Pottery Soap Dishes

In continuing to share with you past pottery projects, these are a couple of pottery soap dishes that I made for my kids' teachers for Christmas gift and then my kids made homemade glycerin soap to put in them.

For some other pottery soap dishes and soap ideas, check out these:

• Pottery Sea Turtle Soap Dish
• 2 Pottery Soap Dish Varieties
• Hand Built Soap Dish
• Felted Soap

Pottery Time: Pendant Neckalces

Both of these necklaces are heading to Pennsylvania. I made them for 2 different dear friends that are/will be living there. Once friend was in MN for a visit for her college reunion and I gave her one of the necklaces as well as a pottery bowl (that will be in a later post). Another friend is moving to PA at the end of the month and I gave her the other necklace and a pottery coffee mug (yes, that too will be in a later post because there are 2 other mugs I made to gift included in that post that will not be given until later this month and next month).

To make these I slab rolled out the clay and then made the imprinted design with a textured wooden roller. They I cut out the shapes by free hand and poked holes in the top. For the jewelry making part of it, I bought a chain that was beaded (I call this a cheater chain, but I had a 1-day turnaround on one of the necklaces from when it came out of the kiln to when I was gifting it) and used some jump rings, a ball clasp and a toggle & hoop and made the necklace.

If you like these necklaces, you might also like the pottery pendant earrings I made too.

Check out all my pottery creations!

DIY Pottery Buttons

I first saw some pottery buttons at JoAnn Fabrics with a price tag of $3.99 a piece and while that isn't crazy expensive, I really liked the idea that I could make my buttons as well as my hat. I made a variety of buttons for 2 reasons, I didn't know what would look best on the hat that was still in my head at the time (obviously, I finished the hat in the meantime while they was being fired and glazed) and I wanted to have a bunch of buttons to have some friends choose between for a women's knitting/crocheting night.

I plan to make some more buttons, but these are a start. I will probably get to some more after I get some pottery Christmas presents done. Doing pottery is so much fun and I love creating things out of dirt, but it is time consuming and since I have to go in to the art center to use the pottery studio and they have limited open studio hours, it takes a while to get projects done, but they are getting done and I look forward to sharing more with you. I will be sharing a tutorial on how to make the slouchy loom knit hat in a future post as well.

DIY Plaster Flowers

I know that I normally share a pottery creation on Fridays, but I often have comments saying that people wish they had access to a pottery studio or know how to make pottery. So, today I thought I would share a project that is (somewhat) like pottery but something you can do at home very inexpensively.

This particular project is to make these beautiful plaster flowers that dry hard and should be treated with care as you would with pottery. The good thing is the project costs are minimal and there is no kiln or wheel involved.

To make these I found some artificial flowers that has thick sturdy petals. I used some roses. Then I took all the other parts off the flowers (all the plastic pieces and stem, etc.) so that I just had the petals.

I mixed together the plaster in a bowl. You need 3 parts plaster to 1 part water typically, but for this craft you might want to make it just slightly thinner to easily coat all parts. It only takes a tiny bit more of water to thin it.

Peel apart the petal layers and start by coating the bottom later first. Place on a piece of wax paper. Continue with subsequent layers of petals and place them on top of each other to recreate the flower. Allow to dry completely before handling. I would allow at least 24 hours. If you move it before everything is dry the thin plaster covering the petals will crack, If you are patient, it will harden very nicely.

Once completely dry, you can paint as you wish or leave plain.

Learning How To Make Pottery

 This top picture is just a sampling of the creations I made in my 7 week pottery class. I had always wanted how to learn to create pottery, and committing to writing a post to Get It Done was just the push I needed to enroll in a class and begin a new hobby. Please go read my post called "Hand Behind the Wheel" to read about my experience.

This bottom picture is a set of pottery a made using hand-building instead of the pottery wheel. I did join the Art Center so that I can continue my new hobby and I hope to take more classes and further my craft.

Pottery Candle Charger

I loved this pottery candle charger I made for a friend for Christmas so much that I had to make one for myself (as soon as I was done making Christmas presents). Although, the one I made for myself (I will share it another time) I used these leaf mold to put on the edges. I had never used them before and wanted to test them out.

