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#348 Fantasy Inspired Tiki Mugs: A Journey with Corey Dewitt
46 Plays2 years ago
An Interview with Corey Dewitt
In this episode of 'Shaping Your Pottery', host Nic Torres hosts Corey Dewitt, a Potter known for his fantasy-inspired Tiki mugs. Throughout the conversation, Corey highlights the importance of community in his ceramics journey, discusses his inspirations, and explains the reasoning behind his pre-order sales approach. He also shares his excitement over his successful 'One Piece' inspired mugs. Corey's unique pottery niche combines his love for anime with functional ceramics leading to a broad customer base. Corey finally stresses the need for aspiring ceramic artists to connect with communities —both offline and online— and leverage these platforms for learning and growing their reach.
00:00 Introduction to Corey and His Pottery Journey 02:05 Corey's Inspiration and Start in Pottery 04:27 The Importance of Functionality in Pottery 05:43 The Story Behind 'Captain of Nothing' 07:24 Creating Unique Fantasy-Inspired Pottery 09:53 The Role of Monster Clay in Pottery 15:30 Transitioning to Full-Time Pottery 20:17 The Art of Pre-Order Sales 23:56 Discovering Your Unique Voice in Pottery 25:29 The Power of Collaboration and Community 29:28 Final Thoughts and Parting Advice
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Transcript
Introduction to Cory Doit and His Craft
00:00:00
Speaker
Put yourself out there. Like, this community is great. That's Cory Doit, a potter who loves to make fantasy-inspired tea tea mugs. I'm always looking for a way to escape, and I don't think there's anything more in line with that than, like, fantasy. Like, it's a way for us
Managing Pre-Order Sales and Demand
00:00:18
Speaker
to escape. In this episode, Cory gives his best tips on how to have successful pre-order sale. I don't want to rely on being able to, you know, sell
00:00:28
Speaker
50 or 100 of them and not know that and put all the hours and time into it. One of the last things you'll learn is the importance of using your inspiration and putting that into your own pottery. Whatever you're inspired by, like try to incorporate that into your play. You're going to obsess about something. Everyone does. So why not try to put it into your work? And there's so much more in this episode. I hope you guys enjoy it and see you guys in there.
00:00:56
Speaker
Corey, welcome to Shape Your Pottery and share with me what is one thing that has helped you the most on your pottery journey so far?
Overcoming Barriers with Community Support
00:01:03
Speaker
You know, I'm sure you get this answer a lot, but I think it's the community itself. When I started dabbling into ceramics, I thought there was a huge barrier to enter. Like I had to have experience. I had to have some schooling in it or something. But like the more I talked with people in the community at my local ceramic store here in Houston,
00:01:25
Speaker
the more I found kind of open arms of like, you're having this issue, okay, let me help you here. And there was a lot of just...
00:01:34
Speaker
good community in that sense of like we help each other. You know, if you're having an issue with a glaze or a clay, it's pretty easy to reach out to another maker who probably is working with the same thing. And they are most of the time very open to helping with that issue. So I find that the best aspect, the best help in my ceramics growing it. I definitely agree. The ceramics community is definitely top tier when it comes to communities. I love it.
Inspiration from Tiki Mugs and Fantasy Themes
00:02:04
Speaker
So tell me the story, how you got started in pottery. You know, I actually got started in pottery from, from drinking. I'm sure not every potter says that, but when I moved to Houston in 2016, I was introduced to a bar here called Lalo and it's a, it's a Tiki bar. And I went there for the first time and I was just in awe of all of the mugs that they had on their back wall.
00:02:33
Speaker
And a lot of them were like classic, you know, 1950s, 1960s slipcast Tiki mugs, you know, you can find them at thrift stores and whatnot, but there was a lot that were made by small.
00:02:45
Speaker
makers and they'll make 50 of them, a hundred of them. And there'll be a limited series signed and, you know, they're worth a good chunk of change. And there's a lot of artistry in it. Like you can see, you know, how much effort went into making the piece. It wasn't just something manufactured from China. I was just blown away by that. I was like, wow, this is a form of art where I can use it and like,
00:03:14
Speaker
It doesn't just live on my wall. I can have function in it, but it's still trying transports you to a different like place. It's the experience of drinking out of it. So after seeing all of these mugs on the wall, it's like, I see so many good ideas, but I don't see stuff that I would want to make. Like there was a need, like I'm.
