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#130 Making Forest Pottery w/ Rosie Shelton
30 Plays3 years ago
What is up Shaping Nation on this episode of Shaping Your Pottery I got to interview Rosie Shelton. Rosie makes some really incredible forest pottery she has been making pottery for just about two years now but she has found what she like to make. You can learn more about Rosie by checking out her Instagram @forest.and.finch
Top 3 value bombs
- How to take inspiration from Nature
- Making pottery easy for yourself so you focus more on experimenting
- Taking inspiration from other potters but putting your own twist on them
The Questions we ask will determine how our pottery will look like that's why I created a Free 15 questions to help you discover your voice template go grab it here www.shapingyourpottery.com/questions
Support the podcast by signing up for the Shaping Your Pottery Patreon here 👉 patreon.com/ShapingYourPottery
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Transcript
Introduction and Patreon Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
If you would like to support the podcast and get bonus content every single month, then come support me on my Patreon where I will give you bonus content on about how to make pottery, how to find your voice, and a bunch of other things just around pottery.
00:00:20
Speaker
come support me on my my patreon just go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash patreon to come support the podcast i would really appreciate it i'll see you guys next time if you love pottery and want to take your skills to the next level you're in the right place find your own pottery style right here on shaping your pottery with nick torres let's get started
Guest Introduction: Rosie Shelton
00:00:46
Speaker
What is up Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here and on this episode of Shaping Your Pottery I got to interview Rosie Shelton. Rosie makes some really incredible mushroom themed and nature themed pottery and she takes inspiration from her time when she spent in the UK.
00:01:04
Speaker
In this episode, you will learn about how modeling other potters is a really good thing and taking inspiration for them is a really good thing, but putting your own twist on things so you're not copying them. You'll also learn how to create Rosie's mushroom themed and nature themed pottery. And finally, you'll also learn about
00:01:30
Speaker
a hack to make things easier for you if you want to be making the same thing over and over again while still being able to put your own spin on things.
Pottery Journey and Inspirations
00:01:41
Speaker
Rosie, welcome to Shaping Your Pottery and share with me what is something people might not know about you? Some things that people might not know about me is that I actually lived in the UK for two years during lockdown and I only got back to, I live in Australia, so I only got back to Australia kind of
00:01:59
Speaker
after lockdown had really finished. So that was an experience because UK was quite a hub for COVID, unfortunately. That is very interesting. So can you tell me the story, how you got started with Sremx? So the UK story kind of actually ties in with it. I've always wanted to have my own business. I've always been a creative and I've tried
00:02:27
Speaker
things on and off throughout the years like jewelry making and stuff like that. And I'd always wanted to take a pottery class and I decided when I moved to the UK
00:02:37
Speaker
I was gonna do a whole bunch of things that I've always wanted to do and taking a pottery class was one of them, but then unfortunately COVID hit and I didn't get to do any of them. And so when I finally got back to Australia, I was like, I'm just gonna do it. Like, I'm not even gonna take a pottery class. I'm just gonna buy a bag of clay and just start making stuff. And that's what I did. So I started that around the middle of 2021.
00:03:05
Speaker
I'm glad you mentioned that you just started making pottery with a bag of clay. I'm so glad you said that. Shaping Nation, if you're listening right now, you don't need a bunch of resources to get started making pottery or to start finding your voice. All you need is a bag of clay and to start experimenting. That's all you have to
Starting Pottery with Minimal Resources
00:03:23
Speaker
start doing. I'm so glad you brought that up.
00:03:25
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100% because there's places that will then fire it for you. So I had a local ceramic studio and I bought my bag of clay from them, came home and started making stuff and they were awful. I had no idea how to make anything because I'd seen clips on YouTube and I was like, oh, that looks kind of easy. She just made a whole mug. I'm going to do that. And then the first mug I made was like,
00:03:47
Speaker
It wasn't even a mug. I couldn't even get the walls up. And this is hand building, not throwing. And I had no idea how to do it. But as you practice, it works. And I fired those first pieces anyway because you can go to your local place and get them fired. And just creating and starting is just so fun and exciting. Absolutely. That's some wonderful advice. So can you describe me the moment when you knew part of it was going to be your thing and to pursue it further?
