Hey, as a librarian I need to tell you: Our funding depends on usage. So go ahead and check out that book even if you don't think you'll finish it. No one will know. Check out that DVD even though you might not like it. Get ambitious in your quest for knowledge.

Playing with weird new mug ideas - I’m firing electric for a while, and starting to work with color that isn’t brown or green (gasp!), and that seems to be inspiring a shakeup of form, too.

If anybody’s looking for me I’ll just be making tiny little scrap jars that bring me immense joy until 2029.

Pottery by Japanese ceramic artist Miyashita Zenji, 1990s-2000s.

I’m not dead, I’ve just been working on this show with my friends, now up at @goodearthpottery.bsky.social featuring spoons & surface carving by me, cups & glazes by @atteberryclayworks.bsky.social, coasters by @emikomay.bsky.social, and plates & salt/pepper shakers by @phasesoftheyoon.bsky.social

i've spent nearly every class in my master's program researching this shit & yes, it really does matter that libraries get supportive feedback from their patrons about things like queer programming & pride displays. libraries have tiny budgets & they need to know that the community is benefitting

Today’s SIP - walnut. #spooncarving #spoons #spoonsinprogress #whittling #woodcarving

I am a simple man and all I want is a three chambered wood/soda/salt kiln, and a chihuahua rescue. However many chihuahuas you’re picturing, picture more. Just giant herds of chi mixes all being adorable little assholes, bossing each other around.

Yesterday’s SIP (spoon in progress) Having fun with these wiggly handles. #woodcarving #spoon #workinprogress

Slowly but surely my @starflowerstudios.bsky.social space is coming together, just in time for a glazeathon.

Just another little guy in progress for a firing coming up in May. Who knew making little guys would be this soothing? My recent practice has been to listen to a news update, then make a little guy, rinse, repeat. #ceramics #greenware #pottery #sculpture

When you’ve run out of excuses (and space) to avoid glazing #bisque #pottery #ceramics

Increasingly complete collection update (Every one needs a hobby, no?) #dolantools #toolnerd #potterytools

In 3rd grade I used to use my free period to go to the library, climb out the 1st floor window when the librarian wasn’t looking, and then would go to the public library and read until it was time to take the bus home. By grade 6 there was a warning in my school file about it.

A tiny porcelain Trex with googly eyes and a gigantic butt, for some reason, made out of Takamori trimming scraps and waiting to be woodfired. #ceramics #pottery #starflowerstudios #dinosaurart #greenware #worksinprogress

Am I having NCECA fomo? Yes. Did I also finally find online the one Dolan tool I’ve been looking for for 4 years to complete my collection that coincidentally arrived at the same time? Also yes. #dolantools #toolnerd #pottersofbluesky

One bright side to being forced to live in an AI slop tornado is now I see my artistic mistakes as incredibly endearing. The human machine of my body made that weird line. My worst day of drawing is completely untouchably better than anything AI will ever produce until the heat death of the universe

After I made this and actually looked at it I started laughing so hard that my husband and dog both heard and came in to my studio, concerned. #pottery #greenware #worksinprogress #potterofbluesky

SIP (spoon in progress) #spoon #whittling #workinprogress

Potter friends, whatcha reading? #pottersofbluesky #booksky

The AHA encourages historians to contact their representatives to protest the recent attack on the Institute for Museum & Library Services. The IMLS provides essential funding to libraries & museums in all 50 states and US territories. Read our action alert to learn how to support the IMLS. 🗃️

I made pots today for “the entirety of Patricia Wants to Cuddle on audiobook” hours

Libraries are vital, providing access to information, technology, and learning. Cutting IMLS funding threatens these services, especially in underserved areas. Library funding isn’t political—it’s an investment in education, opportunity, and civic engagement. #LibraryLove #ForOurLibraries ala.org

A work in progress - been working on these angly little cafe mugs for ages, but I think I finally made the right decisions on the shape, size, and handle. I’ve got a bunch of these that’ll be fired in wood/soda in almost exactly a month. #pottersofbluesky #pottery #ceramics #mug

(The following is not about pottery or books) 10 years ago on Pesach I had a very vivid dream that when we left the door open for Elijah Chuck Schumer came in & I yelled “GET OUT, CHUCK SCHUMER, YOU’RE NOT INVITED TO OUR SEDER” Anyway, that came to mind today for no particular reason.