00:03:37
Speaker
a big nerd and I love, you know, anime and fantasy stuff and, you know, Lord of the Rings and my first mug was a golem. Like I wanted to make golems head as a tiki mug.
00:03:50
Speaker
So that like, you know, you kind of add that aspect, that fantasy aspect to escapism in a way with ceramics. And it's, you know, I could have carved it and made it out of resin or something, but ceramics is just so more, so much more like tangible usable has stood the test of time. Like there's something about ceramics that called to me in that. I actually have that little guy right here, my first mug. That's pretty good for first mug.
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, I was pretty happy with it, to be fair. That is solid. I love this. What is it about the functional part of pottery that just clicked for you?
The Allure of Functional Pottery
00:04:32
Speaker
For me, I grew up pretty artsy. I always loved making stuff, and I would obsess about new stuff all the time. But like I said, I never kept any of my pieces. I didn't feel proud enough to put it on the wall, and I didn't like that they didn't serve a function.
00:04:50
Speaker
I kept stuff that I made that was just for fun. You know, if I made some furniture or if I made a small sculpture or something like that, I've had more attachment to that. So like getting into functional ceramics was very easy for me to say, Oh, I can hold onto this. This is a piece that I'm proud of and I can use and it has function. So it just really, really called to me like to be able to have something that you can interact with.
00:05:18
Speaker
on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, whatever you are using it for, like a Tiki mug. You're not gonna have a Tiki drink every single day. So you might not use it every day, but like, you know, a coffee cup or a plate or something like that gets used all the time and it's an integral part of your life. And I just, I love that. That is so amazing. I definitely agree with you on that.
The Artistic Journey and Moniker Meaning
00:05:43
Speaker
So on your website, you call yourself the captain of nothing. Can you tell me more about this?
00:05:49
Speaker
Absolutely. So getting started, like I look at so many different accounts and artists and everyone has like a direction. Everyone kind of has their own vibe and you can see when someone's stamp is on something, like it just is evident.
00:06:06
Speaker
Uh, but I never really wanted to isolate myself to one niche. And I have always been, like I said, the type to move on to something else and like try to push myself and lose, not lose interest per se, but gain more interest in something else that like helps me grow as an artist and as a maker. So Cockswing Dunsell, the name itself comes from an old English, well, two old English names.
00:06:36
Speaker
Cockswain is a captain of a cock boat or a small boat that goes on a boat. So not really the captain of the ship, but they're still in charge of something, but a dunce is a part of a ship that's useless or has no purpose anymore. So I kind of gave myself a ironic name to say that I, I'm not going to be in charge of like where I'm going. Like I'm just going to let the waters take me like wherever.
00:07:01
Speaker
I want to, or whatever calls me in ceramics, I'm gonna go that way and explore those waters. So, plus it's a play on my initials, CD, or, you know, Cory DeWitt, Cox & Dunsall, so. I love that. Shape Nation, you don't have to be tied down doing the same things over and over again. If you want to try something else, you could go do that. You'd never tie down. I love that. So let's talk about your pottery. Can you tell me a story? How you started making your unique, fantasy-inspired vessels?
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, the first fantasy vessel was the Gollum mug. And I just bought a set of, I've worked with sulfur-based clays in the past, so they don't dry out for making Halloween masks in high school. That was a few month project that I wanted to make my own mask.
00:07:51
Speaker
I bought some more of it. I had some experience with it. And I said, this is what I'm going to use as my medium to practice sculpting stuff and to make molds. And I chose Gollum as my first one, probably just cause I was really reading Lord of the rings. And I was like, yeah, this, this would be a good one to start with. I've never seen someone do Gollum a mug in general. And the rest is history. I just, I had at the time.
