All those trays you saw in the previous post, well, they got whisked away to Slippycarve town. Yes, that’s a real place. And we go there often. In fact, every piece of pottery that you see at Brewery Pottery that has our signature blue slip with a pattern carved into it, has made a journey to Slippycarve town. I joke, but am actually pretty serious.

Once the trays are formed (the post from yesterday), they dry a bit and then it’s time to paint on the slip and get to carving out the patterns. The photo below is after they’ve been slipped but before they’ve been carved.

We have about 15 signature patterns that we use. They all have quirky names and sometimes the patterns even get referred to as the “customer’s name here” pattern. We have a few customers that absolutely love one specific pattern and only want pottery pieces with that pattern. And so, a “name here” pattern is born.

We don’t really broadcast that name publicly, or most of our pattern names for that matter, but you better believe we use that lingo as we’re communicating amongst ourselves in the studio.

Above is a process photo of the (as Diana and Tom call it) “circles” pattern getting carved into that tray. Claire likes to call it the “Eye of Sauron” pattern, because.. well, look at it!

You may recognize that pattern from the mug we gave away in December of 2020 for the Monthly Mug Giveaway (#bpmmg) we started last year on our newsletter. It’s a pattern we carve quite frequently. Here’s a direct link to some of the carved pieces that are currently available on the website.

The above two photos are both showing completed trays, post carve, all lined up and drying out more on the work table. After these trays finish drying out it will be time for them to be bisque fired in our electric kiln. More on that step of the process another day.

Until then…

Be well and thanks for stopping by!
~Team BP