In the studio

Working methods

In the studio, my pots are usually begun on the wheel. My choice of clay and how I throw it depends on the firing method I choose. It will either go into the soda atmosphere (similar to a salt glazing, but easier on the kiln), or a long wood-firing. I have a stoneware that loves the soda when it is bare, another stoneware that reacts beautifully with my copper glaze in soda, and a porcelain that loves a long hot fire in wood.

The round pots are then altered while wet, or carved or incised when leather-hard. I often apply contrasting slips, and then draw, incise these or otherwise texture these surfaces. The pots are then usually bisque-fired.