00:08:21
Speaker
I had a garage in my apartment. So I rented a garage that was detached from my apartment. And I would go out there every evening and sculpt and work and bring these ideas and concepts and questions to Michelle at the ceramics store. And she would guide me and other ceramicists would guide me and help me create stuff that, you know, can last and be a decent, decent piece of work.
00:08:52
Speaker
I love that. What is it about fantasy that made you want to put it into your own pottery? I think fantasy, especially these days, like we're always, or at least I'm always looking for a way to escape. And I don't think there's anything more in line with that than like fantasy. Like it's a way for us to escape whatever situation we're having, whether it's hardships at home or hardships with, you know, COVID or
00:09:19
Speaker
whatever's happening in the world, it's a nice little escape to something that a lot of us love. You know, there's so many people who love whether it's, you know, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Star Wars, and anime. There's so many aspects of fantasy that, you know, are worth being explored in the ceramic realm, in my opinion, because not a lot of people have explored using it in a daily fashion. I love that.
Sculpting Techniques with Monster Clay
00:09:49
Speaker
So something from your Instagram that I found interesting is you will use monster clay before turning your idea into a slipcast. Can you explain to me what monster clay is and why you do this?
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Monster Clay is the type of clay I was talking about earlier that does not dry out. So you can remelt it and reform it so many different times. It's not a water-based clay. I think it's a sulfur-based clay or wax. I can't remember exactly what the base is, but there's a lot of different clays you can get like a Plastoline clay and they're all going to be the same concept. It just depends on your.
00:10:30
Speaker
level of much give you want it to have, how plastic it is or hard. But I like using that because sometimes some of my sculptures, like for example, my next Lord of the Rings themed one was this Lord of the Bob and it was very detailed. So having something with a whole bunch of detail is easier to work with a monster clay that won't dry out.
00:10:56
Speaker
to sculpt for weeks, maybe days, whatever it takes, not have to worry about covering it with a damp cloth or at cracking. And then in the molding process, cause I do it all or most of my sculpts are going to be sculpted molded cast. But for molding, I find it easier with a monster clay or a more plastic clay like that to mold because the plaster doesn't absorb the moisture.
00:11:25
Speaker
out. So if you're doing a complex mold, at least in my experience, if I'm doing a complex mold, sometimes a side of it might dry out more cause it might take me a few days to mold a piece. And I don't have to worry about keeping it damp while I'm molding it. So that's why I use it most of the time. Some sculpts like this coconut I did, that was my first like anime inspired mug.
00:11:50
Speaker
did in a normal low fire clay because it's a pretty simple shape and I can texture it and add the details very quickly so it's easier sometimes to depending on what the subject is to switch clays. That is a really smart idea like when I saw that on your Instagram like that is so good I could like anybody could do that as well.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. It's a little different going from like a water-based clay to it because like smoothing a, the monster clay and everything relies on a lot more tooling than it does like just taking a sponge and smoothing it out. So it's, it's a different type of sculpting that you have to get used to between the two, but anyone can do it. And it's great. I highly recommend it to anyone who's just wanting to start sculpting.
00:12:43
Speaker
to give it a shot, especially if you want to get more details on into that so smart. I love that. So one of the pieces that I absolutely love that you are that you made is your one piece inspired mugs. Can you tell me the story why you started creating these mugs?
00:13:01
Speaker
You know, I'm a nerd and I listen to a lot of different things while I'm working in the studio. I'm sure most people do. And one piece when I discovered it last a year and a half, two years ago was perfect because there's.
00:13:15
Speaker
a thousand plus episodes and most of them are English and English now so I would just listen and work with them. I listen to it and work in the studio all the time and you know it's hard not to get enthralled with the story and the crew and kind of just the the message behind One Piece and like the adventure with friends and everything.
00:13:39
Speaker
So I was determined to mix Tiki with One Piece in a barrel mug. One of the most iconic Tiki mugs is the rum barrel. And you know, the very first episode of One Piece, Luffy is
00:13:56
Speaker
a cast a sea and a rum barrel and breaks out. And that's how we're introduced to them. So I was like, wow, that's, that's a perfect combination to have this, you know, very iconic Tiki mug, but also, you know, Luffy's very first ship and to include all of the different aspects of his different crew up to this point on the barrel. So.
