Plant pots

were one of the first things I made out of clay. I made more and more, imprinting various things into the surface of clay slabs and then forming the pot. These are a few I made quite recently with plant material rolled in. Any bits of plant that are left in the slab simply burn out during firing. I love working this way, and a surprising amount of detail is created.

For these pots I used lavender and mint. I prefer to emphasize the texture by glazing only the details and the inside of the pot.
Comments welcome...

I was reminded recently

of a gorgeous project I did with some children to make plant pots for their dad's garden. We rolled out big slabs of clay, and the girls pressed their hands and feet in and wrote their names in.
I took the slabs away and curved them round to create the pots. It really doesn't get much sweeter than this - full credit to the girls for artistic ability and adding the cuteness factor! A big part of their strength as objects is in the fact that when they're older they'll make really adorable reminders of the girls' childhoods. (I emphasized this by writing the date in the clay on the inside.) Very sweet...