To make the charger, I slab rolled out my clay and cut out the pattern and shaped it on my mold (aka: a plastic plate). Then it was glaze time. I was thrilled with how the glaze covered. I am still a novice when it comes to pottery and putting stuff in to be glazed still makes me nervous because I don't know enough about how all the glazes at the Art Center work to make sure I get the best coverage. I do have some plates I made with a print embossed that did not turn out the best because one glaze didn't cover enough and a different glaze covered too much. It's all trial and error, but one of my goals this year is to start a pottery journal to start documenting my notes so I can feel more confident about glazing.

I also glammed up the candle, which was just a simple 3-wick Partylite candle, but I bought some skeleton leave on Amazon (after 2 failed attempts to make my own) and slightly melted the wax with a heat gun to press the leaves in to place so that I could tie some raffia around it.

Pottery Plant Tray

I made this pottery plant try via slab rolling to act as a base for these three potted aloe vera plants. I actually rooted these three baby aloe vera plants from my mother plant before potting them up for this gift that I gave to a friend for her birthday (which happens to be today).

Be sure to check back on other Tuesday and Thursdays this month as I am going to be sharing a variety of past pottery projects including soap dishes, cow platter, butter dish, baptismal gift, wind chime, and tea holder.

Pottery Pendant Necklaces

I made these pottery pendant necklaces for myself, 3 girlfriends and my daughter. I started making a piece of jewelry for our annual girls weekend over 4 years ago. I just booked our weekend for this spring yesterday and we are all very excited. So, these are the necklaces I presented them last spring that I am finally getting around to share with my readers. My daughter doesn't come on these weekends, but when she saw the design I had drawn out she asked if I would make her one too.

To make them I simply made a coil that I shaped in to an oval and blended the ends together. Then I made a small clay ball, and for lack of a better term, I smushed it down to flatten it slightly and then scored the bottom and added some slip and smoothed the backside to ensure it stayed joined.

As far as glazing goes, I tend to make us items that all are similar, but personalize it in some way. This time I did glazes in the center ball that most closely resembled birthstone colors.

I strung them together with a faux leather cording and wooden beads. I chose this look because we were on an outdoorsy/active weekend to Eagle Bluff in Lanesboro, MN for that year.

Apparently I never pinned my first set, which was coordinating beaded earrings using all 4 of our birthstone colors. The next year I made these Pottery Pendant Earrings.  The 3rd year I made Hemp and Pearl Bracelets like in the link (apparently I didn't take a picture & make a post of this one either.) And this necklace was our fourth year.

Now, we are on our 5th annual girls weekend and I need to start thinking about what I am going to make us. I have done 2 sets of earrings, a bracelet, a necklace. What should be next? Hmmmmm....

Anyways, check out and follow my Handmade Jewelry Board on pinterest. See some of the things I am inspired to make and other jewelry I have made.

Pottery Dinosaur and Butterfly Ornaments

These are ornaments I made for my children (they each have their own little Christmas trees), a niece and nephew and our own tree. I had been making a lot of pottery items and pottery is the one thing I do that no one else in my family does, so it's something I can make for them that they can't make for themselves. I started an ornament collection for my children from their first Christmas and gave them small (we're talking about 2.5'-3' tall) artificial trees and each year they get a new ornament from St. Nick but we also add to that collection some homemade ornaments. I also wanted them to have a keepsake ornament that their mom/aunt made. Plus, making ornaments are a easy way that uses a small amount of clay to test how some glazes work together.

I made these by slab rolling out clay and using cookie cutters. Simple to make and a big impact on the tree and their memories. I really how using a small piece of thick ribbon added to the luxuriousness of the ornament.

KNIT Pottery Bowl

I was beyond thrilled with how this KNIT pottery bowl turned out. It was a present that I made a friend for Christmas (I sure hope she likes it as much as I do). Below I will share how I made it. I think the bowl "mold" size that I used was perfect for a yarn bowl and I am planning to make more of these to give as gifts and for myself. :) Many other yarn bowls I have seen are thrown on the wheel, but I have a preference for slab rolling and hand building for my pottery.

