes you outlined with black underglaze.

Inspiration

As you look at these examples, try to think about how the form was constructed and the decorating techniques used by the potter.
September 13, 2024
September 2024 Pottery Skills

In the September Course, two smaller projects will help you build a “toolbox” of pottery skills to equip you for making your main project

Our main project in September will be a figurative form. This can be a statue in the normal sense or a candle holder or whatever else you’d like to make. The figure can be a person, an animal or an imaginary creature.

Preparation
We’ll start the course by making two smaller projects, They’ll be made with a range of building and decorating techniques that will give you a “toolbox” of skills to make your figure.

Darting

If you’ve ever sewn, you’ll know about darts. They are a very efficient way to model. Darts can create a waistline or shoulders on a figure. After spending some time playing with darts, we’ll make a darted bowl.

Wax Resist

One of the ways you could decorate your figure is with wax resist. The form is covered with wax and then your design is scratched through the wax to the clay below. Then, black underglaze is rubbed into the incised lines and the piece is fired. In the firing, the wax burns away, leaving the black lines behind. These are then filled in with coloured underglazes.

Pinch pots

It’s likely we’ll use pinch pots to make the figures and it’s important they’re made well and joined securely. We’ll practice by making a small cactus in a pot. These will also help you be creative with stamps rollers and incising.

Coloured slips and oxides

These can also be used to decorate the figures. The slips are painted onto greenware, fired, and then iron oxide is used to highlight the texture and patterns in the piece.

August 15, 2024
Autumn Registration is Open

My autumn course schedule is now open. I hope you can come.

Figurative Forms
I’ve been in the US since June where I saw more corn than pottery in Nebraska. However, I did have time to make a small sculpture of a child wearing cowboy boots. It was a birthday gift for my brother. Making it was fun, absorbing and challenging – all desirable things when working with clay.

I’d like to do it again! So, one of the projects in the September course will be figurative forms. They’re constructed with a variety of building techniques that you’ll first learn by making a few other projects. Here are examples of what you could make.

Taster Course

This term I am also offering a short taster course. If you’d just like to try out working with clay or can’t commit to a full course, this is for you! We’ll be making my ever-popular mugs. Made over two session, they are slab-built and decorated with stamps and glazes. It is a challenging project and great way to get to know clay.

July 31, 2024
Tiny Shoes

Students in the May course built tiny (they are approx 4-6 inches long) shoes. They were cut from a basic pattern (just like a cobbler would do) but then each student modified the pattern or added embellishments to create their own perfect footwear! (for a very small person). Have a look at the exhibition

July 31, 2024