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Leveling Up Your Underglaze Illustrations |Caitie North|
246 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of Shaping Your Pottery Catie North shares her transition from watercolor to pottery, revealing how underglaze techniques can mimic watercolor effects. The conversation covers the intersection of pottery with anime and video game inspirations, and the challenges of creating vibrant, neon-colored glazes. Listeners will learn practical advice on mastering underglaze, the benefits of slip casting, and strategies for promoting pottery on social media. Emphasis is placed on the importance of community, finding one's artistic voice, and the growth stemming from creative collaborations and personal experiences, including insights from a successful partnership with Riot Games. You can learn more about Caitie by checking out her instagram https://www.instagram.com/caitienorth/
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00:00 Introduction and Newsletter Invitation 00:17 Interview with Catie North: Watercolor to Underglaze 01:39 Catie's Journey into Pottery 03:03 From Watercolor Artist to Pottery Enthusiast 05:39 The Intersection of Watercolor Techniques and Pottery 07:19 Creating Unique Pottery Inspired by Anime and Video Games 12:06 Developing and Teaching Underglaze Techniques 18:13 Common Mistakes with Underglaze 18:29 Exploring Slip Casting 21:23 Transition to Full-Time Potter 24:45 Navigating Social Media for Pottery 27:10 Starting Commissions 28:46 Finding Your Artistic Voice 31:52 The Importance of Community 34:47 Advice for Aspiring Potters 35:56 Conclusion and Where to Find More
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Transcript
Introduction and Newsletter Invitation
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey real quick before we get started, if you want to dive deeper into the techniques and the lessons I've learned from the potters I've interviewed, come join the Shaping Your Pottery newsletter to dive deeper and learn more about pottery. Go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash newsletter or click the links in the description.
Meet Katie Nord: Watercolor and Pottery Fusion
00:00:17
Speaker
What if you could turn your underglaze illustration and make it look like watercolor art?
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, in today's interview, I got to interview Katie Nord. And Katie spent the last two and a half years learning how to do exactly that because she was a former watercolor artist and she wanted to learn how to do that. In this episode, you'll also learn how Katie does commissions for her own pottery. You'll also learn about finding your voice and getting ah the power of getting around other potters as well. And there's so much more in this episode. Hope you guys enjoy it and I'll see you guys there.
00:00:50
Speaker
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. Katie, welcome to Shaping Pottery and share with me what's a commonly held belief in a pottery world that you passionately disagree with.
00:01:09
Speaker
See this is like one of my only questions that I was like struggling with because I don't know I don't know if I have any like I mean I don't know if it's widely believed that it's really hard to paint in Thundercraze so I feel like that would be my my number one but I don't know if that many people think that so yeah that's probably you can do a lot of detailed painting with Undercraze and a lot of people assume that's not possible would probably be my answer yeah love that. So tell me the story how you got started making pottery.
The Transition: Watercolor to Pottery
00:01:43
Speaker
So I've always wanted to try it and I thought it looked amazing and I've always had a home studio for doing my watercolor paintings and my commission and I have two rambunctious boys and I needed to get out of the house and there was a studio that opened
00:02:01
Speaker
very close to me when we were living in McKinney, Texas. And so I just signed up for it and kind of went for it. And completely became like, I don't even think loved it was a good enough word, but like completely obsessed. So That's, that was the push. My husband did get me a wheel for Christmas, like one of the cheap Amazon ones. And I'm pretty like confident with most artistic, you know, mediums. And I was like, I went into it super confident and be like, I was gonna be so good at this. And I like massively failed, like massively failed. And I was like, this, this is like one of those times you're like, I think I actually need some professional instruction. for So but yeah, that's how we started.
00:02:46
Speaker
I love it. I still use my Amazon wheel all the time. like it's just That's my go-to right now. I love it. I love it. Yeah, I have a whole set up for my kiddos and they have the the the wheel for theirs, the Amazon one. so It's like even shorter, so it sits there. Yep. Absolutely love that. so As you mentioned, before becoming a ceramic artist, you were a watercolor artist. Tell me more about this. Yeah. I i have been a watercolor artist for years, years and years, I think actually since high school, which is insane. And I've always done commissions. I didn't do it as like my sole job until after kids, but but I was using the specific watercolor companies forever.
