Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Chloe Abla Baigent | Episode 1230
Chloe Abla Baigent is a self-taught ceramicist based in Tasmania, Australia. Combining her horticultural career with her creativity in clay, she designs and builds unique homewares including hand basins, tiled furniture, decorative wall art, and garden sculptures — all inspired by the natural world and a commitment to sustainable living.
Clay Call
Lets hear from YOU! Click HERE.
SPONSORS
You can help support the show!
GRPotteryForms.com
Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com
For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com
Do you feel like your creativity was discovered or you just happen to develop it?
Oh, I think it was discovered. Yeah. Always being creative, but not focused on one thing. So I really do feel like it was it was discovered at that moment.
Do you feel that focusing your creative outlet, that that’s what brings a sense of mastery?
Yeah, actually, exactly that. I think you can be creative in all sorts of ways in your life. But if you do focus on one thing, then you’ll turn it into something really beautiful.
When making you said you like to stick with hand building. Do you feel that has allowed you to be more creative?
Yeah, definitely. I really am guided by the clay for my best work. My best work is usually at the end of the day when I’m using up the scraps of the clay and immediately I’m like, wow, that looks like that. I’m going to turn it into that. I love that flexibility with it.
Does your clay body matter for what you’re making?
Yeah, it does. I use a specific clay that’s really groggy and has a high iron content. It’s very strong and the texture of that end result, I think is, it feels like it’s a signature to me in a way.
Okay, for you, commercial or homemade glazes?
Commercial glazes. use them very illustratively and I paint my glazes on. So yeah, commercial glazes.
What’s one thing, one skill that you would love to have under your belt as a potter, but you don’t yet?
I really want to process some clay from my garden and turn that into a glaze. I’m making tiles at the moment for a pizza oven that my husband Kurt’s building. And it would be so cool to put some clay from our garden within that glaze. I’m not sure if I’ve got the patience for it, but that’s a skill. Just maybe making some signature glazes is something that I’d like to learn.
Book
The Top Five Regrets of The Dying by Bronnie Ware
Contact
Instagram: @claybychloeabla