Strange Vessels blends obscure mold based pottery with digital sculpting to create nature inspired mugs that feel like functional sculptures.
Most people find clay through a wheel class. I got pulled in by obscure processes, the stuff that feels half craft and half engineering. Slip casting. Plaster molds. Historical studio methods. The kind of techniques that are less about a signature throwing style and more about building a repeatable form that you can push in new directions.
That obsession led to Strange Vessel Ceramics.
I wanted to make functional work that feels discovered rather than designed. Forms that look like they came from the forest floor, the shoreline, or the deep sea. Morel mushrooms. Wave ridges. Tentacles and sea creatures. Nature does not do perfect symmetry, and it does not do plain surfaces, so I chase texture, movement, and character in every piece.
My process starts digitally. I sculpt each mug like a small creature or artifact, focusing on tactile details and strong silhouettes. Then I 3D print the master, turn it into a plaster mold, and slip cast the final pieces in clay. That workflow lets me create shapes that would be extremely difficult to reproduce by hand, while keeping every mug practical for everyday use.
Each batch is small, and every piece is finished by hand. Glaze is where the personality shows up. I treat each form like a canvas and test glazes that bring out depth, contrast, and an earthy realism. No two firings are exactly the same, and that variation is part of the point. You get a mug that feels alive, not factory perfect.
Strange Vessel is my place to merge old world pottery practices with modern digital sculpting, and to turn that combination into mugs you actually reach for. Functional sculptures inspired by nature, built through molds, fired in small runs, and made to be used.