Square or round?

When I first started working in ceramics, I was drawn to square forms. I tried throwing on the wheels for about 3 years creating bowls and plates like other potters but I was never as enthralled as when I could make a square piece. I enjoy my slab roller making square slabbed forms boxes such as a charity box or Tzedakah box. I fall in love  over and again with my Scott Creek extruder when I mass produce my rectangular sponge holders.  I have seen many round sponge holders with cuts in the middle or open holes in the front to house the sponge but logically sponges are rectangular so why wouldn’t sponge holders? It is no wonder the sponge holders have become my number one seller on the Etsy Shop Extrudergirl.

Recently, I have taken to making plates. I love the authenticity of creating a handmade plate as opposed to throwing a plate on the potter’s wheel. There is more intimacy in the process for me. The mark of the potter is very present instead of the clean smoothness of a wheel thrown plate. As I was photographing the latest sets of round plates for my Etsy shop, I realized I had no square plates in my dinner plate’s series. This was not a conscious decision but perhaps a psychologically unconscious one based on practicality and design

Are round plates fashioned out of habit or functionality? I think as food eaters we are trained from an early age to eat on round plates. Was it easier to form round objects before the potter’s wheel when pinching plates, cups and bowls? In the early years of potter resources were limited so pressing clay in the palm of your hand or onto a surface such a wide stone would lend towards a shape being round. Are round plates out of necessity for space on a dining table? When setting a dining table round plates allows for easy access to the flatware and drinking vessels.  Are round plates traditional and square are modern? After all sushi plates, another good sellers of mine, are square or rectangular. The Chinese had mastered porcelain in the early 600AD; the process of kiln firing and glazing that potters continue to use today. Once” trade routes opened to China in the 1300’s” (WorldCollectors), dinner plates became sought after by European nobility; so round plates have been a-round forever.

Square or round? You can get the same amount of food on both designs with the same volume. Open your dish cabinet, do you have square or round? I bet they are round.  Don’t feel so bad, I am guilty too of only using rounds plates. But rest assure, there are going to be square plates on my Etsy shop soon.

Resource:

WorldCollectors. (n.d.). Collector Plates and Plate Collecting. Retrieved from worldcollectorsnet.com: http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/features/plates/

 

Hath not the potter power over the clay?

I can hear Jed Bartlet, President of the United States in the TV series West Wing, in my head “I’ve read my bible from cover to cover, so, I want you to tell me, from what part of holy scripture do you. . .” as I hang up the phone after talking to a southern male potter. I talk to potters all day. I get paid to do it. And they always have a story to tell or an opinion to share. Yesterday as no different.

This Louisiana gentleman was bantering in his charming drawl with me as older gentleman like my fathers age do. They are harmless and I think to myself when I am talking to them someone out there is being entertained by my father and I would want them to give him that respect. He asked me about the comparison between two pottery wheels. Now, I am knowledgeable enough to spout a few things, after all I have been doing this for 15 years professionally; and he knew that. He could tell I knew the specs and the speech so he asked “Do you pot?” I told him I have thrown; but I don’t care for the wheel. “You don’t care for the wheel?” He asks shocked, appalled then disappointed, “Well then little lady what do you with clay?” I verbally scooped up the clay from splash pan and said, “Well, sir, I am an extrudist.”  I might as well said I was a nudist. “Huh.” He said shortly and thanked me for my time and information.

After letting the conversation set up in the back of my mind, getting leather hard in my head, I thought about Jed and how he like to quote from the Bible. “I’ve read my bible from cover to cover, so, I want you to tell me, from what part of holy scripture do you. . .” get the right to judge me as a potter. This happens often with people who touch clay. Now, I don’t think this gentleman meant any harm or was judging me; but there have been others over the years who have.

The politics and hierarchy in clay astounds me. There is the ceramist, the potter, the clay hobbyist, the slipcaster, the China painters, and anyone else that has dabbled with clay in their lifetime. Are we not all potters? Do we not all honor the clay, create from inspiration, manipulate the mud or glaze to produce goods for all or for fun?

I can hear Jed in my head doing one of those wonderful speeches he so often casted. I can  hear him quote from Romans 9:21 while walking with his hands in his pockets, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishour?” Just because we play with mud doesn’t mean we need to smear each others craft. We are all potters in our own right, doing an honest deed and paying it forward with our gift and talent to create a piece of art from the earth and mixed with water, passion and inspiration, like Jed Bartlet.

Hollow Extruder

I am embarking on extruding my way through the world of Social Media. Although I am used to more predictable dies, I am going to design a  groundswell that will make Extrudergirl a household name.