00:04:14
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Probably when I got my stuff back from the ceramic shooter from the Kiln the first time, because I was just like, oh my gosh, I made this. From start to finish,
00:04:26
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I made it. Like this is so cool. Like there's something different about eating or drinking or even just like if it's an ornament, just like looking around and like seeing what you've made and you're like, that was me, like from start to finish. It's not like I bought all materials and it's like put, don't get me wrong, they're hard as well. Like those little cardboard things that you like put together and create something magical. Um, but from like just a ball of clay, like dirt,
00:04:53
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to them, like, I'm eating noodles out of my own bowl. Like, that's just such a cool feeling. I was like, I've got to keep doing it. I love that. That is really amazing.
Naming the Pottery Business
00:05:01
Speaker
So tell me the story, how you came up with the name Forrest and Finch. So my friend actually came up with this. Shout out to Christy. So she gave me like a whole bunch of names because I was like, I don't I'm not very good at coming up with names. And I had like a whole bunch. I'm not very good. I just like
00:05:22
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I like go overboard and think of like 30 and then I'm like, I don't know if they're that great. But then I always ask people like, do you have any idea? Like I want to do like nature themed blah, blah, blah. And she came up with quite a few ones and one of them was for us and Finch and I instantly was like, that's really cool. Like I think I'm going to have to use this. Do you mind? She's like, go for it. So I didn't actually come with it. My friend did.
00:05:45
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Love it, that's amazing. So let's talk about your pottery.
Inspiration from Nature: UK vs Australia
00:05:50
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You are inspired by forests and nature. What is it about forests and nature that is inspiring to you? So to narrow down even further, it's northern hemisphere forests and nature. The southern hemisphere, and maybe not just the southern hemisphere, maybe I'll say
00:06:06
Speaker
like where I live in particular. So I live in Australia. I live in Queensland, Brisbane specifically, and it's humid and it's tropical and it's not foresty and there's not much moss and it's hot and sweaty most of the time. And then when I went to the UK, I was like, this is my weather. Like it's foggy. It's misty. It's rainy. There's moss falling off the roofs.
00:06:31
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Like there's mushrooms everywhere like just growing and it just seemed like a whole different world to me like it was so Magical and like I just felt like a little fairy like in the forest and I was like this Feeling like this is what I want to capture so that when I am back home I
00:06:48
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And it's like there's a palm tree outside and it's ridiculously hot and I'm like sweating balls. Like I can drink out of my mug and be like, ah, two degrees in the forest. This is great. Like, even though it's like really hot.
00:07:03
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That's amazing. I love that. I love that you use what you went from when you were in UK and you put that into your pottery. I love that so much. So something I found interesting from your website is that you create items that make you feel like you are in of the woods that you dream of. And can you explain that to me further?
00:07:23
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A lot of my poetry has to do with mushrooms. So again, kind of following off from what I was saying, like I want to create something that kind of captures that feeling of what I felt when I was in those like forests that speak to me rather than like the Australian bush. Again, the Australian flora and fauna is just so different. It's very harsh. It's beautiful. Like don't get me wrong. I love Australia and
00:07:51
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nature is absolutely fantastic but it's different and with all the mushrooms I do a lot of like the red cat mushrooms and stuff and you just don't see them here again I can't speak for like southern Australia I'm speaking for like the tropics of Australia because Australia is so big I'm sure that there are those type of mushrooms in places like
00:08:14
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Melbourne and Canberra and stuff like that. But when you go further north in Australia, you just don't see those like mushrooms like the red caps and stuff that to me seem so magical and like fairy tale like because I just have never not grown up seeing them. So when I see them, I'm like, that's that's not real. Like this is a fairy tale, even though like it obviously is real, but like just for me growing up, it wasn't a real thing. That's I love that. I love that you are like literally like almost like
00:08:44
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embracing your inner child almost, like I would say. Yeah, 100%. That was another big thing, like, not even pottery wise, just going to the UK. I know it's a very cliche thing. I don't know if maybe where you live, it's a cliche thing, but for Australians, it's a very cliche thing to be like, oh, I've gone to the UK to find myself
Reconnecting with Childlike Joy
00:09:03
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because it's very easy to get a visa in the UK because we're also a Commonwealth country. So the UK is just a very common place for people to go for like two years.
