I’d love to invite you to share your current favorite glaze with the community. Whether it’s the one you keep reaching for lately, a glaze you love using again and again, or a combination that really excites you — show us! Feel free to post one or several photos of pieces where you’ve used it.☕️ Let’s inspire each other, discover new favorites, and maybe even fuel our shared glaze addiction a little more. 😉 Especially our newer members — I’d love to see what glazes you’re excited about right now. Jump in and share!🫶

In less than two days, the new year will begin — and with it a new month and a new challenge.✨ For January, inspired by Gwen’s suggestion, we invite you to create your own oil lamp or incense burner. How it looks is completely up to you — the only requirement is that it works.🪔 For an oil lamp, you’ll need a container, a wick, and olive oil so the wick can draw the oil and produce a flame. Alternatively, you can create an incense burner, where a flame is placed underneath a small bowl or surface. The design can be very simple or more complex — that’s entirely your choice. Feel free to let your creativity run wild. This challenge is about ideas, experimentation, and making something functional, not perfection.🙌 Have fun with it, and feel free to share your progress, thoughts, and ideas along the way. We hope many of you will join in and take part. Enjoy the process and have fun! 🔥✨

We're almost to February. I haven't had time for the January challenge, but was inspired by a Reddit post to offer this for February. Hear me out! Many new potters post, "How do I make this?" And that's fine, but to me, one of the joys of pottery is figuring things out. So, here's my challenge to you, with time to plan in advance, 'cause it may be a hard one. Find a tutorial video on YouTube or wherever. Then figure out a different way to make the item. Post the link to the tutorial and "making" images from your altered method. Think outside the box! For instance, Tiffinie Helmer (Hobble Creek Pottery) posted a video of hand-building a canteen. I don't have a lot of space to handbuild (and frankly, I'm not so good at it!), so I thought, "How can I make that on the wheel?" I threw two wide, shallow bowls with straight sides and joined them. Then I added pieces for the strap to go through, and a neck for a stopper. BOOM! A wheel thrown canteen. Images for inspiration. This was thrown with Laguna Frost cone 6 porcelain, relief carved, decorated with Colors For Earth Color Concentrates, and glazed with Kitten's Clear or Hanson's 20x5 (don't remember which!). It's got an adjustable strap and I used a rubber band glued to the stopper so it's actually functional. The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the "chain" attaching the stopper to the canteen. I'm excited to see what y'all come up with. There's a hundred ways to make a form. Let's expand our horizons and have some fun!