Category Archives: Personally

Inspiration, Personally

What prehistoric linear pottery taught me this summer

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Every ceramist has to get to know his roots, in Western and Central Europe that is the linear pottery (LBK from German: Linearbandkeramik). This Neolithic pottery is over 7,000 years old. They are the oldest pots found in the Netherlands.

Where were these archeological treasures discovered? In the southernmost tip of our country, the fertile loess soils of South Limburg, including Elsloo and Stein. For the first farmers and potters in the Netherlands it was a good place to be. And for today’s ceramists, it still is…

So this summer we went to smell the Linear Pottery culture… and to taste cherry pie in South Limburg.

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Inspiration, Personally

From a handful of clay… Dreams Become Reality

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A handful of clay is enough to make dreams come true… An old potter’s proverb from Bunzlau (“der Stadt des Guten Tons“) compares ploughing a field to throwing on the potter’s wheel. Both is hard work, but also the way to proudly earn your living.

The earth is my acre
The wheel is my plough
I’m a potter maker
That gives me my bread now

(Historical potter’s proverb from Bunzlau, translated from German*)

Our stories arise between dream and reality. Stories of happiness and beauty. Stories from yesterday and thousands of years ago…

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Inspiration, Personally

Handmade Ceramics Packaging, There is A Smell To It

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The 21st century calls for a revolutionary modernization of handmade ceramics packaging. Online business is booming. Buying and selling handmade ceramics online also means storage, packing and shipping.

Since I opened my online shop on this site, I don’t just ship ceramics. I also need to store and manage my inventory.

Okay, I’m not an Amazon or Bol.com, so for me, no large-scale logistics infrastructure. I’m just looking for a simple way to store and send my work. Especially for cups, mugs and small bowls I don’t have a good storage system yet.

So it’s about time for finding a safe and future-proof way of handmade ceramics packaging and storage. For our future, I take my inspiration from the past.

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Inspiration, Personally

Why I need a Pottery Firing devil

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What a pottery firing devil is? That’s the spirit who protects the ceramic kiln from dark influences. It’s the protector of pots who are about to endure the hellish fire.

Why do I need one? Well, I can explain that to you. But let me begin with a potter’s prayer from almost 3,000 years ago to Athena, goddess of crafts:

“Grant that the potters may get great gain and grant me so to sing to them.

But if you become shameless and make false promises, then I call together the destroyers of kilns, Syntribos (Shatter) and Smaragos (Smash) and Asbetos (Char) and Sabaktes (Collapse) and Omodamos (Melt) who can bring this craft much mischief.”

From: Homer’s Epigrams, Fragment 14 (Greek epic, 8th or 7th century BC)

Threatened by the five devils of pottery disaster, I had no choice but to take protective measures. It’s about time I made my own ceramic firing devil.

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Opinion, Personally

From Clay to Cash, Make Quick Money with Ceramics

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From clay to cash is the trick of the trade …. the potter’s secret. Converting ceramics into hard currency is of course the goal of every potter. That’s nothing new.

But the secret how to convert porcelain directly into dough, was sent to me a few weeks ago by a reader of this blog. How can ceramists convert their clay into stone cold cash?

I’ve decided to share with you the rise of the ceramcoins. Fast money for all potter’s in need, ceramic emergency money.

In the international art trade, they do the same, but on a much larger scale…

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Inspiration, Technique

Ceramic Decals a beautiful technique and fortunately never perfect

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All techniques used in ceramics are fallible, including ceramic decals. That makes ceramics unique. And by that I really mean ceramics are always a “one-off”.

In ceramic industry, techniques are used that ensure products are very similar. But even in this well controlled environment there are always small (minimal) differences. In fact, there is always a percentage that fails due to “production errors”.

No matter how well the ceramist controls the process, failure in the production of ceramics is unavoidable. If the specifications do not fall exactly within the set frameworks, the product is irrevocably thrown onto the ceramics waste pile (the potter’s heartbreak).

And that’s fortunate, because these mountains of ceramic shards are invaluable for research into the history of ceramics. But that’s a whole different story.

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Inspiration, Personally

NCECA 2021: A virtual embrace of the clay community

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NCECA is the Comic-Con for ceramicists. The AutoRai not for motorheads but creatives. In other words, Libelle’s (a typical Dutch women magazine) summer week on steroid, but with our US friends.

