Ceramics Explorations (2023)
Documenting my recent foray into the world of ceramics and handbuilding.
Last autumn, I took an intro to clay class and quickly fell in love with making small ceramics. Although I tried both wheel throwing and handbuilding, I gravitated much more toward handbuilding. It's so much fun to sculpt small animals and things I want around my own place!
Since I've been illustrating for a long time, I come to ceramics from a somewhat unique angle—ceramics for me are more like the vessel for painting. My favorite step of the process is underglazing, when I paint patterns and faces onto the clay.
It's been really nice having a hobby that is a total departure from the screen. I spend so much time on my computer, iPad, and phone. When I'm at the local ceramics studio, with my hands covered in clay, I can totally focus on just the task in front of me—molding a lump of mud into something (hopefully) understandable, and using paint to transform it into something new and lovely.