00:03:29
Speaker
And around COVID time, I had a friend reach out that wanted to do online tutorials. And so we did this whole little three watercolor class. And one of my other friends, I was doing this like online course too, did like messaged me about this the watercolor company that I use that was just to answer your question. I already got sidetracked.
00:03:51
Speaker
But they they said they're like, hey, they're looking for a social media person and someone to teach their online classes for YouTube. You should do it. and they I got it, which was crazy. So they were, they're just as like weird and like, it's a super cute family. They're called Cheerless Watercolors. So I feel like that's when I started taking my watercolors a little bit more professionally, but I've always done it. I've done it for like 20 years with just the same company and I'm just being completely obsessed with them and their products. And they've had the same formula since like the night, like 1800 or something. They're so cool. So.
Technique Translation: Watercolor to Underglaze
00:04:29
Speaker
But yeah, I've always done like commissions and small things I used to do live painting at music festivals or yeah, just trying to think that was pre-pottery. the moment you decided to focus more on pottery and less when waterco That's kind of hard because when we we move a lot for work and so we so he planned on moving, we moved to McKinney and we moved from California to Texas and I didn't have my studio set up yet and I was kind of taking a break from editing while we were moving and like so many further their kind content and their YouTube tutorials.
00:05:08
Speaker
And so like I felt like if I were just to jump right back into that I needed to do like I think I would have went a little crazy. you didn't So I really needed that like get out of the house push to go to the studio. So I feel like I mean pottery was like instant. So like I think it's is switched probably right when we moved and I wasn't doing the ah tutorials and then being in the studio I was just like oh so damn okay fine so like I get it I get what everyone's talking about so like this is just what this is what it's gonna be now absolutely love it so how did being a watercolor artist help you with your own pottery?
00:05:43
Speaker
This is huge. I feel like anybody that is a watercolor artist that's never tried underglaze before, i almost 90% of the the techniques that you use for watercolor completely translate into underglaze. The transparency aspect of it, just like the way that you layer, all, I mean, even saturating certain areas to try to lift off the colors. It's like and' insane how much it translate the only difference is that when you're working with watercolors like sees the layer dries you can see exactly what it's there but oh like under glaze has like the opacity like changes and it becomes like opaque once it dries so you can't see the underneath layer so i kind of like tell people like it's still like watercolors but it looks like wash am i saying that right wash
00:06:35
Speaker
until after firing and then once you put your clear underglaze over it you see all of the layers again exactly how you would with watercolor and it's just like you have to envision the final product but the steps are the same so yeah it's just it's really cool so everything that i've done that like i used to do i just like switches over with some you know some changes underglaze is weird and firing temperatures like you know do crazy things and change stuff but the painting steps are very similar. Absolutely love that. Shaping Nation if you have experience with watercolor or maybe even other art forms you can translate that back into your own pottery and make something completely original to you. Absolutely love that.
Artistic Popularity and Anime Influence
00:07:18
Speaker
So let's talk about your pottery. Tell me the story how you started making the pottery that you make today.
00:07:25
Speaker
I just finished, I feel like I just finished up a couple like smaller painted things and they weren' they're cute and I don't like them, they're still painted pieces, but I did a jinx cut for myself just to see like how many layers of underglaze and like what actually happens and I really just made it for myself and it blew up.
00:07:50
Speaker
and And I'm like, oh wow, there's like a lot of people that like this, like that's weird. And kind of just, it really just started with that one cup and it's just, yeah, it went crazy. Kind of crazy. What were you feeling when a lot of more attention started coming towards your cup? Nervous. I don't know. I feel like there's like this like weird hate on about like social media and internet, but like,
00:08:16
Speaker
I feel like we've moved so much that I really value my online community. And I feel like, in general, the gaming and anime community is really weird and this funky and like usually a good level of like understanding humans. ah that should So they're probably a little less scary. I see other things, and they get like a lot of like really negative comments for no reason.
00:08:43
Speaker
And I just, I feel like there's just maybe not as much of that in that community. And then also with like the pottery community is pretty like supportive. And yeah, so I feel pretty lucky with as much more traction as it's getting like everyone pretty awesome.
