Thomas Hill Pottery

Thomas Hill Pottery Thomas Hill creates pottery with the intention of exploring the natural materials surrounding us.

In this personal investigation it is his hope to sit with new questions discovered along the way and create pottery based on this time.

I am rather proud of how this piece came out. It’s got all of the fine details I was working towards in the series of wo...
09/24/2025

I am rather proud of how this piece came out. It’s got all of the fine details I was working towards in the series of work and that seafoam green is delicious in person - my favorite of the copper greens.

It’s also something to celebrate this semi-arbitrary but still exciting milestone of 100 posts of my work sharing a piece I feel satisfied with. This one will push me to continue to explore these surfaces - as I already feel it’s pull to make more to figure out what’s going on.

If you’d like to see it in person or purchase it, you can view it for a limited time in Oblivion’s gallery. ().
reclaim clay, grog-like materials, commercial underglazes and colorants, local clay slips, titanium iron mason stain, room temperature glaze…aka E6000

This is another recent vase form. I’ve been trying to figure out my fascination with this “half” oval shape which I keep...
09/16/2025

This is another recent vase form.

I’ve been trying to figure out my fascination with this “half” oval shape which I keep placing on things. It reminds me of a couple of different things - tree canopy (seen from above), an ear, or a body of water (also seen from above, and also maybe from a human-like vantage point from afar).

Any of these are funny to me for different reasons. Especially because they never end up blue, but the water is the one which resonates often. I think it’s because I am drawn to these boundaries - places where humans and nature interact. Personally, though, I am not particularly thrilled by water. It’s not rational, and I’ll happily get in water, when that is what is happening. But something in me doesn’t like large bodies of water, but I am also fascinated by them. Hmm lots to think on.

Anywho, thanks for coming along on the ramble of what is on my mind when seeing this pot.
reclaim earthenware, copper and rutile washes, commercial and home-brewed clay slips, commercial and homemade underglazes, grog-like materials

This piece was inspired by the unique angle I get to view the world in my day job - as a GIS technician. When I am worki...
09/10/2025

This piece was inspired by the unique angle I get to view the world in my day job - as a GIS technician. When I am working, I am viewing the world from the top down, and the shapes I am seeing are percolating into my forms and surface treatment.
reclaim clay, commercial underglazes and slips, copper wash, black mason stain 6600 wash, and grog-like materials

Here is a recent vase I made in preparation of the Richmond Art Museum’s Potterypalooza.Thank you all for an engaging fi...
09/09/2025

Here is a recent vase I made in preparation of the Richmond Art Museum’s Potterypalooza.

Thank you all for an engaging first sale back in a while. If you purchased a piece, I appreciate your support in doing what I love.
reclaim earthenware, commercial slips, commercial underglazes, homebrew underglaze, ears, seafoamy-green copper wash, pink pepto clear glaze, oh, and nails

Sometimes I like the finished surface of a dried but unfired pice quite a lot. It can be very hard to convince myself to...
09/02/2025

Sometimes I like the finished surface of a dried but unfired pice quite a lot. It can be very hard to convince myself to take the next step of covering it up, or adding to it.

Fortunately, though, this is also one of my favorite aspects of ceramics in other contexts - when I have to give up the piece to the kiln. To see what happens as the fire and heat transform the object into something I couldn’t have accomplished on my own.

Here are some views as I prepare for the upcoming Richmond Art Museum Potterypalooza sale. This Saturday, September 6th, at 10am. We’ll be there until 4pm. Come check out the new works I have been slowly building over the past year!
reclaim and hand-dug clay, commercial and local clay slips, commercial underglazes, grog-like materials, steel nails, copper wash, lots of stuff in varying forms

A follow up to the tile two posts back. I am delighted by the surface in this piece. Fired to cone 2 for a final firing,...
08/22/2025

A follow up to the tile two posts back. I am delighted by the surface in this piece. Fired to cone 2 for a final firing, and the peachy white/orange specks peaked through. This is more similar to a surface I have seen in reduction-fired pieces, and I am so happy to have accidentally created a similar surface in the electric kiln.
reclaim clay, local and commercial clay slips, commercial stains and colorants, grog-like materials, iron nails, pepto bismol pink magic glaze (aka clear amaco glaze), white lithium glaze

I too like the bask in the evening glow. A fresh wall tile out of the kiln. It’s got copper, it’s got creamy slips, it’s...
08/17/2025

I too like the bask in the evening glow. A fresh wall tile out of the kiln. It’s got copper, it’s got creamy slips, it’s got bits and flecks of clay! Wow it’s been fun to experiment with new textures and glazes.

For Richmond local folks, I’ll have this and more at Potterypalooza on Saturday, September 6th.
reclaim clay, commercial and local slips, commercial colorants, local clay, grog-like materials, lithium glaze, pink pepto bismol clear magic glaze

Some new tiles from the most recent firing. I’ve been working with layering slips, grogs, and sgraffito as I build these...
08/08/2025

Some new tiles from the most recent firing. I’ve been working with layering slips, grogs, and sgraffito as I build these wall pieces.

This kiln also revealed a nice addition to my local clay research - the Southern IN clay I dug this winter should make a lovely earthenware body without any additions!
reclaim clay, local clay slips, iron nails, commercial underglaze, commercial slips, grog-like materials

This is another large format tile - I’m not quite sure what it needs at the moment, so I will sit with it until I see wh...
07/13/2025

This is another large format tile - I’m not quite sure what it needs at the moment, so I will sit with it until I see what comes next.
reclaim stoneware, commercial slips, commercial pink pepto bismol clear glaze, grog-like materials, local clay glaze, commercial colorants

I really enjoy the texture of the clay at this phase, somewhere between too wet and just right for working. The clay loo...
06/28/2025

I really enjoy the texture of the clay at this phase, somewhere between too wet and just right for working. The clay looks like it has a skin, slightly damp and shiny, and it feels so delightful to poke.
reclaim earthenware clay

Another long tile in the works!reclaim stoneware, grog-like materials, local clay powder, commercial clay powder, local ...
06/21/2025

Another long tile in the works!
reclaim stoneware, grog-like materials, local clay powder, commercial clay powder, local clay slip

These are all pieces of clay I dug in southern IN. This month I have started testing it.The testing procedure will give ...
06/13/2025

These are all pieces of clay I dug in southern IN. This month I have started testing it.

The testing procedure will give me plenty of information to work with this new clay as I fire it with various additional materials and test its suitability un-amended.

I begin this process by drying all of the clay out. This makes it easier to “slake” down in water and pass it through a sieve made of window screen mesh. The size of the holes in the mesh allow me to retain grog-like materials in the finished clay body. Then the clay slip is left to dry in a container made from wood with wire mesh supporting the cotton holding the slip.

Over the next several weeks, water will evaporate and drain - leaving me a workable clay body to begin testing.

The last picture shows the process above with my reclaimed red earthenware from last weekend. The white barrels are used for slaking the clay down, I mix with the electric drill, and the wooden tubs to the left hold the cotton sheets with slip in them once it is poured through the sieve. If I want to speed the process up (as in the photo), I take the clay slip and pour it to dry on a plaster bat. This dries the clay out in a matter of minutes.
native IN clay

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414 North 10th Street
Richmond, IN
47374

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