Author: Tammy Jo

Teapot – Stripes & Spiral Project

Posted on by Tammy Jo


The sun is hot in my neck of the woods (going to be 107 degrees F. in a couple of days)!  Strangely it’s the perfect time to start MAKING teapots for the coming cooler weather.

This project is simple enough (DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS PDF HERE ) and leaves a lot of room for creative interpretation…first in the form (what type of teapot you want to make) and then the design (what technique will you choose to apply lines and/or swirls).

Sometimes looking outside the box of just “ceramic videos” may be the key to your next inspired technique to try with clay. ~ Tammy Jo

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PS. Speaking of teapots … I went back to the YouTube Hobby Potter Weekly Series and pulled together 4 real-time videos to share a beautifully fun project from beginning to end. It made me smile and hope it gives you a little inspiration on your clay question!

 

June Project – Vases & Fluting -Faceting

Posted on by Tammy Jo

I’M SO READY FOR THIS PROJECT! 

As the heat of summer rises in my studio, I tend to move away from doing hand-building and adding attachments to throw on the pottery wheel!

Thankful for the simplicity (or complexity whichever I choose 😉 ) of this month’s project, I can relax and enjoy some warm time with some clay! Hope you all enjoy 😀  Tammy Jo

DOWNLOAD PDF – June Project – Vases – Fluting & Faceting

May Project – Pitchers & Textures/Stamps

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Pitchers & Found Textures & Stamps! This project sounds fun because it requires us to think creatively, outside the box…which is exactly what my hope is for these projects…GROWTH!

Here is the video announcing the project and the PDF link to the instructions you need!  Hope you all enjoy and please share your journey in the Hobby Potter Facebook Group or on Instagram with #hobbypotteryproject !

Download the Pitchers & Textures/Stamps


 

Spray Painting Ceramics & Pottery – Testing Preval Spraying System!

Posted on by Tammy Jo

Using Preval Sprayers for Spraying Underglaze

Spraying glaze on pottery usually requires special tools such as an air compressor, spray gun, and if you are doing airbrushing you’ll need all the little do-dads that go along with it. If you take the simple route of a mouth sprayer, you can get random applications.

Sometimes I’m just a lazy potter, if it takes too much time, I’ll happily let it pass on by ;P Spraying is one of those adventures.

So, I was browsing through Amazon, for nothing in particular, and a product called Preval Spraying System popped up as a suggestion! It wasn’t intentionally made for ceramics, but it looked like it could work for spraying underglazes…and the setup looked pretty simple…which is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

It basically is a can of compressed air and a jar. Since I had used compressed air in the 365 Cup Project, I knew this had huge potential to give the results I’ve been wanting to play with and would love to hear about your experiences with spraying glazes/underglazes 😀 

I figured I’d give it the Tammy Jo test so added it to my cart and away we go!   HOPE YOU ENJOY!

 

Luminaries, Lanterns & Mishima

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DOWNLOAD APRIL PROJECT PDF

Thank you all for your prayers, love, and patience! COVID bit me in the backside and I’ll tell ya what, you don’t want this!

Still not 100%, but I was able to do the drawing for our April project….and what a strange combination we have to work with this month (I’m kind of excited actually!

I was thinking about the best way to combine these two ideas. A luminary is a form that already requires the technique of carving, and Mishima is inlaying/embedding the design inside the clay.

My plan is to create the cylinder, then apply the Mishima technique, and then carve out the luminary.

I can’t wait to see what we come up with!

March Hobby Potter Project Challenge – Wax Resisted Goblet

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Download the March GOBLET & WAX RESIST DESIGN Project Challenge

With January’s Mug project & February’s Carved Box challenge finally wrapped up in my studio,  I felt pretty excited to get started on whatever next new project I randomly drew from our bowls.

As you saw in the video, this spontaneous project-choosing style brought an unexpected project on my, “let’s not do that anytime soon” list!

LET’S KEEPT IT REAL …Everybody has their, “meh” project…and goblets are mine! Yes, it’s true I was the one who put the idea strip into the bowl. Truth be told, there is something I need to learn from the goblet, but needed the pressure of accountability to make me experience it! I’ll probably go rogue, probably will chart my own path along the way, but the goblet will somehow bring about another level of growth to my clay journey.

(Que the motivational self-talk ). Let’s embrace this experience and enjoy it together…it will be great.   At the end of the month, let’s toast our success in our handmade goblets!


February Hobby Potter Life Project & Tests

Posted on by Tammy Jo

Here we are in month 2 of 2021!  With the January Mug & Colored Slip project under our belts, I was eager to do another project (and step away from mugs for a bit 😉 )

When I filled the choosing bowl with clay form opportunities for the year, I purposefully chose both random and simple forms so novice and seasoned potters could enjoy the project at their own starting level.  

SO, February’s project focus’s on  handbuilding or wheel throwing a ceramic JEWELRY BOX then exploring the technique of CARVING! I can’t wait to see the variety!
Download the February BOX & CARVING Project  

The exciting part of a project that is more “guidelines” than rules, allows for the beauty of personal interpretation. If you feel led to share your journey on social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, use the #hobbypotterproject so we can find each other!