00:09:14
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But that's legitimately what I did. I was just like, I need to go, I'm not happy with my life right now, I need to go to the UK. And I did just find that connecting with those things that I'm like, if I like this, why don't I let myself have that child joy about it? Like, why don't I let myself be really excited about the mushrooms and not just be like, oh yeah, mushrooms, they're kind of cool. Be like, oh my God, they're mushrooms. Like, let myself be that child like that you kind of grow up and you taught to stop.
00:09:42
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But I was in a different country. I could be whoever I wanted to be. And I was like, I want to be happy. So I want to let myself be that and exude that. I definitely agree. I get excited by such little things. It's like, yes, it's so amazing. I love that. It makes your life so much more joyous. I definitely agree. That's really cool. So can you walk me through how you create your force in mushroom pottery?
Pottery Techniques and Creative Process
00:10:08
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So I originally started with hand building.
00:10:11
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And then I quickly discovered that if I had to make the same mug 50 times in a row, I would quit. So I decided to start hand building a huge version of the mug and then getting that made into a mould. So these are all my moulds and slip casting instead.
00:10:37
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So there's some molds that I have bought. So from like the Arnold's Merry Mushroom Collection, that's like a vintage collection that is very sought after. I was just very lucky that I managed to find like a teacot and a mug. And I recently have been gifted a whole like bunch more of the set by someone very kind who's just like, just have them. And I was like, wow, that's so kind of you. So some of them I didn't personally make, but some of them I create myself
00:11:06
Speaker
as like a hand built mug and then get it cast so that I can then pour them and pour as many as I want without having to sit there and create each one from start to finish in a hand built way, I can pour it and then finesse it. And I learned very quickly that that's how I would have to operate because even if I absolutely love something, if I have to do it
00:11:31
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so unbelievably repetitively, I'll end up losing my passion for it. So I needed to find a way that I could still create things that I love and still are mine, but in a different way.
00:11:46
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I love that you said that. Shaping the issue for listening right now. How can you make making pottery easier for yourself so you don't get stuck in the repetition of doing the same thing over and over again? And how can you like cut half the process out by simply maybe doing flip casting or changing up a completely different style? How can you make it easier for yourself to make pottery so you continue doing it further? Yeah, like, don't get me wrong, so casting is sometimes harder, like, and sometimes takes even longer.
00:12:15
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but it's longer in a different way. So I needed to find where I personally wanted to put that time. So instead of being like, oh, I'm going to take an hour from start to finish to sit here and hand build this mug and add on all the mushrooms, or do I want to pour it, wait an hour, do some other admin stuff, or pour like five casts at once and wait that time, and then sit there and at the perfect time, I need to like,
00:12:46
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fix it all up and stuff like that. And then my time is spent in the waiting stage rather than the sitting there stage. So it takes longer but it takes less time at the same time. Like I just had to choose where I wanted to put my time to get pretty much the same product. It frees you up to do like other things when you do it like this way. Yeah. So how do you create like new like what's your process when you're creating new designs for your pottery?
00:13:15
Speaker
So if I have an idea, I'll be like, oh, that's really cool. I'll usually make, I'll just make it. And then if I'm like, yep, that's pretty cool and I get like a good response from it, I will then try and make it bigger. So then I have a guy who I found, he creates casts wild thing creations down at the Gold Coast, Hinterlands. He creates the casts.
00:13:45
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And so I will then ship that off or like he'll come and collect it or I'll drop it off to him. The massive version of the mug. Like his one as an example. So I have these really little pumpkin mugs that I didn't create. Um, but I got given as, I got bought, sorry, as a little cast, but they're like this big. And everyone was like, I love pumpkin mugs, but they're like tiny. So I was like, Oh, well I'll create my own pumpkin mug. So I made this massive boy.