00:14:22
Speaker
that's what did it i guess why i absolutely love that because really even like you explained it i could picture it in my mind because i've seen it already like i absolutely love it so yeah what were you feeling when these first came out of the kiln
00:14:38
Speaker
Ooh, so much nervousness, but excitement. These were tricky. It was my first lidded vessel to make. So figuring out a way to keep the lids from warping and glaze them as well was a tricky thing. But when I first saw it come out of the kiln, it was perfect. I think I cried a little, like it was just...
00:15:00
Speaker
So, so great. Especially the full color ones like I did on this one. Having every sword, the fish, the meat, everything fully painted took so many hours. And, you know, when you're working with glaze and in ceramics, you never know how things are going to come out. So it was very nerve-wracking, but I'm very satisfied.
00:15:24
Speaker
I love it. I think they look great as well. So let's talk about the business side
Transitioning to Full-Time Pottery
00:15:30
Speaker
of pottery. Can you tell me about the moment when you decided to go full time with your pottery? Yeah, so I've been full time for at least a year and a half. And
00:15:42
Speaker
The moment came to me to go full time. So I say full time, I have another business as well. My other business is appraising planes, which is an interesting dichotomy between, you know, sitting at the computer and working and appraising the value of a jet or a helicopter versus like working in the studio and with mud.
00:16:04
Speaker
But I do both full-time. So I work like two full-time jobs essentially, but full-time, full-time in the studio took about a year and a half ago. And I just realized that there was so much work that I wanted to put out that I wouldn't be able to put out and meet the demand that, you know, thankfully so many people and so many supporters and great fans have.
00:16:26
Speaker
wanted a lot of my pieces and that as any Potter will tell you is like the best thing ever is that your pieces have someone that wants them and wants to take them home and in order to like meet that as well as get the other ideas out I needed to push myself to go full time and expand and buy a second kiln and buy a larger slip tank and
00:16:53
Speaker
uh, those investments needed to be able to, what's the word, they needed to balance the books. Like I needed to be able to make money off of those investments too. So it was a motivation for sure to move to full-time so I could produce what I need to produce. What were you feeling when you decided to go full-time? Nervous for sure. Like it's.
00:17:19
Speaker
especially not having like a cohesive, well, I feel like I have a cozy cohesive brand, but not like the same product every time. So I have a very, I'm lucky to have a good amount of supporters who continuously will purchase my work and collect to my work, but that's not always something to rely on when you're switching different genres all the time. You might lose some, someone might not be interested in the next design. So I think.
00:17:50
Speaker
The big nerve I had going forward is to continuously make something that people would be interested in next. Cause I'm not going to just make the same mug over and over again and rely on, you know, making enough off that it's going to be, what's the next project? Can that, you know, sell well and get a good profit enough to sustain myself off of. What would you say is how to do the most with being able to sell your own pottery?
Leveraging Community and Social Media
00:18:17
Speaker
I would say finding
00:18:20
Speaker
your community, like in the sense of your supporters, your fans, friends, the people who see the value in your work. And through, for me, that was through Instagram, as I'm sure a lot of potters and ceramicists will say, Instagram has been pivotal for connecting me with the people who like my work. So I would say that like just getting connected and sharing
00:18:50
Speaker
your piece with the people who want to see them. It's hard. I'm sure everyone is feeling it these days with the algorithm changes every month on getting in front of the right viewers or even your own followers. It's, it's hard to maintain your standing and staying in front of the people who you need to stay in front of, but just building yourself and putting yourself out there is the important part.
00:19:21
Speaker
I mean, I've talked with a lot of potters here in Houston who are great potters, but they're present online on Instagram is non-existent and they don't put themselves out there. And they don't see whether it's, if it's, they don't see the value in the worker, they find it too hard to like maintain a presence online and posting and all that.
00:19:45
Speaker
But I think that is a pivotal and critical thing in someone's ceramic or pottery careers to do so, like to be able to put out your work and show it off and entice the people that you are making it for, unless you just want to create for yourself.
