March 2022

After I spent so much time and mental energy preparing for my first market in February, I didn’t think I would be ready for another market for a while. Maum Market had a March event, but I decided to not participate because ~3 weeks didn’t feel like enough time to produce a few more pieces. When I saw the opportunity to join co-mkt, which was happening a week later, somehow the additional week and the opportunity to connect with an additional group of makers swayed me to apply. I was so thrilled when I got accepted to the event, and I quickly got into market prep mode (glaze glaze glaze!). Fortunately, all the prep for Maum Market set me up really well for co-mkt and I didn’t spend days trying to figure out table set up, packaging pieces, and payment system. The hardest part was pricing, which is so hard whether I’m selling in person or online. Even though selling in person takes a lot of time in one day, I realized I really enjoy meeting and talking to people about pottery (very not like my introverted self) and not worrying about shipping is amaaaaaaazing. Now, a little recap of this month’s pieces

I took forever to post a March recap because I kept procrastinating on figuring out what I made in March. Well, turns out I literally made two pieces, and both were matcha bowls.

I actually decided to try making a matcha bowl because someone asked me if I had matcha bowls at the February Maum Market. Most matcha bowls that I’ve seen in tea shops have a wide bottom and a little foot. I did the tiniest bit of research to see what makes a matcha bowl a matcha bowl and saw that the main characteristic was a bottom that’s approximately five inches to facilitate good whisking action.

After I threw the bowls, I let the pieces dry a little bit so that I could shape a pouring lip. I made the walls too thin and when I tried to shape a lip, the clay cracked! I waited until the clay was a little more dry and then smeared on some fresh clay and you couldn’t even tell I accidentally cracked/ripped the clay.

I had no idea if the matcha bowl would pour liquid without dripping until after I fired it. I was SO excited when I did the first test pour. Check it out!!!