Awesome Ceramics

If we’ve learned one thing from Buttered Side Down’s first-person videos, it’s that inanimate objects can never be trusted to remain that way. After breaking a ceramic bowl, our POV protagonist decides to break out the potter’s wheel and attempts to throw a replacement. But his clay creation has no desire to be filled with milk and cereal.

Apparently, cream cheese has a similar consistency to porcelain clay. One artist from Mud Ceramics Studio decided to find out if you could throw it like clay, too. Surprisingly, once he put it on the potter’s wheel, he was able to center it, then worked it into a vase and a bowl. He’s attempted the same with Toll House cookie dough with far less success.

Remember to live every time you take a sip from this ceramic stein in the shape of a human skull sitting on a tree stump. Each mug is hand-sculpted by Trevor Foster Studio and glazed with shades of brown to reveal its rich details. It holds up to 16 oz. and is heat and dishwasher-safe with the artist’s mark embossed on the bottom.

Jimmy DiResta wanted to see if he could make ceramic tiles while incorporating CNC tech. He started by using a desktop milling machine to cut designs into Corian, then used those to create plaster casts for the clay. He used an Evenheat kiln to fire the tiles. The voiceover provides a great glimpse into his learning process.

This amazing drinking vessel from Munkstein features imagery inspired by the Viking legend of Ragnarok, a sequence of events that lead to the demise of numerous gods, followed by a series of natural disasters. The colorful and psychedelic artwork was created by Oakland artist Skinner.

The Uniek is a tiny pottery studio you can take anywhere. It combines a miniature motorized potter’s wheel, a water pool, and a tool kit for refining and detailing your work. It doesn’t include a tiny kiln, though, so you’ll probably want to work with air-dry clay.

If you ever wondered how factories print onto the insides of ceramic bowls and pots, wonder no longer. This video posted by Engineerflex shows off the ingenious but silly-looking process. Turn on the audio for appropriate sound effects. Need more? YouTube has a bunch of videos of these ceramic pad printing machines.

FudouKamui, a student from China’s Xi’an Academy of Fine Art created this vending machine that drops delicate china from its racks onto an unpadded shelf, shattering them on impact. The name of the installation translates to “This Is the Proof of Our Stupidity.” Also, each plate has a different price despite being identical.

Celebrate Halloween with these spooky salad plates from PATCH NYC and Crate & Barrel. Each glazed porcelain plate features a black and white woodcut design against a high-contrast color scheme. The set of 8″ plates includes scary skull, kooky kitty, crazy crow, and batty bat designs. Also: creepy old fashioned glasses.

Go! Go! Power Rangers!.. and fix yourself a tropical cocktail while you’re at it. These ceramic Geeki Tikis mugs come in five Power Ranger colors and are perfect for sipping drinks poolside while you dream of taking a dip with your Dinozord pool float. Each tiki holds 16 oz., and is microwave-safe and top-shelf dishwasher-safe.

Swatch presents a unique series of wristwatches that meld ceramics and bio-sourced plastics, resulting in a smooth and resilient case. The first watches in the series feature a perfectly matched case and strap color, and a see-through face that exposes their mechanisms. Available in white, black, blue, grey, and pink.

Pairing sake with sushi is eight times better with this swimmingly fine sake set. Artist Kim Rody converts her marine paintings onto fine porcelain tableware such as this 5-piece, 8-legged charmer based on her original painting “Out of the Blue Octopus.” Confession – we can’t resist serving calamari on the matching platter.

This gothic serving set pours on the charm with tea for four. Portland’s Angioletti Designs kiln-fires porcelain fine china with Victorian, baroque, and rococo images, including this moody black-and-gold set that invites a bat, cat, eye, and crow to the tea party. Foodsafe, durable, and wear-resistant with hand-washing care.

Ceramics artist Patricia Darden creates beautiful and substantial hand-thrown functional pottery in her Norfolk, Virginia studio. We really love this 11″ bowl with its two-toned speckled glaze and an undulating blue wave pattern running through its middle.

Ceramics artist Trevor Foster created this collection of cups which are designed as a reminder to live life to the fullest. The skull-shaped stoneware cups will come in espresso, tea cup, coffee cup, and mug styles, and can be finished in a variety of glazes, from a deep red iron oxide to pleasant pastels.

Ceramicist Jono Pandolfi’s studio creates exquisite dinnerware that has made its way into some of the most exclusive restaurants in the world. In this clip from Eater’s series Handmade, go inside his workshop to see how they transform clay into modern and minimal stoneware that we’d love to have on our dining table.

FutureDeluxe shows off a cool project that was on display during the Google China Developer Days – an interactive display which allows people to create unique ceramic vessels simply by moving their bodies. Each virtual work of art changes shape as the person in front of the camera changes poses. More here.

Artist Kenny Sing of Turn Studio first mapped out a series of geometric patterns on his computer, then carefully cut them out from a ceramic bowl before firing it. Once completed, spinning the piece on a potter’s wheel creates the illusion of movement.

A look at how raw clay is pulled from the earth and transformed by hand into beautiful and intricate sculptures by artisans in Michoacan, Mexico. It’s a wonderful, all too brief look into artistic traditions from Mariano Rentería’s fantastic Mexican Handcraft Masters series.

Artist Wyatt Little presents a truly unique way to cultivate a houseplant. This handmade, rust-colored ceramic vessel looks like an old-school desktop computer and monitor. Measures 8″(l) x 7.5″(w) x 9″(h). We suppose you could attempt the same with an actual computer case.

Assuming these ceramic espresso mugs don’t miss shots the way that stormtroopers do in the Star Wars flicks, we’d love a set for serving up a quick caffeine fix. These officially-licensed 2.7 oz. cups are sold in sets of two, so you can toast a friend, or enjoy a double shot for yourself.

In a way, all 3D printers are partially analog, as motors move them along their X, Y and Z axes. But artist Daniel DeBruin’s unique creation works without motors or electricity to layer primitive pottery using weights and gravity to drive its mechanism.

Video of the incrediblly steady hand of an artist from Japanese tableware company Kutani Choemon, as they embellish a ceramic dish with delicate linework, and floods of colored glaze that we were convinced would spill out of the lines, but miraculously don’t.