Ann Ruel is the owner and visionary behind Little Street Pottery. Little Street Pottery is about making the art of pottery accessible to all. We provide free tips and workshops that encourage beginners and professionals alike to learn, experiment, and enjoy working with clay. We typically post new videos once per week so subscribe now so as not to miss the next one!
I made the mistake of using 2 different colors of clay but they had mismatched plasticity. You can imagine how my introduction to nerikomi went sideways. Literally. Newbie goof!😢😅
Ann, I love your videos! They are always so inspirational to a new potter. I appreciate how you show that with some time, patience (and help from your videos) anyone can make beautiful art. Thanks again! 😀
Great video, I like the one finger on top to make sure it ripples/center. Yes on the frustration. Hoping once I get the clay to finally cone/center/open/pull up it will be a forever skill. Learning there is a relationship with the clay, the hands, the water, too much is bad, not enough is not good either. The timing of the the wheel spinning to centering is all a challenge. Many thank you's. Mona
Hey Easter. Great to hear from you. Im so glad you liked this video. I am always doing research and trying to think of ideas to present to you guys. Sometimes I can get on a roll with content and sometimes I struggle. Its not always easy, but I love a good challenge . Thanks as always for your support.
What a great video Ann! It was a lesson in creative textures mixed with visual ASMR: watching you pull off the various textures was really cool! I’m in love with your female sculpted mugs & heading straight to your store now! 😍🫶🏼
Hi Susan! Aww...thanks so much.. I am always doing research and keeping an eye out for new ways to work with the clay. A lot of times it is just experimenting and figuring out what works. Im so glad you stopped by to watch. 🙂
OMG ANN!! I think this would be amazing with lace over the female figure!! Soo many possibilities!! I know I’ve missed your last few videos but I’m catching up on them now. These are just amaaaazing!!! I also feel like if you put the handle on the side it would look like she has a hand on her hip!! lol!!
Hey Michele. I am glad you are back. Jim and I missed hearing from you. Im so glad you liked the video. Using lace on the female formed mugs is brilliant! Why didnt I think of that. I bet you could come up with plenty of other types of ways to clothe those figures. Thanks for the inspiration. 🙂
Haha, My thoughts exactly. Time is always going faster when I am working in the studio. I am so glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks so much for watching!!
Hi Laura. Thanks so much for reaching out. I actually have thought of something like that. I saw somewhere where someone was making travel mugs with a locking lid so the liquid wouldnt spill out and I thought about making them, but lids are not my favorite things to make. I work with a very fine porcelain that likes to "move" in the high fire. This means that I might construct something with several parts that fit together great in the greenware stage and even the bisque stage. But the high firing will change the shape just a little to where the pieces dont fit as well. it doesnt happen every time, but it has happened enough to where I got tired of spending a lot of time trying to make things that fit together only to be disappointed in the end when I have to throw it away. Maybe I need to switch to low fire clay, haha. I will keep thinking about this though. If I can think of a way to do it with greater success at my mid range temps, I will make a video for sure.
Hi Lamardon. haha. Now, that is so true. On the other hand, it would be fun to experiment with some of these materials and let them slide down the pot. Let nature and gravity take over and see what kind of textures you would get from that. you would be recording the reactions from the law of gravity. that might be really interesting. .... and then there are times where I just really need to turn off my brain and reset, haha. Thanks so much for watching!
Those are great! I especially liked the vase! The leaf mug was so cute with the bees. The lady mug was beautiful! I thought you were going to give her old tattered bra and undies lol❤️🤗🐝
Hey Deborah! Haha, That would be so funny. I bet there are a lot of other ways to clothe those female forms for sure. Im so glad you liked the video. Thanks as always for watching and for your support. 🙂
Hi Christina! That is great!! Im so glad to hear that you liked the video and are inspired to give it a go. Thanks for watching and supporting our channel.
I love this and I’d like to see how you built the leaf shaped vessel. I’m curious-what happens if you leave the grape leaves on for the bisque fire? Is there a reason this would be a bad idea? Thank you for all your creative videos and for the work that goes in to making them!❤
I've bisque fired botanicals pressed into pieces. Great texture, but need to brush the ashes out of the crevices. But that was without covering with slip. I might have to try it and see what happens.
Lovely textures 😊. Just one question. When did you apply the underglaze? Before or after bisque firing? So I guess two questions 😂. I would like to see the leaf vase too. Thank you ❤
Hi Trine. Thanks so much! I like to do the underglaze washing when the piece is totally bone dry and in the greenware stage. I seem to get a cleaner surface at that stage as I can go back and even scrape away areas where the wash has lodged itself. One tip is that in the greenware stage, I also went in with a tiny paint brush filled with black underglaze and brushed in lines etc....any areas where the imagery didnt quite register as well ...to complete the lines. Does that make sense? I am a bit of a perfectionist that way. Oh thanks for letting me know about the leaf vase. Jim and I will get on that. 🙂
I love this. How could I not? Sometimes I use thin suede I salvaged from an old light weight leather jacket. Soaking that in slip and doing the same thing as you so nicely demonstrate here.
Archeologists believe that ancient Egyptians used organic material cores (especially for beads) that would be combusted during the firing process. Do you think it’s possible that the stem could have been formed around and organic combustible core?
Dont know, that is an interesting hypothesis though. I can see why they would be less concerned about the burn off of organic materials vs. today...gotta think more about that one! Interesting.
i loved the quilting effect the buttons just finished it off and last week i played with my first use of sodium silicate, i could have lots of fun with that. mini disaster and my almost finished pot suddenly left the wheel denting part of the wheel, was able to round the upper edge with a yougurt pot and a fellow potter sugested it looked like a smile and that i should dab a flash of red like lipstick, when I mentioned I could add teeth, 2 laughted, sadly the rest just looked and shook their heads.lol
ann, always good to go back to basics, we have a great teacher, thats you, to teach us the easy way to do things. always a pleasure to watch , listen and learn thankyou