These fish cups will be in our show opening in person and online Saturday at @goodearthpottery.bsky.social . @emikomay.bsky.social did the drawings based on an 1850s German how-to book for housewives. These women did some serious labor. #fish #illustration #mug #mugs #art #prep #pottery #ceramics

"Keshet and the Hebrew Free Loan Society are partnering to offer interest-free loans of up to $10,000 for individuals and families to support relocation costs to another state because of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, policies, and climate in their current state of residence."

When things are slow, I sometimes start carving little spoons. If only clay were as portable and easy to clean up!

*nervous laugh* #pottersofbluesky

Sometimes it’s rainy outside and you’ve got a little lump of clay left after coiling something big and so you just need to make a silly little guy. Thinking of making a t-rex and brontosaurus to go with him. #handbuilding #pottery #ceramics #pottersofbluesky #triceratops

The strange, bewitching, and sensuous Czech anthology film PRAGUE NIGHTS gets a beautiful new transfer and several illuminating extras courtesy of Deaf Crocodile. Available on Blu-ray on Tuesday. shorturl.at/I0j82

I’ve just begun a Pacific Northwest Ceramic artists Starter Pack. Hoping to build a supportive community for PNW artists here. If you’re a PNW clay artist and would like to be added to this starter pack, send me a message! All are welcome 🤗 go.bsky.app/6aV31Ct #pottery #pnw #pottersofbluesky

Spent a productive afternoon carving planters and plates and couldn’t resist documenting this one perfect spiral from carving a perfectly leather hard porcelain plate #pottery #ceramics #pottersofbluesky #claynerd #porcelain #artprocess

Today I learned that if you are a potter who mostly uses subtractive techniques and also a woodcarver, and you are not ambidextrious, hollowing 4 kurinuki vessels followed by two wooden serving spoons is sincerely ill advised, from a callus development perspective 😬

Juicy little geologic lever teacup. I’ve made so many of these in the past few months, tinkering with the design & surface texture. They’re getting there.This one is Clay Art Center’s Takamori, soda fired to ^10. #sodafiredpottery #pottery #ceramics #handbuilt #porcelain #pottersofbluesky

I used to make a lot of these charred wood-esque pots, and I recently came back to it with all the extra space I have at @starflowerstudios.bsky.social. This sculptural bowl is available now at @goodearthpottery.bsky.social! #ceramics #pottersofbluesky #pottery #sculpturalpots #cohortsdotart

old Soviet joke for our times: Guy stops by the newsstand every day, scans the front page, doesn’t buy the paper. One day the vendor asks what he’s up to. Guy says: “looking for an obituary.” Vendor says “those are towards the back of the paper, comrade.” Guy says: “not the one I’m looking for.”

ANYWAY, did you know there's an extension you can put on Chrome that will connect with your local library system and when you go look at a book, say on AMZ, it will tell you if that book exists in the library system and if it's available? It's literally called Library Extension.

We interrupt the ceramics and occasional book talk and the general misery out there to brag that all of my monstera clippings are beginning to grow roots successfully.

Coiled this weird asymmetrical planter at @starflowerstudios.bsky.social yesterday… and promptly destroyed it by going a bit too far altering the bottom. Win some, lose some, reclaim many. #ceramics #starflowerstudios #pottery #cohortsdotart #coiledpots

Muscular new beauties available from @phasesoftheyoon.bsky.social and @emikomay.bsky.social • #goodearthpottery #pottersofbluesky #ceramicgallery #bellinghamwa #pottery #ceramics

We embrace joy whenever we can, okay?

OK, this is for @dovegraveyard.bsky.social and for @slug543.bsky.social and anyone else who might be interested. Dove did this great poster of ancient critter vessels from mostly Europe and the Americas, and I offered to show them some from East Asia. For reasons, I did this as a blog post - enjoy!

It's not doomscrolling, it's just artisanal nightmare farming

Starting to settle into my studio space @starflowerstudios.bsky.social by making a bunch of new molds. Is there any joy greater than breaking in a new studio?

Seriously, creative folks: Don't be afraid to let people know your stuff is out there for them, or worry that "now is not the time for that." People are stressed and freaked out and looking for the things that will give them a moment of rest and joy. It is EXACTLY the time for what we do. Tell them.

We could just be reading great books, watching good movies, and eating fruit. Instead we have to survive/fight miserable power hoarders. What a waste of limited time.

And now for something completely different!

Today in pots: big coiled jar out of 3 Starworks clays (Dark Star, New Catawba, New Seagrove). Hoping to woodfire it at the end of this month, if it ever dries in the WA winter. #pottersofbluesky #pottery #greenware #woodfiring #wildclay

You know the best thing? Soda firing. Soda firing is the best thing. I’ll take good pictures of these eventually but for now: Look! Soda!