I wanted to share a quick peek at some of my newest pieces, fresh out of the kiln. I picked these up today, many of which I consider to be in my “experimental” category. I switched to mid-fire clay, which also means I have new glazes and colors to work with, and this batch is kind of my way of testing out some of the new colors on pieces that I’m okay with experimenting on. Overall, I’m letting a lot of what I do it take a life of its own, so I would definitely not quite yet consider these to be representative of my work (yet). But I’m getting there.

I still have a few more batches I’m waiting on, but I’m at the mercy of the clay store who fires my stuff for me. I may not have enough time to get them glaze-fired before I move to Portland, but it shouldn’t be too long before I get a kiln of my very own so I won’t have to wait on anyone but myself at that point. I’ll also have a lot more control over things, such as doing glaze tests and working the temperatures and “hold times” on the kiln to get the colors just right. I really love the blue tones of some of the pieces I have, but there are obviously some losers in the bunch, too. I’m sure I’ll have a nice big “shelf of shame” for the dishes that didn’t quite turn out as expected … although, I still expect those to have their own very unique personality.

For those of you who are wondering why I’m posting about pottery, the reason I started doing all of this was because of my photography! As a food photographer, I’m always on the lookout for unique dish-ware. I got to a point where I said to myself “… why not just make my own?”. And so I’ve been on a ceramic-learning-adventure for the past three years, absorbing knowledge and experimenting with different methods. For now, I’m settling on hand-building, which allows me to make much more “organic” looking pieces with texture and beautiful imperfections.

I wanted to share a quick peek at some of my newest pieces, fresh out of the kiln. I picked these up today, many of which I consider to be in my “experimental” category. I switched to mid-fire clay, which also means I have new glazes and colors to work with, and this batch is kind of my way of testing out some of the new colors on pieces that I’m okay with experimenting on. Overall, I’m letting a lot of what I do it take a life of its own, so I would definitely not quite yet consider these to be representative of my work (yet). But I’m getting there.

I still have a few more batches I’m waiting on, but I’m at the mercy of the clay store who fires my stuff for me. I may not have enough time to get them glaze-fired before I move to Portland, but it shouldn’t be too long before I get a kiln of my very own so I won’t have to wait on anyone but myself at that point. I’ll also have a lot more control over things, such as doing glaze tests and working the temperatures and “hold times” on the kiln to get the colors just right. I really love the blue tones of some of the pieces I have, but there are obviously some losers in the bunch, too. I’m sure I’ll have a nice big “shelf of shame” for the dishes that didn’t quite turn out as expected … although, I still expect those to have their own very unique personality.

For those of you who are wondering why I’m posting about pottery, the reason I started doing all of this was because of my photography! As a food photographer, I’m always on the lookout for unique dish-ware. I got to a point where I said to myself “… why not just make my own?”. And so I’ve been on a ceramic-learning-adventure for the past three years, absorbing knowledge and experimenting with different methods. For now, I’m settling on hand-building, which allows me to make much more “organic” looking pieces with texture and beautiful imperfections.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

4 Comments

  1. Crystal April 10, 2014 at 3:09 pm - Reply

    I love these! the texture in the blue one is lovely!

  2. Rebecca December 3, 2021 at 3:57 pm - Reply

    Like the texture and the free form approach to your work. I was a potter for almost 20 years and so miss playing in the mud and creating new glazes for my work. Hope you are still involved with clay.

    • Nicole S. Young December 6, 2021 at 10:57 am - Reply

      Right now I don’t have a setup for my pottery, but I have almost all of my equipment and plan on setting up a dedicated space for it once I have a shop I can work out of. I miss it so much and can’t wait to get back to playing with clay!

      • Rebecca December 10, 2021 at 10:14 am - Reply

        I have a lot of my hand tools but I had to sell my studio a few years ago and miss it sorely. I always say that pottery taught me that imperfect can be beautiful and photography teaches me patience. I’m glad you still have yours.

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