How I press leaves into clay to create pottery, tiny house art #satisfying #vuvuceramics #artprocess

Home is where you are loved, where your absence is missed. It’s a place you can leave and always come back to. The things there can tell your story and make you smile. That home can be a tiny house, a place, or even a person. It’s where your heart feels safe, and where you can simply be you. What does home mean to you? The tiny house here is nestled in the cozy woods, with a tiny path leading through the trees, bringing you home. There is a special peacefulness about a tiny house or cabin tucked away in a safe place surrounded by a forest of trees. The “tree” patterns in this ceramic jewelry dish are created by pressing dusty miller leaves into soft clay. I sculpt the tiny house and tree by hand from the same clay and join them to the dish. Aren’t the tiny windows and chimney cute? After a preliminary firing in the kiln to harden the clay (a bisque firing), I use different colors of ceramic stain washes to create the different shades of green. The roof is painted with red underglaze that is slightly diluted to accent the texture of the roof. I glaze the entire piece and fire the dish again in my kiln, this time to higher temperatures of 2200°F/1200°C. The high temperatures of the kiln vitrify the clay and melt the glaze - the glaze transforms into a layer of glass that seals the ceramic and creates the shiny surface. And if you noticed that the chimney and windows switched sides at the very end, your eyes aren’t fooling you. I create batches of pieces (maybe ten or a dozen of one design at a time) and the first parts of the video are from an earlier batch, and the final finished pieces are from a second batch I just finished. I love how no two pieces or no two batches are the same- for me it’s the beauty and uniqueness of something handmade. #cozyhome #ceramics #pottery [This video shows the making of a handmade ceramic dish using natural pottery clay. I show how to press leaves into clay capturing their botanical prints. A tiny house sculpture is added to the piece. The dish is formed and then painted in the style of watercolor paint. The dish is glazed and fired in a kiln]