Pottery. Photography. And All Things Handmade.
May has been one of the wettest months of 2026. Word has it, this May was the 4th wettest May every recorded. In our area, we had 4.62 inches in 90 minutes. With the ground heavily saturated from five to six days of rain, water had no where to go except through our back yard.... Continue Reading →
Things happen. I didn't drop my bowl; although, I have been known to drop pieces before. But not this time. This happened because the glaze and the clay body cooled at different rates. And as this happens one can hear the pottery pinging - a high ping or ding sound. Pinging can occur immediately after... Continue Reading →
Is it just me, or did time go on fast-forward? Memorial Day is behind us and June is next week! We have had a remarkably wet month, with total rainfall ranging between 6 to 8 inches! It has been so wet that I cannot keep caterpillars and neonates (newly-hatched slugs...ew!) from munching on my tender... Continue Reading →
My back porch pottery studio is open to all the whims of Mother Nature. Because my production is determined by the weather, my throwing season starts in May and ends in October. During the winter, I hand-build with clay inside where it’s warm and dry. Hand-building allows me to work with clay without a wheel.... Continue Reading →
March has sprung into action here in Ohio! March came in gently like a lamb. We had several days featuring plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the 60's and 70's followed by several days of rain causing the annual arrival of a small transient creek in our back yard. After we set our clocks ahead... Continue Reading →
Digging out from under a blanket of snow this morning. Click on any image below to enlarge it and read the caption. (Photos taken through dirty 🙄wintery window with an old zoom lens.) "Feed the birds, tuppence a bagTuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag" ~Mary Poppins
What better way to welcome the month of December? Snow! Squirrel was quite happy to see me set out peanuts! Just as I turned to go into the house, squirrel leapt off the tree branch and bounded toward the pile of peanuts on the back porch. The birdbath, filled with leaves and water, froze over... Continue Reading →
I have been busy with my last pieces of pottery for the year. Yes. Last pieces! Can you believe it? It seems as if I just started throwing yesterday! Pictured below are before and after pictures: Greenware pieces, dry but not yet fired, to be loaded into my kiln for a bisque firing in preparation... Continue Reading →
We had five spectacular sunny days in a row last week! I barely knew what to do with myself with so much sunshine. 🌞 Do I weed? Mow? Bask? Well, I ended up doing all the above: weeding, mowing and basking.😎 You may recall from my June 21st post, Notes From My Back Porch, I... Continue Reading →
It was May 20th when I finally sat down behind my pottery wheel for this throwing season. It takes me four to six weeks to create pottery from a ball of clay to a glazed piece. My newest addition to my standard mugs are my dragonfly mugs which came about accidentally! The first mug I... Continue Reading →
Summer is here! Things are heating up on my back porch . . . in between rain showers, of course. I've been working on dragonfly mugs for what seems like a long time. Now they are glazed and ready to fire. As I was rolling my kiln onto my back porch from the garage, the... Continue Reading →
Finally! A slight break in the rain last week! Three days of glorious sun! 🌞 Which means I have been busy in my back porch studio and back yard. The first job I tackled in my back porch studio was cleaning my kiln shelves. As a potter, keeping kiln shelves in tip top shape is... Continue Reading →
Rain, rain, go away.Come again another day.Pauline the potter wants to play! "The Farmers' Almanac predicts a potentially rainy summer for Ohio in 2025, with the potential for above-average temperatures and rainfall, especially in the southern part of the state." My back porch pottery studio is open to the whims of mother nature so my... Continue Reading →
We are finally witnessing nature awakening with vibrant buds and colorful blooms. The secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles. Frances Hodgson Burnett Meanwhile I am eager to get my hands back in clay. The temperatures for April, however, will be a little too cool for me to start throwing on... Continue Reading →
Snowed in. Under the weather. I picked up my camera and started shooting pictures of our resident squirrel and neighborhood song birds. These were taken through the sliding door with me sitting on the dinning room floor. LOL Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers. ~Kahlil Gibran
Time to pack up my tool box and put my pottery wheel away. I have a couple more firings to do of larger pieces that take up a lot of room in the kiln such as plates. I love making plates but because they take up so much room I just don't make many ~... Continue Reading →
It has been a wet, soggy and humid couple of weeks. Ideal condition for the weeds to take over. Meanwhile, on my back porch I've been busy throwing. [Click on the photos below to view a larger image and read the captions.] It was so soggy and humid I thought I would never be able... Continue Reading →
My blue glaze finally arrived after being on back order since August. I have been using this delightful blue glaze for over 15 years. My customers nor I have ever been disappointed. So . . . I opened my new jug of blue glaze with great anticipation of glazing a set of custom made bowls... Continue Reading →
I have had my hands busy over the last two weeks. Glazing and firing and photographing. Glazing and firing and photographing and throwing. Glazing and firing and photographing. Thank goodness it is Friday and I am in a nice in between place today! Life as a potter, among other hats I wear, can look quite... Continue Reading →
Another humid week last week! I don't mind the heat but when the air is as thick as pea soup and there is no breeze I start to feel a wee bit uncomfortable and grouchy. Luckily, my attention has been on things I can do inside in air conditioning! As I mentioned in my previous... Continue Reading →
Did you hear about the big Pottery scandal? Everyone involved was fired. 😁 My latest batch of pottery pieces have completely air dried. At this stage, the dried clay is called greenware. This stage is also when the clay is most fragile. Over the weekend, I fired the greenware in the first of two firings.... Continue Reading →
It was horridly humid and buggy on my back porch over the past several weeks. I took refuge indoors and continued to work with clay. While indoors, I made shallow bowls/dishes from slabs of clay draped over a plaster mold. A clay slab is a portion of clay that has been flattened into a sheet.... Continue Reading →
Back Porch Studio 