Here you can see what the wet bowl looks like on the mold right after I finished carving out KNIT. As you can see from the top picture, you will put a ball of yarn in the bowl and let the strand be pulled through one of the letters as you use the yarn for knitting.

Here it is hanging out on the wedging table, with the wine chiller (I will tell you about that one next week!) before I put it on my shelf at the Art Center to dry.

To make this piece, I traced out my patterns, which are the bottom of the mold (just some hard plastic cereal bowl that I got for free years ago) and the perimeter of the outside of the bowl. I made little marks on the bowl so that I knew where I had started and ended. I cut out my patterns and them placed them on to my slabbed clay and put it on from there, wrapping the semi-circle piece around first and joining the edges with scratching, slip, and molding. Then, placing the bottom on with the same technique.

What you can see in the second picture is that I made a coil that I attached to the bottom as a lip and base.

I have a few ideas of what I want future ones to look like, so I guess I better get back in the Art Center and start creating!

Pottery Butter Dish

It has been quite a month of sharing all kinds of past pottery projects I created. It sure has inspired me to want to get back to it and get my studio created. Maybe that will be a future post where I should you my pottery studio.

Anyways, this was a butter dish I made for my mom. It was way harder than I figured it would be because the clay shrinks and I wasn't getting the top to fit in nicely to the curves of the base of the butter dish. It took me 3 tries to finally get one that worked. Good thing I started making it really early and had time to make so many dishes. LOL!

Pottery Time: Pendant Earrings

I made these for myself (mine are pictured below as well) and for 2 friends of mine, who will actually be gifted with them today. The smaller pair are ones I made for my daughter because I knew she would think it was no fair that I didn't make her any.

Last year I had made bead earrings for my friends for our girls weekend and they were coordinating but not identical, which is what I did this year. But this year I stepped it up further and made pottery pendants  for them.

I had been uninspired to go back in to the pottery studio at the art center as I needed either a reason to create or a project idea. So, when I came up with this idea I couldn't want to get back in and get to work. This was such a fun way to combine to crafty areas of my life!

Pottery Time: Paint Brush Holder

Thought it was time to start sharing some pottery creations again. This is one I created a little while ago, but I finally gave it to a friend for her birthday (along with new brushes, paint, a stretched canvas and palette.) I also made one for myself, but I need to take a picture of it. I am thinking of suggesting to my daughter that she make one of these for herself and her after school Art Club teacher (yes, we are working on Christmas presents already - pottery takes time!)

To make this, I did it by hand building the clay in to a triangle shape then cutting out the curved area and molding them with my hands to make them smooth. I then carved in leaves and hand painted glaze over the entire piece in blue and each individual leaf.

Pottery Time: My Favorite Style of Bowl/Dish

This is my favorite style of bowl to make with slab rolling and hand building. I just like the fluidness of the ripples on the edge. My last post about bowls and dishes I had a couple with the same type of edges.

To make this I slab rolled by clay out then went over the piece with a rolling texturing tool. Next I cut out a circle using a template I created on newspaper. Finally, using a bowl mold I shaped the edges in the wavy pattern you see above.

This bowl I made to hold jewelry (or whatever) for one of my friends that I gave a pottery and bead necklace to that coordinates with this bowl.

Be sure to check out my other posts about pottery pieces I have created.

Stegosaurus Pottery Wall Art

I was so pleased with how this turned out. I made it for my son's "big boy" room. And as a dinosaur lover, I wanted to add nice wall decor and art to his room. I know he may outgrow his love of dinosaurs, but hopefully this is something he wants to keep because of the nice quality of a hand built pottery piece and because his mom lovingly made it for him. :)

To start out with I drew out my stegosaurus on newpaper so that I had a template that I could make changes on and get exactly the way I wanted. I then slab rolled out my clay and carved out my stegosaurus. The drying took a while because it was sandwiches between 2 thick pieces of pressed wood, but I wanted to make sure it stayed flat and thankfully it did.

As you can see I added in holes as part of the art design, but this was also meant to be functional as well.Pottery can be quite heavy and I didn't want this to fall off the wall, so I made holes in places so that I could easily hang it from screws that were anchored in to the wall.

