5 small, quick & easy ceramic forms to jazz up your kitchen

1.  Mortar and Pestle 

This tool can take on a variety of forms depending on what you plan to use it for.  Here are a couple of examples.  To see a tutorial on how to throw one on the wheel, click here.

 

2. Salt Cellar/ Salt Pig

These are a handy storage solution for coarse grain sea salt and they make an excellent conversation piece.  They can be made in one or two sections, thrown or hand-built.

this simple for could be wheel-thrown & altered or made using an extruder, or a combination thereof.

these mini-salt cellars would be a cinch to throw in one piece on the wheel.

A quick and easy hand-built project: Slab-rolled, textured and stamped.

 

could be wheel-thrown or hand-built.

3. Salt & Pepper Shakers

The sky is the limit when it comes to imaginative forms for this classic.  For an interesting tutorial on how to throw a bottom dispensing hollow shaker (first item pictured below) please see pages 29-31 of the May/June Pottery making illustrated (available in the studio--just ask me). Here are just a few forms to get your wheels a spinnin'.

one piece wheel-thrown (tutorial available)

graceful, minimalistic, hand-built

wheel-thrown & altered, but also hand-buildable.

simple, wheel-thrown and elegant.

4. Spoon Rests

A very quick and easy project.  You can either hand build a form and slump it, or wheel throw.  For a video tutorial on making a wheel-thrown spoon rest, click here.

hand-built using a slab rolled over a crocheted doily and slumped over a form.

carved, hand-built spoon rest. Simple & elegant.

Wheel thrown spoon rests... also very quick and easy.

5. Measuring Spoons

Since we're on a spoon kick, these are a simple, quick ceramic form that is really fun and would make a great gift.  I can't attest to how accurately they might measure, though it is probably close enough for government work.