00:09:01
Speaker
absolutely loved that. So as you just mentioned, you are inspired by anime, video games, and everything neon. How do these things impact the way you make your pottery? I feel like anime is a great way to start underglaze painting because there's not like a lot of variation in color. Like they have like one skin, two in color, and then white shadow skin to color and like equally like their hair has like two tones so like I feel starting out and I was trying to figure out like the underglaze and what it does and things like that like I kind of stuck to more of the anime pieces just because they were a little bit easier to translate and not having to mix a ton of colors and then when I started that Jinx Cup was like the first one where I had more of my like normal style of paintings for watercolor and also like
00:09:49
Speaker
video game art is insane and it just looks you know they use very in purposeful like brush strokes and highlighted areas and really dramatic and like really bright colors and it's just really striking and I was like, yeah, I want to figure out how to do that on a couch. And I kind of just went from there. And then the whole neon glaze, I went down this rabbit hole of how to make the most insanely bright colored glazes that are as close to neon as I could get. And it all has to do with underglaze. So that kind of was
00:10:28
Speaker
having layers of underglaze underneath floating glazes so it's you know you have this like reactive color to the underglaze on top and just just yeah just trying to getting it as bright and bold as ridiculous as possible and like every time a cup would come out of the kiln and it was a report so the level of excitement just like motivates me and just yeah neon colors make me really happy so Absolutely love that how many layers are you? layering underglaze onto your pots Is the the question because if you do too many it will bubble and you will get like just like Wort looking awful pieces and just it's just it's so devastating But when you do like a heavy-handed, it's like two to three But if you layer it and softly with a watercolor brush, you could do like five to six
00:11:24
Speaker
meaning if you thin out the watercolor or the underglaze a little bit more to like a watercolor consistency you could get like five to seven but you have to take very like careful planning because if you go over and then once you get it out of the count and it's just like warts on the face or like you know everything all that time spent is gone probably at the most like six is usually and just building building the layers and building the depth in different colors so That is absolutely incredible. but The amount of detail you spend on your pots is incredible. Oh, yeah. know it's that They take forever. but Forever. Absolutely love with that.
Teaching and Technique: Color Theory and Underglaze
00:12:06
Speaker
So you spent the last two years learning how to paint underglaze in the style of your watercolor art, and you turned it into two courses. Tell me more about this.
00:12:15
Speaker
Well, I originally wanted them to be one course. And then I just realized that it was entirely too much information. And the time that that, you know, the first, probably the first year was understanding the why things would suck up because you would spend like hours on something and you would like match the colors perfectly and then you would get them out of the kiln and like I'm really like I was confident in mixing colors like would have having all of my painting experience and I would mix them the same way
00:12:48
Speaker
that I would with paint and then they would change completely differently. like they Some of the paints would completely disappear, other ones would like turn into like a soft like muted tone and I even like had this one painting that was so cool and it had was like a from the last unicorn and it was the princess and she instead of like a black outline she had this like crimson outline and it looks so cool and like soft and when I got it out of the kiln the person looks so weird but like all of the crannies don't outline completely fire like burned off in the kiln and you're like why is this happening so I did a
00:13:28
Speaker
color mixing chart and all these different saturation tests and different how they look with glaze and without glaze and because a lot of a lot of times too I wouldn't glaze a piece because whenever you glaze it it makes like a bigger difference in the color And I just wanted to understand why. So like when I started doing this course and doing it in person, too, like that was always the first step. It was to be like, OK, let's we' do saturation tests. We're going to do mixing charts. We're going to see what colors are going to work at the cone you're using. And like if there's like some changes in the color, like some of them will start out
00:14:05
Speaker
that look like a really minty green and then when you get them out of the kiln they're like almost like this dark dark green. So it's really hard to mix that traditional style of like color theory and have them turn out the way that you want. So the whole first course is understanding color theory and saturation and like how things change.
00:14:24
Speaker
with the kiln that you're using in the different temperatures. So, and then the next course is this fun course where you do more of like the actual like painting and, you know, all of the different little techniques and stuff. And I did a lot of the Tic-Con.
