Home Sweet Home
Plants at home are a beautiful thing.
They bring a piece of nature into our homes and delight us with their fresh greenery and their wonderful flowers.
Hand thrown indoor plant pots are rarely found in shops these days, as they require lots of precious time to produce – especially when it comes to larger plant pots.
As I enjoy making large vessels on the potter’s wheel and this challenge appeals to me, I have added a few large indoor plant pots in different glazes with matching inner pots to my repertoire.
First, I centre about 10 kg of clay on the potter’s wheel and shape it into a large, wide bowl. The next day, the top of the bowl is leather-hard and I can continue.
With my hands, I form a large clay sausage and carefully attach it to the prepared top edge of the bowl. I now use this clay to carefully turn the vessel 10 to 20 cm higher with the help of the potter’s wheel – the bowl turns into a large pot.
On the third day, I attach another clay sausage and finish off the plant pot.
When the pot is leather-hard, it can be turned over with strong manpower so that it can be finished off at the bottom with the help of the potter’s wheel. The plant pot is now left to dry for at least two weeks, after which it can be fired for the first time and then glazed using the spray booth, which is again very time-consuming with such a large pot.
The glaze firing takes place at a temperature of 1240°C, whereby the clay particles fuse together, guaranteeing that the flowerpot is completely watertight after firing – even without a glaze. It must be, of course, and if you fill it with an inner pot and with a plant, it will catch the excess water when watering, which the plant can again easily absorb through its roots over time.
If you are interested in one of my large plant pots, please visit me in my beautiful rooftop studio in Almere Haven, as such a large plant pot is of course difficult to ship.