It is an annual five-day cultural, political and educational event where every ceramics enthusiast is welcome. A symposium, discussion arena, meeting place, breeding ground and much more.

No idea what I’m talking about? Then let me tell you what I so enjoyed to participate in the last few days… A huge international group of ceramics enthusiasts live together. But at a safe 6 feet distance.

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Inspiration, Personally

Small ceramic rituals make life great

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My day is full of small ceramic rituals. From my daily black coffee in a little faceted mug. Frothing matcha tea in a hand pinched bowl. My Sunday morning café latte in a big thrown cup with ear. I love the differences, visual, touch and feeling.

Living mindfully also means drinking with attention. Your hands feel the warmth of the liquid, your lips touch the edge, you recognize the aroma, your mouth feels. An intimate moment. Smell the tea, feel the heat flowing into your body, look through the misty glasses of your spectacles. Taste the bitterness of the coffee. See the world in new light. Enjoy the moment.

What makes an activity not a habit but a (small or large) ritual? What makes a ritual different from a tradition? Is there a distinction? I find that interesting questions, which I wanted to take a closer look at through one of my own ceramic rituals.

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Personally

My digital life with pottery making is a lot of hassle

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This week pottery making was all about my digital life. And no, I’m not referring to the time I put into Insta, Twitter or Facebook. No, I don’t mean working on my site or writing this blog either. No, I don’t even mean working on my webshop or product photography.

Then what am I talking about? The hassle you get with all the digital tools that you as a ceramicist can no longer do without… And this week I had more then my fair share.

After updating the firmware of my Bentrup WebBox (part of my kiln control), he only winked at me. That was not a good sign and something had to be done about it immediately. In addition, I wanted to transfer my dfb-keramiek.nl mailbox to the exchange server of outlook.

That sounds like a modest to-do list, but that caused quite a few problems last week. How was I supposed to fix that?

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Inspiration, Personally

Phil Rogers: “Potters need to know an awful lot”

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Phil Rogers, English “studio potter”, author and FB friend, died at the end of last year at the age of 69. A great loss for his family and friends, but also for the pottery community in the world.

Phil Rogers has taught us what good pottery can mean in our contemporary society. His rustic thrown and decorated vases, bottles, cups, plates and jugs showed his skill, respect for the material and the ceramic tradition. He has shaped the future of traditional ceramics in modern times.

“The drawback in pottery there is so much that can go wrong. Everey stage there is someting that can go wrong. We as potters […] have to know an awful lot”

(Goldmark documentary “Phil Rogers: Drawing in the Air” June 2016)

I have always taken it to heart that a terrible amount of knowledge is required to make ceramics….

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Inspiration, Personally

Kintsugi, ceramics with gold connected

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Kintsugi and handmade ceramics are connected, both literally and figuratively. Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese tradition. It literally means “golden connection” and is also called “kintsukuroi” or “gold repair”.

But there is also an aesthetic connection. Kintsugi is the artisanal repair of broken ceramics with gold. The repair is not hidden, but proudly shown.

Broken plate, handmade ceramics

I find that a nice touch. An aesthetic in line with Wabi-Sabi, the beauty of impermanence. When something is broken, don’t throw it away, but take the trouble to collect the shards and make it whole again. Not as invisible as possible. No, accentuate the scars of impermanence.

It flashed through my mind when I got a broken mug of mine returned. A mug I made about 20 years ago. Can you fix this? …

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News, Personally

Fanatics, enthusiasts and collectors: happy ceramics hunting in 2021!

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Hunting season has been opened, not a bloodthirsty but the cheerful ceramic hunt. On the hunt for new colors, shapes and objects. Looking for new techniques, materials and processes. The journey of discovery into the present, past and future.

The hunting grounds of the ceramics fanatic is not limited to the physical world, but also explores the limits of our imagination, innovation and creativity. It’s not a competition, it’s a collective study. A project of ceramics and glaze theorists, suppliers, makers, enthusiasts and collectors (and I’ll probably forget a few).

Cheerful Ceramics Hunt in 2021

The ceramics hunt is a joint task to pass our culture on to the future ceramics fanatics. I’m happy to do my bit. And I personally appreciate myself lucky that there are so many ceramics enthusiasts who support this.

I therefore wish everyone a happy ceramic hunt in 2021! (and all the years that come after that).

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