https://www.facebook.com/1328615300324197/

Ashford Clayworks

Home
United States
Anchorage, AK
Ashford Clayworks

My name is Alex and I’m a functional ceramic artist in Anchorage, Alaska.

10/21/2026

My personal journey to replace my current small bowls turned into a much larger adventure. I can confidently say both batches of bowls are finally glazed and ready to be fired.

I learned a lot while making these. Played with a bit of extra weight in the rims for stability and hardiness and I quite like the visual as well as the feel. These were also thrown all off the hump. I was no stranger to this technique but I did get significantly better after making so many bowls in a row !

Stay tuned for glazed photos 😁

10/20/2026

Experimental cups !

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough time to experiment, then I remember that this is ceramics, and almost everything can be turned into an experiment.

Here’s a small batch of experimental cups that will hopefully inform some new techniques in my work. These have been freshly glazed in one of my favorite glazes ( shino of course) and have been set aside to wait for their fiery transformation. 🔥

I can’t wait to see results.

10/13/2026

The perils of trying something new. I’m attempting to throw larger work and I learned some lessons today.
1. Remember your interior curve. I’m not used to throwing shallow bottoms and it bit me on this one
2. Be gentle with your rims. This rim cracked even before trimming due to me altering the rim and then moving the piece before it was ready.

Important lessons but most of all:
3. Ceramics keeps us humble. We can always fly too close to the sun and often times there’s a good learning opportunity waiting for us.

I’m thrilled I was able to trim this bowl so even, a bit sad she had to go but it’s an awfully good excuse to make more.
Big thank you to Geneva Jordan for videoing the slice and capturing the look on my face 💚.

The next one is gonna be great !

10/05/2026

My oh my has the end of September been busy !

I’ve been doing lots but we can bullet it down to be a bit more concise 😂. Over the last two weeks I have:
- glazed lots of pots in preparation for our glaze fire ( fired today)🔥
- made bowls to donate to Kids Kupboard through the empty bowls project ( check it out if you haven’t, it’s a super cool program !) 🥣
- worked on my semester proposal knocking out some of my main targets, bottles, boxes, baskets and jars ! 🏺
-Got some new carving tools
- enjoyed Alaskas transition into fall. The season of senescence has always been a favorite as we let the current life go in preparation for renewal in winter 🍂
- and celebrated a few large personal events 🎊

My heart is so full, and my body is so tired. A good rest is in order in preperationnfor the midterms push 🙂

Looking forward to opening the kiln tomorrow to see all the goodies. Stay tuned because I have some BIG things I’m very excited about ❤️❤️❤️ 🦠!!! Hoping to be back to making soon, and of course getting in some of our beautiful fall weather 🫐🍂🍃🥮

09/17/2026

Hoo boy! September is already half over 🫪. Fall seems to be here and I’m burning my way through my “ To Make “ list. It’s been a busy two weeks in the studio getting pots prepped for our first gas firing of the semester. Working on getting some new forms and molds made to make some exciting new pots.
I set out to make a variety of forms but also to target things I may be a bit lackluster at ( looking at you bottlenecks ). Things have been off to a wonderful start and I can confidently say, making things is my favorite part.
The second bisque of the semester was unloaded today which means a break from making to focus on glazing. Glazing is not my favorite, but we are coming to an understanding for how I like to finish my work. Hoping to get some good results out of the tests I made this summer.

Stay tuned for the haul ! And thanks for following the journey.

09/11/2026

Stages of box assembly. Trying out new decorative elements to make them as fancy as they deserve. I’m hoping to make these more decorative as times goes on as making boxes really forces me to slow down and be thoughtful.

09/10/2026

Mugs, Mugs and more Mugs ! September is off to a great start !

Address

Anchorage, AK

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ashford Clayworks posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.