Now on Etsy.com

If you would like to purchase one of my pieces, I'm now on markschilling.etsy.com.

New Mini Lamps

For a number of years, I have been working on table lamp designs. Recently, I decided to focus on making mini table lamps. Because of their small size they fit the portions of the shapes that I like to throw on wheel. With shade they are going to be between seven and 13th inches tall. Here are two examples:

New Camera

One of my biggest challenges is shooting high quality pictures of my work. The goal is to produce a visually pleasing picture that is an honest representation of the piece. With a new camera and help from a good friend and an excellent photographer, am getting better.

Classic Urn Vase

These are large table lamps. The classic urn shape promotes height. I can throw multiple shapes and assemble them into one large piece. The lamp on the bottom is 17 inches tall and is a composite of 6 pieces.

Wine Coaster

This wine coaster is one of my latest projects. Since this piece has not been fired, it is called green ware. In this state, it can be easily damage.

New Glaze

For the last several months, I've been trying several commercial glazes. Since they come in pints, I'm unable to dip the pieces, so I've applied them by brush.

This is a light blue shino glaze. Shino glazes were first developed in Japan around 1600.

Pedestal Vase

For this vase, my design goal was to create a tall piece that was simple in shape and emotionally warm. To get the height, I added a pedestal and used groves to give it unity. By applying a thin layer of glazes with a brush, it allowed the clay body to show through giving the piece a nice warmth.

First Bisque Firing

I have access to an electric kiln. Until now, I've been firing my pieces at the local pottery store. This should save me time and money.

This is a look inside. In case that I do something wrong, I loaded it with a few pieces.

Sake Bottle Bud Vases

Here are some more bud vases inspired by Japanese’s sake bottles. Please let me know your thoughts by giving your reaction below.

Sake Bottle Accent Lamp

I enjoy the simplicity, purity and functionality of Japanese ceramics. For my lamp, I drew inspiration from Japanese's sake bottles.

Handcrafted Ceramic Table Lamp

An updated version of a classic urn shape ceramic table lamp that I handmade.

Tulips

I found this color pencil drawing today that I did several years ago. It is a copy from an original work. I believe that the artist was Jakob Marrel.

Wine Bottle Coaster

The idea for my wine bottle coaster came out of my experimentation with throwing one ceramic form within another. The goal was to create the inside different from the outside.

With this design, the inner form is a cylinder to hold the wine bottle while creating a nice architectural outer form.

Classic Itailian Form

The inspiration for this vase came from classic Italian metal forms that I found on the internet. All the pieces had groves cut into the surfaces to add unity and interest. I've done the same with this piece by putting grooves below the lip and lower half of the vase body.

The foot on this vase was thrown apart from the body and later attached.

Bud Vases

Here are a few pieces from my latest firing. Most of the shapes were inspired from Japanese’s sake bottles.

I used traditional Japanese’s method called throwing off the hump, were a large lump of clay is used to throw multiple pieces. Because you don't need to attach and center a lump of clay for each piece, it is a quick way to work.

As a throwing aid, I used a throwing stick. This is used as an extension of your hand enabling the potter to reach inside of smaller pieces where a hand would not fit.