The Warwick Pottery Newsletter - June 2025

Thank you, Elisabeth!

A BIG THANK YOU to Elisabeth, from our Tuesday night class, for bringing in hand building templates! Not only did she copy them, but she meticulously cut out the templates for us to use on craft foam! They are beautifully labeled and in paper pouches. You can find them in the shelves in the studio. We can’t wait to use them! Thank you!

The Glaze Corner: Summer Glaze Inspo

As makers, we can never have too much creative inspiration! Check out some of the cool glaze's our potters have been using this month. - Amber Quartz by Mayco - Seasalte by Mayco - Deep Olive Speckle by Amaco (Potter’s Choice)

Wheel Talk with Rachel: Am I a Responsible Potter?

By: Rachel Durland

My journey back into the world of clay began ~5 years ago. It had been 40 years since I took ceramics classes in college and I was amazed at how much my body/hands remembered. I remember putting my hands on the clay and it feeling so familiar and delicious! From that day, I’ve been making things out of clay and I love it! I started with one class a week and quickly increasing to two classes. When COVID happened, then came my home studio. I thought everything I made was a beautiful functional work of art. Opening a glaze kiln was either wonderful or horrible depending on what was inside. You just never know. Soon I found myself surrounded with cracked pieces, crooked pieces, ugly pieces and, of course, some lovely pieces. I remember standing in my sons old bedroom, which I had transformed into a pottery storage room, looking at shelves full of pottery that I didn’t like and didn’t feel good enough about to even give as gifts. I realized… “This crap is going to be on the planet forever!” It really gave me pause. Here’s the thing, clay is what you find when you dig down below the topsoil (dirt) in most places. Chemically, clay is a mix of silica (sand), alumina, and water. When it’s the right constancy, you can mold, cut, roll, and throw it on a potters wheel to create an infinite number of two and three dimensional pieces. If you don’t like what you’ve made, you can simply throw it into a bucket, recycle it, and try again. Or... you can fire it anyway and have it forever. Once clay is exposed to a certain level of heat it becomes ceramic material. Ceramic material, unlike raw clay, never, ever, EVER goes away! So herein lies the point… All of us at Warwick Pottery are here for different reasons but I believe most of us who attend class find it to be the best part of our week. The pieces we create are personal and special to us. BUT, are all of them special? How many times have you trimmed through the bottom of a pot and said “Oh well, now it’s a planter!” Or how about when you throw the piece off center and just can’t quite get it back and it’s riding the edge of “cute wonky pot or just a crooked piece of badly thrown clay?” No one can make that decision for you! What I am encouraging here is to make a decision. Really look at what you’ve created. Is it worth a space in the kiln that is constantly firing? More importantly, is it worthy of being something that takes up space on our beautiful crowded planet for all of eternity? I am hoping to encourage our community of Warwick Pottery to consider this and call ourselves responsible potters. The next piece you make, take some time to ask yourself “Is this really something I love and want? Or is it something that should be given another chance to become something beautiful by ending up in the bucket this time?” Sometimes, It’s hard to be honest with ourselves. After all it came from my hands and my heart, so shouldn’t I keep it? Of course you should! If you love it, it should absolutely go to the kiln. But if you’re on the edge or don’t feel any particular way about it, consider the tossing it in the bucket! Thank you all for reading. It’s been something I have struggled with personally and thought it was worthy of sharing. HAPPY POTTING!! There is one exception!!! EVERYONE SHOULD GLAZE AND KEEP THEIR FIRST POT FOREVER!!!!