Studio Tour

Welcome! Here we are outside of 2 Rivers Ceramics Studio located in beautiful, Amesbury, Massachusetts! This is where I produce all of my work! 2 Rivers is a community ceramic studio. I work along side other independent artists and potters, all producing different works. We have about 10 regular potters, plus lots of students taking classes. This studio is where I got my start working in clay and I've been here ever since. I took my beginning ceramics classes right here and made my first pendants back in 2007. I still currently take classes on a regular basis from the various teaching potters we have here at the studio. Working in a community facility like this is ideal for me because I live in a small apartment and I don't have the space available for a studio space or a kiln. Here, I have access to every thing I need and the space to do it in. Plus, I love the community atmosphere and the connection to the other creative artists working in the same medium. It's nice being part of a collective group and doing shows and events together as group. You can visit the studio website at www.tworiversceramics.com. Ok, well, I think that's about good for the introduction. Let's head inside to have a look around, shall we? Alright! And remember, if you have any questions through out the tour, just ask!

So, we've just come through the front doors and now we are standing in the main clay work room area. Those are potter's wheels lining that high, long table in the middle. The shelves in the back, store our works in progress and pieces drying. The gray table in the front here, is where you can many times find me working on my little pieces. Now, we are going to swing on over to the left and meet my teacher, Lloyd Hamovit, Potter and founder of the 2 Rivers Ceramics Studio.

Lloyd Hamovit, Potter, owner & operator of the 2 Rivers Ceramics Studio

Hi, Lloyd! :)

Here he is working away in his corner of the studio. Lloyd is my main teacher and mentor in clay. He has helped guide me with information and advice on clays, techniques and glaze options. I know he thinks I'm a little crazy making my tiny pieces, but he has been so very generous with his knowledge, time and energy! I can not thank him enough. Without him and his studio, I would not be able to make my ceramic pieces and do what I love to do! To learn more about Lloyd, his work and his accomplished ceramic career, please visit www.lloydsceramics.com. Ok, we'll let Lloyd get back to work now and we'll show you the other side of the work room. Bye, Lloyd!

Clay Preparation

Here we are, on the other side of the main work room, just to the right of the front door. We're standing in front of the wedging table. This is where we cut our wet clay, knead it and get it to a workable consistency. Once I've got my clay prepared, I head over to the next room to use the slab roller. So, follow me and we'll go take a look at that!

This machine is the slab roller! Yay! It's my favorite tool in the studio and the one I use the most. I love this thing! It makes my life so much easier. I make small slabs to create almost all my ceramic pieces. The slab roller allows me to roll out my clay to a consistent, even thickness. Once I've rolled my clay out to the desired thickness, I place my slab on a small board, smooth out any textures left in the clay, and cover it with plastic to keep the clay moist while I'm working with it.

Creating Pieces
As soon as I have my slab ready, I take it back into the main work room and start creating. All of my pieces are made one-at-a-time by hand. Each piece is individually cut from the slab using various shapes and cutters. After the piece is cut, I smooth all edges and create my design. Designs are created in a multitude of ways. Some are created by hand using only my pin tool, others are created from custom-made stamps, stencils and moulds, and still others are made using natural elements, such as leaves and shells to create impressions. Once I have my designs on the front, I let the pieces dry a bit. Then I turn them over and I usually texture the backs and/or stamp them with my signature. When the pieces are complete and fully dry, they go to the kiln room to get bisque fired. Let's head over there now to check it out!

Oh...Well, what do we have here....a sneak peek at some works-in-progress! Shhh! Don't tell anybody, Ok? These are bone-dry pendants and pieces ready to be bisque fired. Ok, moving a along, now...

Over here, we have the electric kilns that get used for the bisque firings. As soon as there is enough dry pottery on the bisque cart and on the shelves, the kilns get loaded up and fired up.

Finishing
Once my pieces come out of the bisque firing, they are prepared for glazing, staining and finishing. Pieces are sanded, if needed, (although I usually do enough smoothing initially when I first make the pieces, that I can skip this step) and wiped down to remove clay dust. Some of my pieces are glazed, some are stained, some are stained and glazed and some are completed with no stain or glaze at all. Since I need to fire my pieces flat, if the pieces are going to be glazed, a wax must be applied to the backs and the holes prior to glazing to prevent the glaze from adhering to those areas or the kiln shelves during firing. Once the wax is dry, the pieces are dipped into the glaze and the backs are wiped clean of any remaining glaze. To be honest, I'm finding this glazing process to be quite tedious for all my tiny little pieces, so lately my preferred way to finish my pieces is to simply stain them with oxides. I find this process much more enjoyable and I love the effects, so it works for me! For this, the oxides are watered down to create a wash. The washes are painted on the bisque pieces, front and back. The oxide seeps down into the textures created in the piece. The piece is then, lightly wiped with a sponge to remove excess oxide and reveal the design. The glazed and/or stained pieces are then placed on tiles to be loaded into the studio's large, gas-fired, reduction kiln for the final firing.

And here she is! The centerpiece of the studio! A 40 cubic foot, gas-fired, reduction kiln. It take a full 18-hours to fire this baby! Plus, another 8 hours of cool down time. It's not the type of kiln you can set and forget! LOL! Definitely not. Lloyd has to stay at the studio and "kiln-sit"the whole time it's firing to make sure everything goes smoothly and to make adjustments during the firing. The kiln takes up almost half the room. There's a lot of space to fill in there! And speaking of filling space, since my pieces are small, they can easily fill-in and make use of small, unused spaces between larger pots and bowls in the kiln. Since all possible space in the kiln is being filled, the energy needed to run the kiln is much more efficiently used! How's that for Eco-friendly! "Green" & Eco-friendly pendants and jewelry components! Yippy! I just LOVE that! Another reason to feel good about buying ceramic beads and pendants from all the Beads-of-Clay artists.

Well, that concludes our tour for today. I hope you enjoyed learning about how I make my pieces and touring my studio space. I really appreciate you joining me!

I hope you are planning to stick around because there's STILL more to come!

The 2nd Giveaway is coming up at 3:00 p.m. est!
See you then! In the meantime, click the BOC Blog to tour the spaces of the other artists! Thank you!