00:14:40
Speaker
In watercolor it's called fluid. There you go. So I do like a lot of the masking fluids to mask off certain areas while you're working on different ones and like you know you could do the same thing but with wax resist and if you're painting in greenware You that whole area is like yeah, there's just lots of little there's so many techniques that switch So like the second course is like all my little weird tricks that transfer from watercolor to underglaze and being able to layer more and we do what do we do we do the like portrait studies there's a black and white monochrome portrait and then a color portrait and how to
00:15:18
Speaker
mix like all the skin tones just with like underglaze and yeah but there's a lot of color theory too so there's there's um like undertones for skin tones and how to do muted colors and there's colored charts and mixing charts and color wheels and yeah it's it's a lot there's a lot of information in them So you mentioned that you were trying to find a way to correctly mix the colors without them, without the color changing. What advice would you give to people wanting to mix their own colors? A mixing chart would be the first place to start. So there, I have my other one. I don't know if you could see it, it's up there, but it's like.
00:16:03
Speaker
20, I think 16 colors by 16 colors. And in a traditional watercolor chart, it's the same diagonal system. But one side is more of a saturated watercolor side, and the other one is more of like a diluted or more app water added. So for mine, they're the exact same on both sides, but one has the zinc-free cleared glaze on top.
00:16:23
Speaker
and then the other side is left like raw under place so it doesn't have a clear but that's probably the most useful useful tool just to be able to be like if you're going to mix going to mix and you're trying to mix one color that is the perfect place to start and then like from that little swatch you can like change it up a little bit but yeah it takes a lot of practice though there's yeah and some colors i mean yeah they play nicer with other colors some and just having the chart would definitely be the first Yeah, my recommendation would be that. but the yeah Absolutely love that. So what do you think are the three most common mistakes people make when using underglaze? Saturation, for sure. If you want something to be fully opaque with the with one color, it needs to be three coats. I feel like that would be number one. That's usually like the most. And then again, if you add if you do too much, there will be bubbling. So not taking not keep keeping track of
00:17:23
Speaker
your layers. So if you do more than the three coats, then you have the potential for it to bubble. Mixing too dark. So most of the time too, even now the swatch from Amaco or from wherever, whatever underglaze you're using,
00:17:39
Speaker
it looks a little bit it looks a little bit lighter and i feel like if you're trying to match a color it's just a space that to lighten it a
Efficiency in Pottery: Slip Casting and Painting
00:17:50
Speaker
shade or two and you'll have a closer to your your desired result than like what actually happens it's mostly and i think to you a lot of times like there most of their swatches there might be for like a cone size. I feel check again. I feel like when you do it at a higher temperature, they can tap it can change. And a little bit of a change, you might be like, why isn't it that colorless? Absolutely love that. Shapingation. The three most common mistakes people make would make when using underglaze is one, the saturation of the color, two is keep track of all the layers you are doing, and then three is mixing too dark.
00:18:25
Speaker
Try to avoid these mistakes if you can. I absolutely love that. So something I love that you do is you started experimenting with slip casting. Tell me why you started doing this and instead of just sticking to wheel throwing. Did I start the first? I don't even know why I did the first one. I thought, I mean, now and I know why I'm continuing to do it, but I don't even remember why I started. So why are you continuing to do it?
00:18:49
Speaker
Yeah and I was trying to think why. So I love wheel throwing and it's and it's it's amazing and I think it it relaxes me and I have a lot of fun doing it but my pieces take anywhere from 10 hours to 30 hours to paint so that's not doesn't leave a ton of time for doing wheel things as much as I would like and then also now that I have a home studio I have to be able to fill up a kiln and then I don't want to just fire like you know you're gonna put a lot of stress on your elements and all your things if you're just firing one piece in there and
00:19:29
Speaker
the temperatures just going crazy with it just not being full. So I feel like in the morning I could do like a little collection like of all I think I have like maybe 15 different pieces slip gas and while I'm painting and I can kind of keep working and have some things to fill up the kiln but also having something at a lower price point and I'm equally as in love with my neon glazes and I think they're really cool. So having, you know, having a variety. But yeah, if I could make, if I had unlimited amount of hours in the day, I probably would do all wheel thrown things. But I do love keeping my my painting schedule. And that was what what makes me the most happy. But I feel like those painted pieces kind of need to be on my wheel pieces just to kind of keep like that quality and like having like
00:20:25
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah. I still think that Flipkast are cool and I've made some of my own Flipkast too and I've made like dragon eggs for my kids and then I turned them into like goblets and they're like, they're really cool. Like there's like unlimited options with Flipkast that you can just do.
