Pots made entirely from materials I gathered locally
Hey all, first post here! I’ve been working with locally gathered materials and wanted to share some results and a bit of the process.
All of these pieces were made entirely using clay I dug by hand here in Western North Carolina (USA), fired to cone 7 in electric oxidation. The glazes are made from plant ash and locally sourced minerals—some from wood ash, local feldspar, and kaolin, and one from miscanthus grass (a very invasive species here) that I burned and processed into a glaze (the whitish, more textured surfaces).
I started this during a recent residency where I was exploring what it means to let a place guide the work, and one of the biggest takeaways was just how possible this approach actually is—even in a pretty simple studio setup.
A lot of this was trial and error (especially the ash), but it felt like a very direct way of learning—working with what’s available rather than buying materials.
I like how the finished pieces hold a record of where they come from, in both material and surface.
If anyone’s curious, I wrote up some notes and process documentation here:
https://melanierisch.substack.com/p/after-the-fire
Would love to hear from others who are working with local materials, or anyone who’s been curious about trying it.