We're always on the hunt for a great handbuilding project, and our teacher Yuko Body shared with us a stunner of a project (perfect for collecting the falling leaves this time of year)!

How you ask? Slump molds all the way!

Tools you’ll need:

•  A ceramic slump mold (hand-thrown bisqueware or a homemade mold using Plaster of Paris)
• A scratch tool 
• “Magic Water” (aka slip with a little extra *magical* chemicals)
• Sponge 
• Found leaves (oak and maple are our top picks)

Roll out a slab of your favourite hand building clay (maybe try 436 for a white clay or 613 for a red clay). You want the slab to be about 1 cm in thickness. Let the slab stiffen up a little bit beforehand. 

Trace some found leaves on the slab and cut them out. For a nice clean cut, we suggest this style of knife. As you cut them out place them in the slump mold. Decide where you want the next leave to go, score and slip both leaves with Magic Water and stick them together. You can soften the seams with a whip-out tool. Continue doing this until the whole bowl is full of leaves.

Detail the leaves if you so desire, and you may want to finish it with our faithful white Mudsponge to get it nice and smooth and press it down into the mold further. Let it dry slowly, and you should be able to pop it right out of the mold as it shrinks.

Ta-dah! That’s it.

Let us know how you did, we love seeing customer and student work! Tag your masterpieces on Instagram @amaranthstoneware to show 'em off.

This piece is glazed with Pistachio Shino.

Bees are often getting the short end of the stick with climate change as their food (pollen from flowers) is often arriving too early or too late.

Here are a few ways to help them out:

Support Local and Organic Farmers

Eating foods that are locally grown will help farmers maintain a range of crops giving the bees more pollen options that can help boost their health. 

Practice Organic Gardening

Give bees a helping hand by providing a safe environment

This Bee Feeder is designed to give bees a helping hand. Filling the feeder with sugar water provides a bee-lated snack when blooms are unavailable.

Mason bees are the Usain Bolt of pollinators - always winning gold at the pollinator olympics. The Bee House was created to mimic their preferred wood and offer them a protected space while the females gather pollen to add to the tubes, lay their eggs, seal them up with mud and repeat until full.

Bees drink a lot of water but need a safe place to land because drinking and flying is against bee law. Fill the Bee Waterer with glass beads (included) and add water to provide a safe haven.

All bee puns aside, protecting our pollinators is something everyone should get involved with.

When famous potter John Britt came to Canada in April, it was a no brainer for Gerald to attend the workshop held at the Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre.

Gerald first discovered the famous potter on Youtube and was immediately impressed with his knowledge and skill set. The 2-day workshop did not disappoint!

Creating test tiles for the workshop

    

The education came at the attendees like a tsunami and days were filled to the last possible minute with what could only be described as “incredible” information.

John’s teaching skills were adaptable to all levels. He was accessible, responsive and truly had his finger on the pulse of the glaze that runs through potter’s veins. Sharing 40+ glaze bases (years worth of work for most) that were tested and proven really inspired Gerald to get back to basics and upon return to Amaranth Stoneware, he completed a bench overhaul!

           Before                                                        After 

                            

Here are the top 5 things learned at the John Britt workshop:

1. Keep everything organized
2. Know what you have
3. Read read read - educate yourself
4. Get involved - social media, groups
5. Don’t be afraid - it’s easier than making a cake!

John Britt is a studio potter in North Carolina who has worked and taught internationally and authored 2 books on glazing.

Because of Neuroplasticity

Written by Claire O'Connor and published in Ceramic Arts Daily

Here's just a little clip from it, but you can read the whole piece here.

Want to be smarter? Sign up for a class! If you're in the Kingston, Ontario area you can learn about our pottery classes here. If not we encourage you to find a local potter in your area or you can order some clay and learn from the wonderful World Wide Web!