New Year, Fresh Clay

Welcome to a new section of Astr Ceramics, called “Pottery Journal” where I’ll be sharing all of my deep inner thoughts and feelings on the interweb. Once upon a time, I had a blog called “Happy Gwednesday”. It was a silly, inspirational blog where I’d make videos and have inspiring stories to tell as an old teen. This kind of reminds me of that. I’d like to use this space to share my ongoing pottery journey.

As a beginner potter (only a year and 9 months into the practice), there are so many goals I have for myself in 2025. New Year, Fresh Clay.

Let’s start with a few things I’ve struggled with as a potter:

• Finding my pottery style

  • I’ve experimented with several techniques, shapes, sizes, clay bodies, and glazes, and sometimes I think that I’ll never truly find something that feels like me

• Perfecting the sizes

  • When I first started, shrinkage rate was my biggest challenge. It wasn’t until late last year where I finally found the perfect measurements to fit 16oz after calculating shrinkage. I’m a big stictler on

• Client conversations

  • Custom orders are such a special thing for me, especially when it’s for someone else’s pet. I love seeing the reaction from people who absolutely adore their new handmade piece. The challenging part is the pressure to create, and explaining that the kiln gods have the power, and I do not. Of course, I can have an idea or vision on how the piece will look and will do my best to ensure it meets the expectations, but I can never promise it will look a certain way. It’s a tough conversation to have when pottery is an experimental process.

• Setting Custom Order deadlines

  • Since I work a 9-5, I gave deadlines for myself and to clients with the hopes that I’ll work extra hard during that week to get an order done, but I didn’t always reach them. Sometimes work was extremely heavy that week and the guilty feeling just ate at me as I apologized.

• Having high expectations for myself

  • I constantly remind myself that Astr Ceramics is a passion project, but I care so much about it and want to see it succeed, that some nights, I will stay up to prepare for an entire pop-up, or wake up at the crack of dawn to start a piece.