00:20:06
Speaker
I love that, and I totally agree. Shaping Nation, you have to put yourself out there, especially if you want to be able to sell your pottery. Put yourself out there, take pictures of your pottery, take videos of your pottery, and put it out there. I love that. So, when you were first selling your one-piece mugs, you did a pre-order sale. Can you tell me why you decided to do this?
00:20:27
Speaker
So I love doing pre-orders, but only whenever I get to certain stages. So some people have a love-hate relationship with it, but for complex pieces like the One Piece mug, I don't want to rely on being able to, you know, sell 50 or a hundred of them and not know that and put all the hours and time into it.
00:20:51
Speaker
And with everything that I make being pretty niche, it's not the brightest idea to do that without knowing what your followers, your fans, supporters want. So I always do a pre-order when I'm ready to produce it. I've knocked out all of the glazing, like I know
00:21:11
Speaker
what it's going to cost me time wise, glaze wise, and I could produce a product that people want. Some people do pre-orders when they just have a concept. And I think that, that gives a lot of customers false hope and it can also push timelines back. I think every pre-order I've put out there, I've tried to beat by a month, at least of when I would have it delivered, I would have it delivered sooner, but it's all just to, you know,
00:21:41
Speaker
make sure that I'm not overproducing what I don't need to to meet the demand. And I think it's critical with very complex pieces. If I was doing shows all the time, it, it would be different, but I only do like one in-person market or show a year. And that's it. I think that's a different world between like, I guess the pottery, like potting versus like ceramics when it's very detailed and whatnot.
00:22:10
Speaker
What do you think is the key to having a successful pre-order sale? I'm going to define success as knowing exactly what it will take and setting those expectations for your customers so that they feel confident in it. If it's going to take me four weeks or if it's going to take me two months,
00:22:33
Speaker
Customers, a lot of times they want to have something for a specific date, especially the one piece mug. I had a lot of people who are like my best friend.
00:22:43
Speaker
it's birthday is coming up and I want to have it for that, or it's Christmas coming up and I want to get it for that. So like setting realistic expectations that can please the customer is a huge part of having a successful pre-order as far as successful pre-order on the monetary side. I think it's important to build up awareness of the product beforehand. So like the month leading up to the launch.
00:23:10
Speaker
to properly showcase your work, showcase what the item is, the new piece, and build up some hype as well as if you have a newsletter already. I like to send out a couple of newsletters to my previous buyers or client supporters and, you know, just make sure people are in the know before doing it.
00:23:36
Speaker
is not shocking if a pre-order goes bad because like no one knows it's happening or it's last minute. So just giving a good lead up I think is important whether it's the expectations or if it's actual just the communication is very important. That was some excellent advice right there. I love it. 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 think
00:24:04
Speaker
The moment I knew that I was going in the right direction was when I did the... Man, there's so many moments. Oh, I think when I did the Mononoke Nut was a big moment because when I made this mug, which was combining aspects of the mask from Princess Mononoke and a coconut, like a classic Tiki mug, it was very well accepted in a lot of different communities.
00:24:32
Speaker
the Ghibli and anime fans immediately saw it and were like, yes, I want that. I need that. And the, you know, Tiki community or the even just cocktail community was like a coconut mug that looks awesome. Yes, that's what I need. And I've had so many people who bought them and they don't know what the reference is, but it's a cool looking mug. And I think that moment really
00:25:00
Speaker
encouraged me when I sold out of these and motivated me, ensuring me that there is this niche, this crossover niche between anim and, you know, a Tiki mug or like functional ceramic barware. I've done like Tiki mugs in the past too, but that one was the most well-recepted, I feel like, of like a proper crossover. I love that.
00:25:29
Speaker
So you contributed growth as an artist to collaborate and discussing with other artists, as you've kind of hinted at earlier. Can you tell me more about this? Absolutely. So I know I say the word Tiki a lot because there's, if you are not into the Tiki world, there's a whole world of ceramicists in the Tiki community who make Tiki mugs and other cocktail mugs. And they are awesome. Like everyone in there is awesome, very supportive.