Make a Pottery Barn Inspired Headboard Out of a Door

 I don't know about you but I drool over the Pottery Barn catalog. I wish I could afford so many things in there. I do buy a few accessories here and there, but many other things just serve as inspiration.

The idea for this headboard created from a door came from a catalog a while back, but the idea stuck in my head and I have seen this type of project re-created several times. Finally, it was my turn to update my bedroom and get the project out of my head and over my bed.

First I went in search of the perfect door. I am pretty lucky to have an architectural salvage place about 10 miles from house that has 4 levels of forgotten treasures. This was the type of door I had envisioned with the panels being horizontal on the door (opposed to how they are vertical on the popular 4-panel door.) Next was to find the trim I thought would complement it at Lowes.

The next step was to remove all the hardware and hinges (actually, had my daughter help me with this since we were just using a screwdriver) and cut all the trim pieces & attach (thank you to my husband for helping with this step.) After that it was time to do a bit of sanding over the entire piece so that the paint would "stick".

Finally it was 2 coats of "Onyx" colored paint and allowing it to dry completely before hanging.

Come back the next couple of weeks and check out my newly created art installations for over the headboard and on a side wall and then my final reveal of the room.

4-Part Series on a Bedroom Re-Decorate
*Pottery Barn Inspired Headboard
*Natural Twig Art
*Family Handprint Art
*Video of the the Whole Reveal
**BONUS -- Review of Wrapped Canvas Picture Added to the Room

Another Set of Pottery Buttons

I had shared with you about 4 months ago, these pottery buttons I made this fall. I made them with the intention I would offer them to my friends on our girls weekends, well, turns out I used many of that first batch to add to scarves and hats this winter, so I needed to make another batch and this is the result.One of my girl friends said she likes the fish ones the most, so I think I will make some more of those just so that I have more of a selection of those. I also tried some different glazes and textures with this batch too.

Pottery Time: Hand Building a Fairy House and Furniture

I have been back in the studio at the art center for both a hand building pottery class with my daughter as well as open studio time to make some new creations. I thought I would share with you some of the things I have been making.

This fairy house was made by hand building. I made it with my daughter during a class we took. She designed the fairy house herself with minimal guidance from me. I actually went in to this class with her thinking we were going to make a very different looking house, but her vision had changed. 

She chose to made a fairy house that looked like a tree stump.

This is the view from the top or the veranda with the furniture she hand built herself. 

Another view of the top without the furniture to see the rings in the stump and you can see how she designed the sides to provide a railiing around the veranda that looks like the bark that was broken off. 

This is just a close up of the furniture she made. She still wants to make some pretend food to go on the table.

These next 5 pictures are all close ups of the sides so that you can see all the details from all sides.

This is the front and we have a vine with flower going up the side. There is a door that is open and a window hole. You can also see she made a snail and mushroom at the bottom of the steps.

On this side you can see a couple more window holes and a small window with panes, as well as a couple more mushrooms.

This is the backside and you can see the large window with panes. You can also see how we carved out detail to make it look more like bark. Many of the window and doorway we glazed with a color (not browns) to add some color for interest.

Another side view with a couple more window holes and a mushroom (different color than the others) and you can see the door is open.

Just another close up of the front and here it is easier to see the glaze painted in the windows and doorway.

This is what the bottom looks like so that you can see how it was constructed and is hollow inside. The base was created by slab rolling out some clay and then draping it over a mold. From there the rest was created by making coils and forming the body of the body of the fairy house. Next the body was stuffed with newspaper and we slab rolled out the top of the fairy house. So, that is the basic construction of this piece.

Hand Built Pottery Spoons

These are some spoons I made for my family. They are hand built with pottery clay. The spoon part was made by starting with a pinch pot. The hand was made by making a coil "snake" and blending it in to my small pinch pot. One of the spoons I then flattened the handle with a rolling pin and them stamped in to it to add some detail.

Pottery Cow Platter

I thought since I shared one of the old pottery pieces I created a while back, I might as share some of the rest of them this month. So, don't expect instructions other than I made them with slab rolling. I made this for my dad (who is a farmer) for a Christmas present and had made mini cheesecakes that I have him to put on his platter.