Prickly Pear Pottery

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Prickly Pear Pottery: Career Share Enjoy this introduction and demonstration by Ceramic Artist Erin Rhyne, owner of Prickly Pear Pottery, as part of LearnLee's Career Share 2021!Contact Erin a...

Made 2 sets of matching* cups today - 1 set of teacups and 1 set of coffee mugs. Now I have to practice making handles! 😬

*I use the term “matching” loosely 😂

When you make pottery, first you throw the form on the wheel, then you let it dry to what is called “leather hard”. It means it has dried enough that you can handle it but not so much that you can’t manipulate it. When your piece is leather hard you have to trim it by placing it upside down on the wheel. You then use trimming tools to shave off the excess clay on the bottom. One of the things I always do is make the bottom of my pots look as beautiful as possible during trimming. It’s a nice surprise when you pick up the pot and turn it over in your hands, and it just makes the piece feel finished.

It took me quite a while yesterday to remember how to center these leather hard pieces on the wheel for trimming! I am pretty happy with how they turned out though!