00:20:41
Speaker
And like, yeah. Lower price point and playing around with neon glazes and not like having the, the, you know, it's not as scary as like doing it on a thrown piece. It's just like, I don't know if that messes up. I'll just, you know, slip cast a couple more and we'll see what happens. Like all of my glaze tests are on slip cast and pieces because I could just like to, you know, bang them out and while I'm still painting too. So.
00:21:09
Speaker
Absolutely love that. Shaping Nation, don't be afraid to try slip casting or add slip casting into your arsenal because it can help you clean up time to do other things. Yes, absolutely. So let's talk about the business side of pottery.
Going Viral and Collaborations
00:21:23
Speaker
Can you tell me about the moment when you decided to become a full-time potter? Well, I feel like I and i had like the moment when after my first drop and I'm like, yeah, I could do this and and then the second drop.
00:21:35
Speaker
like therefore So like, oh, maybe not. So I did a a series of lady cups and they all had under glazed tattoo designs drawn on them. And the first one was amazing. And I'm like, well, this can be like a real thing. And my husband even bought me, like the whole thing for like the LLC and like bought me this cute little sign and like, or made a cute little sign. And I'm like, oh yeah, this is great. And then like the next, like a few months later when I did the second one, it just like flopped and it just, yeah.
00:22:04
Speaker
it didn't it didn't go as well as I hoped so probably after that first jinx cup and then I always Riot Games reached out to me and asked me to do a promotion cup for one of their upcoming like new game releases and I was like oh like okay and then like living into that and having like be, yeah, like the whole like like social media side of being like, it's another added revenue to pottery. And it kind of blew my mind. And then they'd be reached out again for another, when they had another game and the new character was released and that, and added with my commissions, which were, which were progressing more and having like my schedule scaled up a little bit more. And then also teaching my first underglaze class at my last studio. So like at that point I was like, okay, like.
00:22:58
Speaker
I think I need to get my kid into um you know preschool and I can take this seriously and I got my first private studio instead of just a membership and like everything started to kind of like fall in line kind of right at the first time like at the same time and I was like okay like this this could actually be ah be a thing so this is this is going good. What were you feeling when Riot Games reached out to you to make a commission I was in shock. I was like, this is the coolest game. I was like, how is this real? yeah like so It's kind of scary. like You know like you're yeah have to figure out what to charge. and like what like You know like it's just yeah have to learn. i mean and i did do
00:23:48
Speaker
some of the social media for the watercolor companies. So I knew how to edit and do some things. Not that social media have made any freaking sense to me whatsoever. Because I did their social media for a year and their numbers didn't move at all. And I felt like a total failure and I had no idea what I'm doing. And then just for this huge company to be like, let's do this. I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, okay. And then, you know, like the Google adventure of like, how do I?
00:24:15
Speaker
make a contract and like, just like, you know, nobody knows what they're doing. They're just trying to just figure it out as it's happening. So it's, it was a lot of feelings. I was very excited, but yeah, I'm like, okay, we're just going to do it. Like just don't, yeah, don't think about it too much. Like talk to a few friends that have done similar things. Google adventures, like, you know, you YouTube Academy. And you just figure it out. So yeah.
00:24:45
Speaker
So let's talk a little bit about social media.
Social Media Strategy
00:24:48
Speaker
Right now, what seems to work well for you with promoting your own pottery? I mean, I feel like I have two separate groups right now. Like I feel like it, my my anime and gamer community that just loves to see my, you know, the the pieces and with the the music and having, you know, those are like, well, yeah, like my commission people and then the separate side of it after teaching the courses and now launching this, these two online courses, like this, then there's like this whole other pottery side of it.
