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#351 Pottery Fusion: Borrowing Techniques and Creating Originality
50 Plays2 years ago
In this podcast episode, host Nic Torres discusses how he incorporated five different pottery techniques into his own work. He emphasizes the importance of observing other people's pottery, but adapting and shaping them based on personal preferences rather than blindly copying them. He uses the examples of sculpting and underglazing techniques he admired in the work of other potters and talks about how he applied these methods while also retaining his own unique style. Nic concludes by sharing and inviting listeners to visit his website for a collection of 53 different themes they can apply to their pottery to avoid creative burnout and establish a distinctive style.
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
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Transcript
Introduction to Nick Torres and His Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
I stole 5 different potters techniques and put it into my own pottery. And here's what happened. What is up Shaped Nation? This is Nick Torres here for those that don't know me. It is my mission to help potters like yourself discover your own unique voice with your pottery and I do that through this podcast.
Developing a Unique Pottery Style
00:00:15
Speaker
In this episode I'm going to be talking about how I stole 5 different techniques from other potters and applied it to my own pottery. So I talk about all the time that and a bunch of other potters I've interviewed were also the same thing is that
00:00:29
Speaker
In order to find your voice, you want to look at other people's pottery and find what you like and pretty much model what they're doing. And that's a very, very, very easy way to start finding your own unique voice. And I did the same exact thing for my own pottery.
00:00:48
Speaker
So I took five different techniques such as sculpting, you know, different ways of using underglazes, some way, the way people shape their handles, shape their pots and a bunch of other different things in between. It's graffiti as
Inspiration from Other Potters
00:01:05
Speaker
well. And I apply that to my own pottery. But I didn't just simply steal what other people were doing.
00:01:14
Speaker
What I did was I found what I liked and I went down that road, but I didn't copy them. There's a big difference between copying and modeling or stealing and modeling. But what is that difference? So for me, the people that I chose to steal in air quotes is played by Dalin, Dalin Rebber,
00:01:43
Speaker
He makes some really incredible sculptural pottery or sculptural like things onto his mugs. And he puts like a little indent in his mug. So he kind of makes like a little cave almost for his animals and stuff. And for his little tiny sculptures that he puts on his mug. And I love his mugs. His mugs look so cool. And the way he tells a story with the scenery, it looks absolutely amazing.
00:02:11
Speaker
But what I didn't like about his mugs was that it was on the side of the mug. And that kind of takes away, to me, I love the design and love everything about it. But for me, it just wasn't that little part of it, wasn't something that I wanted in my own pottery. But I took what I liked about his pottery, the sculptures and the scenery, I took that part and I applied it into my own pottery.
00:02:40
Speaker
And then I did the same thing with glazes and using underglazes. So I really love Amy Rae Hill's pottery and she makes she doesn't even make like, you know, she doesn't make her own pottery at all. She like she actually buys it from somebody else and she just paints underglaze onto it. But the way she paints underglaze is absolutely amazing. And I love that stuff about her pottery.
00:03:07
Speaker
But the only difference is that her stuff is mainly for it's more space theme. And while I like the space theme stuff, I'm not really the biggest fan of it. I love what she's doing, but I know that that's not the direction I would want to go.
00:03:23
Speaker
So I took
Integrating and Adapting Techniques
00:03:24
Speaker
what I liked from her techniques and that is simply just the way she glazes her pottery. And I'm trying to apply that to my own pottery now as well. I'm not taking, I'm not doing exactly what she's doing. I'm just doing what I like about her pottery. And that's the way she glazes and the way she textures and the way she used underglaze for her own pottery. And that's where I'm applying it to my own pottery. And so there's so many other things that you could do just to simply
00:03:52
Speaker
If you look at other people's pottery and you like what they're doing, ask yourself, what do you like about this pottery? And then ask yourself, what do you don't like about the pottery? For example, with Amy Rae Hill's pottery that I just mentioned was that I didn't necessarily like the shapes that she used for her pot that she bought from other people. The shapes are fine, just not the type of shapes that I would like to make.
00:04:19
Speaker
So I cut that out and I left it out. But I love the way she glazes. I love the way she uses underglaze. So I tried to apply that method and used it into my own pottery. And I did that with a bunch of other people. I like people that have made double walled mugs. But the thing with double walled mugs is is that.
00:04:39
Speaker
But what I was trying to do was making sculptures beneath the mug. I didn't have enough room, but I could still apply that same concept of using a double walled mug and apply it to my own pottery. So that's just a couple of examples of how I use how I look at other potters and how I steal and cop and model my pottery off of them. But I'm not copying them because they have their own style, but you have your own style. You could love what they're doing.
00:05:07
Speaker
But you don't have to be making what they're exactly making because you're going to have different interests and they're going to have different interests. And if you just try to copy them, then that's not going to be your work. You can model what they're doing by taking the techniques they're using and apply that into your own pottery. But find your own thing that you like to do. I
Conclusion and Resources
00:05:28
Speaker
hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery.
00:05:35
Speaker
If you are struggling with finding your own theme for your pottery so that you are known for something, I put together 53 themes that you can use and you can take. All you have to do is go to ShapingYourPottery.com
00:05:52
Speaker
or slash 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes. It's really important for you to find a theme for your pottery so that you're not gonna get burnt out. You can have multiple styles with your pottery and you can be known for something. So again, go to shapingyourpottery.com or slash 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes. Thanks guys, I'll see you guys next time.