r/Pottery

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.

I have a lot of things left over from the pottery class I took this semester, and was thinking of posting it in a local group as a “pay what you can” type thing, but I’m wondering if I should do a sliding scale? But not sure what price to start at. It’s all at an intermediate level. Like I’m not GREAT, but it’s stuff I’d probably buy.

EDIT: I GET IT THEYRE BEGINNER LEVEL!! I’ll post them for free, I was just worried about people thinking that they’re taking advantage of me and not paying for my time because THATS SOMETHING I THINK WHEN I GET FREE ART!!

EDIT AGAIN: I don’t want to make a new post and annoy yall. I’m sorry for being upset and short and rude. I’m realising I’ll give some of these away, and keep others for myself, and I need to keep practicing. I have two weeks left of this class, then hopefully will get some sort of studio arrangement going for myself. If yall are willing id appreciate some comments of specific things to work on. I think right now I want to try

1 making a good pinch pot

2 focusing on making a good tall cylinder

3 pulling walls better

4 centering each time and having even walls

5 vase shapes and not having things break when I shape them

It hums louder the closer I come to it, especially when I near the cross on the pink part. What do you think it is?

i let my personality decide the designs lol

I have been working on this morel inspired mug and the latest round has mostly been about glaze refinement. I am trying to hone in on that natural morel look without losing the form underneath. Getting the darks to settle in the texture while keeping warmth on the raised areas has been the goal. This one feels like a step in the right direction.

My husband is part the US Forest Service and things have been extremely stressful lately not knowing day to day what’s going to happen. So I’ve been really throwing myself (pun intended) into producing random cups and bowls. Mud therapy. The red round one is my favorite.

I have been throwing clay for about 3 years consistently.

I pay for "open studio style classes" through our local community education programs. A cycle is 8-10 weeks, 2.5 hours of studio time each week. Class fee includes clay, tools, both firings and a stock of glaze.

located in MN

I have given away many items, but never charged or been asked how much I want for something.

a coworker of my husband's really liked a mug with a handle experiment that came our of my last cycle.

When I offered it to him, he said he would like to buy it from me.

what would a fair price be for both of us? He wants to respect the effort and skills I have been developing, but I also don't want to overcharge.

Might also be a touch of imposter syndrome 🙃

I would love to get some input from folks with more experience and an understanding of what it takes to create.

The cup in question is the first photo. I included the row of handle shapes I played with as well.

My wife and I did our second pottery sale this last weekend. Last one (February) was at a rock climbing gym, so we made some climbing themed mugs after that. This one was not at a climbing gym so, while people were very interested, none of those sold. Oops. Fun to clear the shelves a bit anyway!

I used copper oxide and cobalt carbonate under a white glaze

C5, slab bottle, oxide wash under semi-matte glaze.

I made this incense holder with a cowboy and a cigarette in his mouth and the smoke of the incense comes out the cowboys cigarette (full credit and inspiration from Mutimer)!!! And thankfully he survived the kiln but I need help on what color/glaze I should use. I want to do a solid color like in the original I’m just not sure and the last thing I want to do is ruining it with the glaze. Any recommendations will be very much appreciated 🥹

It doesn't act like regular dirt. It's pretty smooth then you touch it and stays separated and dries a bit slowly from the rest of the dirt, and also has these colours on it.

People say that there's usually clay in our region, but I've never seen how clay in the ground looks like.

How do i check if it's clay or not?