00:25:21
Speaker
So I don't know how it's going to go. I feel like this last few months have been switching more to a pottery following, which is so weird to say. But yeah, it's weird. It's all weird. So I feel like as I maybe transfer back because now I'm back in my schedule going back to commissions and I'm curious to see how the audience. I don't even know these techniques. I don't even know if it's going to switch or if it's going to be pretty split. But like I feel like those are pretty good. like I kind of lose followers and then get more followers over here. And they're like, we don't want to see all this stuff. We want to see just this. but like So I'm curious to see how it's going to go. What was the question? it was was was What is Working Well for on social media for you? Social media is weird. And I feel like a lot of it has to do
00:26:12
Speaker
with luck and the algorithm and I think like the main thing about what works best is being consistent and eventually people are going to either like what they're seeing because it relates to them and like you know their interests like the my commission side of it they're all that video game anime like having like a certain kind of music that like I love that I'm obsessed with That's what they like. And then like I have the whole other side of the potters that like the step-by-step process and like the little tricks and like little helpful tips that can but they can help they can do in their own pottery. So I feel like if there's a good split of both of those, it might work well for now. But yeah, I feel like until you, yeah, it's it's a lot of a weird algorithm. However it works, because I still don't get it. Yes.
00:27:06
Speaker
I absolutely love that. So very quickly, let's talk about commissions. If someone wants to start doing their own commissions, what are the steps someone should take to make this reality? Yeah. I mean, I would just say post about it and just, I mean, I feel like I've done to commissions for a long time for watercolors. And it's usually, it usually starts with people that, you know, that want stuff. Thanks for our friends and family. And I feel like the more you just kind of like get it out there that you're saying you're doing commissions.
00:27:36
Speaker
and be like when I first started I would do like anything and everything and which is fun you know like you gotta you gotta start somewhere but like sometimes you know it's a little like nerve-wracking you don't want to take the same same kind of stuff over and over again but and then yeah the more you get your stuff out there and you let people know that you're doing commissions and filming the process if you're like you're talking specifically for like getting people from online yeah filming your process and like what goes into each thing and people get to see like the level of like attention each piece each gets they they kind of like see it as like oh this is actually a cool gift for somebody like yeah i could do this for somebody and the the interest and the the value of on your time and then they see
00:28:28
Speaker
kind of goes up too. Absolutely love that. That was some excellent advice. Shaking Nation, if you're thinking about doing commissions, start with friends or family and then post a process about it online and that way more people get eyes on your work and know that you're doing commissions. Some great advice right there. Gosh, I'm getting really well with that. Yeah.
Rediscovering Artistic Voice
00:28:46
Speaker
So let's talk about discovering your voice. Can you tell me about the moment when you knew you were heading in the right direction with your pottery? I still feel like it goes back to that jinx cup and just having having all of the different design elements on it that things that I enjoy and that I'm excited about. And for a long time too, you know, if you you do artwork about things that is in your environment. And like I was like a stay-at-home mom for a few years. And I feel like I kind of like lost a little bit of that like funkiness of myself. And I thought, you know, I should be more
00:29:25
Speaker
chill, chill mom, just like, oh, fine, we'll just, you know, go with the flow, whatever. And then, you know, I have been kids, and then then they they get really excited about things. And then like, you kind of like remember, like, oh, yeah, like, I used to get really excited about, I used to love anime, like, you know, like, my watercolor pieces, before, before I started working with the water company,
00:29:47
Speaker
were really bright and crazy and i went to like a lot of i did light painting at a lot of music festivals and so like a lot of that was like you know kind of just really intense like sacred geometry and just like really bright like they're not normal watercolor paintings like they have layers like four to five layers of watercolor on each piece too just like i do my pottery and so like for a while like after you know like we were we had a family now we're not going to music festivals we're not being all like wild and crazy and dancing all night like i felt like i kind of just like toned it down a little bit and then after that jinx cup i was like oh she's bad like whatever like i'm just gonna make them as crazy as possible and if anyone likes them like share and create but like i love them so like that's and then yeah well like they love them and they want them
00:30:37
Speaker
Yeah, it worked out. I love that shape nation. The most important thing when discovering your voice is whether you like your pottery or not, because that determines your voice. Absolutely love that. Yeah. So what would you say was your biggest obstacle when it came to finding your own voice? Getting the undergoes to do what I thought it was supposed to do. Basically, it's just like, you have, yeah, yeah, you see it in like the grade where stage when I'm holding and then all of a sudden, like,
00:31:05
Speaker
It just looked completely different by the time it was out of the fire and it's like, wow. Okay. And then, you know, there's times you're like, this isn't going to work and just keep, he'd be doing it. And then, yeah, that was honestly the first time I did the big mixing chart. Cause I was like, I need to understand what the fuck is going on. How do I get this to work? so I know it's possible. And I just need to know which, which which part of it is it, it's missing this up and.