00:14:12
Speaker
And then I got that cast and then I haven't actually gone through a full firing yet. This is still in the middle of the process. But then I have this is the cast version of this and this is in the bisque stage. This is yet to be fired. So I'll make the huge one. I have to try and factor in the shrinkage rate of the cast itself and then factor in the shrinkage rate of what it will be once it's cast. So there's almost
00:14:39
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three different shrinkage rates you've got to consider because this was then obviously made even bigger to begin with because this is fully fired so it's got its first shrinkage. Then this will be cast and then the cast will shrink slightly and then when I pour it it'll come out just slightly smaller than this and then that will then shrink again so I've got to make it like absolutely huge in the first one. But that's really my process in trying to get a cast of a handmade thing I've done.
00:15:07
Speaker
I love that process. It makes it still your own while still being able to kind of repeat it over and over again. I love that. So what advice would you give to someone trying to add nature into their pottery?
00:15:22
Speaker
Probably just be in nature, but also if you can't, because I know people live in cities and stuff like that, look at nature. We live in the social media era and so you can literally get on like nature TikTok or nature reels and like your algorithm will do the work for you and then you're just looking at all this nature stuff.
00:15:41
Speaker
um but it would also be just try and make it like it is so hard to actually recreate nature perfectly like you just can't do it like nature's so magical in its own way so just sit there and just start to try and make it
00:15:59
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And if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but you've learned something from that. And also a lot of the time your version of it is just as pretty in its own way because no one can then recreate that. You've made that by hand. You can't even recreate it. No one can recreate the same thing. So just be in nature and start trying to recreate it. Even if it's an unachievable goal, just try because you'll create something beautiful in the process.
00:16:27
Speaker
I definitely agree. Shaping Nation, the most important thing that you can do is just to try and make what is in your mind and try to put it onto the pottery. You may find something that nobody else can make, or maybe you can't even make again, and that is super unique to you. And I love that. What is something you are experimenting with to make your pottery look even better?
Skill Development and Wheel Throwing Goals
00:16:50
Speaker
Oh, okay. I wrote this one down. Hold on. What question is this? Sorry.
00:16:57
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Nine? Oh yes. So to try to make my pottery even better, I am wanting to get good at throwing on the wheel. Throwing on the wheel is something I'm just not very good at because I started hand building and then I went kind of straight into slip casting. I kind of bypassed what people think of when they think pottery. When people think pottery, they think wheel throwing. That's what most non-potters think.
00:17:23
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And I'm just not very good at it at all. I can never recreate the same.
00:17:29
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form twice. If I even managed to get at the end of it a cylinder that is centered, it's like a miracle. Like I just like, I don't know how I did it. Um, but I would love to be able to actually do that, like be able to be one of those people that can make a mug in one minute and then they make like 10 mugs in 10 minutes. And then it's like easy for them. I would love to be able to be that person because I think it would be that then I can start doing more
00:17:58
Speaker
one-off things. So at the moment it's kind of, I have an idea, I make the idea, it's slipcast. That's a set idea. I can't really change that. I can add onto the form, but again, slipcast plays a little different, like it's got to be the perfect
00:18:17
Speaker
I mean, clay in a sense has to be the perfect hardness a lot of the time. But with slip casting, because it has those extra additives, if you like agitate it, even when it looks like a mug, it may go back floppy. So adding it can be a bit risky. But if I could throw a bunch of
00:18:35
Speaker
vessels and then leave them to the perfect temperature. I could then maybe make more one-offs by adding on different things and having a monthly theme or something like that. Throwing is what I'm focusing on to try and up my game. Love it. That's some excellent advice for those out there trying to up their game a little bit more. Let's talk about finding your voice. What is something you did to help you discover your voice?