00:25:58
Speaker
and encouraging and some of my best friends and contacts like Van Tiki, Oak Wash, Riki Tiki, Tat Tiki.
00:26:10
Speaker
There's, there's so many Tiki Rob. These are all great ceramicists and we all kind of communicate with each other. A lot of us use the same glaze and clays. So having that community who are all making around the same stuff, we're all making quirky functional ceramics.
00:26:29
Speaker
Whether it's a tiki, like a Hawaiian tiki, or if it's an anime inspired mug or fantasy inspired mug. Like we're all going through the same issues of suppliers and how we produce things. And as iron sharpens iron, we help each other become better.
00:26:50
Speaker
makers, better business people, better marketers on Instagram and following each other's, following each other's steps to be able to reach more people and grow our audience as a whole. And I've lost the question at that. I think I might have covered it. Yeah, I think you covered it. How can people get around other potters and collaborate with other potters? You know,
00:27:17
Speaker
That's a great question. So in the community here in Houston, there's the ceramic store and I'm sure there are like other public or not public, but studios that you can join and get around other full-time potters. But besides going to the ceramic store for me and talking with potters there, the community that I mentioned, like the ceramics community is all online.
00:27:42
Speaker
In this day and age, a lot of the information you need is on YouTube and a lot of the information that's not on YouTube is worth reaching out on Instagram or Facebook or whatever the media is and establishing that relationship with someone to be like, hey, I like your process. I'm not going to ask all the secrets, but I want to do something similar and I'm having this issue.
00:28:10
Speaker
you know, just opening communication. We're just saying, Hey, I like your work. And I also do ceramics let's connect. So I think it's just establishing that community or yourself with that community is the important aspect. Cause a lot of people might not have access locally to a good, you know, pottery community or ceramics community, but it's there for everyone at our fingertips these days with our phones and computers. It's just.
00:28:37
Speaker
finding the right forums and finding the right people online. I love that. That was some excellent advice. Shaping Nation, if you want to start collaborating with other potters or building relationships with other potters, just reach out to them. The hardest thing is going to be reaching out, but once you reach out, everything's going to be so much easier. I love that.
Encouraging Artists to Share Their Work
00:28:54
Speaker
Absolutely. What advice would you give to someone looking to discover their own unique voice with their pottery? I think do what inspires you.
00:29:04
Speaker
whatever is, at least for me, whatever you're inspired by, like try to incorporate that into your clay. You're going to obsess about something. Everyone does. So why not try to put it into your work and see how your voice can come out of it. Like, I think that's the best thing to do. Yeah.
00:29:27
Speaker
That's all I got. Absolutely agree. Some excellent advice right there. Corey, it has been great Champs today. And as we're coming to a close here, what is one thing you want to hammer home with my listeners today? One thing I would just say, put yourself out there. This community is great. And I think there's no reason to hide behind our phones and wait for something to happen. If you want to join the community and learn
00:29:53
Speaker
you know, more about ceramics or find out how to get involved or find a local studio. Like just, just do it. Like put your, put your inspiration out there and put it into some clay. Like there's nothing holding you back.
00:30:06
Speaker
And you never know how much support you will have for that. People are waiting to find you, you know? I think that's the amazing thing with being an artist in general is like there is someone who is looking for you all the time, looking for your work. You just got to put yourself out there. That was some excellent parting words of advice. Corey, it has been great chatting with you today. Where can my listeners go and learn more about you?
00:30:31
Speaker
Absolutely. You can go to my website at www.cockswaynedunsell.com or you can go to my Instagram at cockswayne underscore dunsell.
00:30:43
Speaker
So those are the top two places to find me. And I have a newsletter on my website if you want to subscribe to stay in the know. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to discover how close you are to actually discovering your own unique voice with your pottery, I put together a free four question quiz. It's very short. It takes 30 seconds for you to take.
00:31:09
Speaker
If you want to know how close you are to finding your own unique voice, go to shapingyourpodtery.com forward slash quiz or you can simply go to shapingyourpodtery.com and it will be right there at the top. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys next time.