00:31:35
Speaker
Yeah, after that things are a little bit easier just because you have like that base like you're, you're solid to land a foundation and you're like, okay, not gonna use that electric blue, that electric blue is gonna turn everything dark and and it's good to overpower it. rich Absolutely love that. So you could transfer your growth as an artist to finding a community of potters who are just as weird as you are. Tell me more about this.
Community Support and Artistic Exploration
00:32:00
Speaker
Well, yeah, definitely. They're so weird, and I love with them so much, and I've never even met any of them. So I have an amazing community from my last studio, and they're they're amazing, and I even have a really close friend that flew all the way here to help me out of my studio, and she's like my... like Diehard bestie that where when I'm doing to do my traveling workshops, I want to bring her and have her like, you know Part of the whole thing because she's been there since day one, but I also have this online group of specifically underglade painters and they they added me
00:32:37
Speaker
pretty are pretty much around that same time and there's some like we're all different like we have ah like doesn't like all different different ages and from all over different countries and everything and it's just where we're trying to figure out how to paint with underglaze and a lot of us are mostly the anim anime style but there's other ones too and they we just share we share each other's work on social media we share like underglaze tips we have just I don't know I feel like they're like the best group of humans ever and I just think it's hilarious that I've never met them but yeah I talked to them probably like
00:33:14
Speaker
once a day compared to like you know family members and friends that I haven't talked to in weeks you know so but yeah they're they're a valuable I don't even know. They're great. We do a gift exchange and around the holidays and we send each other our, you know, secret gift to exchange cups and they're just a wealth of information and support and like literally anything that you could be like, I don't know how to ship international and we just like put it in the group and then there's like five replies instant and they just like try this one, try this one, like if this does that then
00:33:50
Speaker
You know, it just makes it a little less scary because they're all kind of in it for the same reasons and trying to figure it all out. And it's great. They're wonderful. Yeah. Absolutely love that. Shaping Nation, one of the best things you could do for your pottery is to get around other weird people like yourself because you're going to grow so much and you're all going to grow together and you're going to learn new techniques so much faster that way. Absolutely love yeah that. 100% agree.
00:34:19
Speaker
Yeah. And two, I move a lot. So I got really like anxious about leaving the studio that I was at. So it was a great studio, but like knowing that I had the other supportive group that was online, like made moving less scary too. It was like, you don't lose your community every time you move. And I was really nervous about that. And they're like, they're just always there. Cause they're like, you know, it's online. Yeah.
00:34:46
Speaker
I love that. So now what advice would you give to someone who can discover their own unique voice with their pottery? I would just try all of it and it stuff excites you and you're just like really interested and equally if something like massively fails and it pisses you off and you're like determined just figure out how to like fix it like That's probably the thing that's going to be the coolest. Just having that like, I hate you, but im I'm going to figure that out. like That's probably going to be the best thing. so Which is a lot of putteries like that. like i thought yeah Like I said, I thought it was going to be easy and it's not. and Having that like yeah not like anger to like something and you're just like, once you figure it out, it makes it like that that much more
00:35:32
Speaker
exciting and rewarding. And so yeah, like it pisses you off. It's probably worth trying it again. I agree. And normally when I, when I come across those moments and I finally succeed, I'm always giving you a big flip it off to the fricking cup. Cause you're like, yes, finally. Yes. Absolutely love that. Just make it weird. arts and And whatever makes you happy. I absolutely love that. Katie, it was wonderful chatting with you today. Where can my listeners go and learn more about you?
00:36:00
Speaker
They go on my Instagram and I have a website as well. And then, yeah, those link up to my Thinkific account for my online courses. Don't go to TikTok. It's really boring over there. I forget to post stuff on that.
00:36:16
Speaker
It is there, but yeah, I forget about it. hey thanks for listening listening this episode of shaping your pottery with nick torres if you want to ma the art of pottery and dive deeper into techniques of the pottersza interview i created a newsletter that does just that it dives deep into the techniques of the potters i interview if you want to learn more go to shapingourpody dot com slash newsletter or click the link in the description learn more