00:19:02
Speaker
I think looking at other people really helps. There's a big, I don't know if stigma is the right word, but there's a big thing about like, don't copy other people. And yeah, don't copy other people. I'm not condoning copying other people. But I think it makes people a bit scared to look at other people's work because then they're like, oh, if I really like that idea,
00:19:24
Speaker
Well, they have like a moon face with a mushroom on it. Well, I can't do that. Like, now what am I going to do? Like, I think it's a really cool idea. Whereas looking at other people's work really helps you go, yeah, that's a really cool idea. I like moon faces and mushrooms, but then it might spark something else in your mind. And then you have an offshoot idea here. And then like that idea might be like, oh, yeah, it's all right. And then you have another offshoot idea because looking at other people's work
00:19:54
Speaker
helps you find what you like what you want to achieve in like a oh my god that's so detailed yeah i really like detailed work or that's cartoony yeah i'm really into the cutie cartoon work it helps you decide what you like and what you don't like so that you know what you want to make yourself you're not copying them but you're finding inspiration from them and i think that really helps or helps me at least actually find like yeah like
00:20:23
Speaker
I love mushrooms. I know there's heaps of the people that like mushrooms. And there's some people that do such detailed mushrooms and they are beautiful. And every time I look at the detailed like red count mushrooms, I'm like, wow, imagine if I could make that, that would be amazing. But then I'm also like, I don't mind that my mushrooms aren't detailed, that they're a bit cutesy. Like that has kind of turned into my style. And I found that by looking at other people's work and finding ideas that their work sparked in my brain.
00:20:51
Speaker
I definitely agree. Shaping Nation, if you're listening right now, take inspiration from other potters, but don't copy them. Take inspiration, try to put your own spin on things so that you are making it truly your own rather than just copying them. That is some great advice there. What advice would you give to someone trying to find their own unique voice with their pottery? I guess pretty much more of the same. Like, look at other people's work.
00:21:19
Speaker
Also, you can go the step further in trying to create it. If you see some stuff and like don't sell it by any means, like if you're like, oh, I love this particular mug by this person. I want to try and create it to up my own skills. I think that's also good. Like don't then be like, I'm going to sell it to someone because that's literally ripping off another artist. But if you're making something for yourself and you're like, their pottery is great, I'm going to try and create that.
00:21:49
Speaker
for my own personal collection or whatever, or try and create it. And then even if you feel weird about it and you don't even want to fire it, you then just put it back in your reclaim bucket.
00:21:58
Speaker
But the making of it, you probably won't actually get there anyway. You probably will not end up with a product that actually looks like the product you're trying to create because you'll get other ideas in the process. You won't be able to because they probably spent 10 years trying to figure out how to do that technique and you have no idea how to do it and you're just trying to create it. So you won't end up with the same product anyway. And if you do, I mean, wow, that's really good on you. You must be great at pottery.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, you probably won't end up with that. In the process of you trying to just do a piece that is for you and just that is teaching you, you'll end up finding something else in that process. At least that's what I've found in my own way.
00:22:43
Speaker
I definitely agree with that. You don't need to or you should be modeling people but only to build your skills and I think that is really powerful. So as we're coming to a close here, what is one thing you want to hammer home with my audience today?
Uniqueness and Personal Touch in Pottery
00:23:00
Speaker
Probably that like handmade is so special. No one can create the same thing because
00:23:09
Speaker
Even with slip casting, when it's literally exactly the same mould, like I said, some of mine are from the Arnold's Merry Mushroom Collection. So there's like thousands of those moulds out there. There are people who I know that have the same teapot as me.
00:23:25
Speaker
but everyone puts their own energy into it. Everyone puts their own energy into the creating process, the painting process, the firing process, just in the general, the packing process, their own packaging, everything like that. So handmade is so unique in that way that like you will have something that you can give the pottery community or someone buying your work. There will be something different in that, even if it's just like the energy that you've put into your piece.
00:23:55
Speaker
It is different than anyone else's because no one else has your energy to put into that. No one else has your type of packaging or your ideas or your brain. So like buying a handmade piece is so special because it's like someone made it from start to finish and it's theirs. And like, it doesn't matter what it looks like in the end. It's different to anything else you've ever had. I definitely, that is some excellent last piece of advice. Rosie, it was really great chatting with you today. Where can my audience go and learn more about you?
00:24:25
Speaker
So you can go to my Instagram, which is at forest.and.finch. So it's just forest and finch, but that was taken. So I've put dots in the space, in where the spaces would be. Or my website is forestandfinch.com. But yeah, Instagram is probably my main place. That's where I post most of my social media. But if you're wanting to learn more about me, my website's also a good place to go.
00:24:52
Speaker
Thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to start discovering your own unique voice, you must first start with the right questions. That's why I put together a free 15 question booklet for you to start discovering your own unique pottery voice. All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash questions to get this free booklet.