Her Journey Into Slip Casting | Jennifer Spring | Episode 905

Jennifer Spring | Episode 905

Jennifer Spring’s goal is to make life more enjoyable with ceramics that feel great to touch and hold. Most of Jennifer’s work goes through the filter of, “does the texture feel inviting?”. Ceramics is one of few art forms that can be held and Jennifer is continually looking for opportunities to enhance the sense of touch.

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Can you just go down to Home Depot and get the plaster you need for making molds?

No, you actually need to get specific plaster for pottery. It’s called Pottery Plaster Number One. So I buy that at my local pottery store and for me that’s Clay Arts Center or Seattle Pottery Supply.

How long did it take you to make a mold and make a finished product where you were “proud” of the results?

Oh, that’s a tough question. Sometime within the last year. (laughter) No. That’s not true! I would say that for my silicone molds last year. My plaster molds I have been making sometime in the last two years I really feel like I have figured out the right dimensions and weight to make them perform really well.

Why do you think there is seemingly little help for slip casters as far as information on the internet?

I think that it is an up-and-coming artform. I think for a long time people weren’t interested in it because the didn’t see where the creative possibility is. But I think that there are a lot of people out in the forefront now that are doing a lot of creative things that people haven’t seen before and I think that it is coming. I think there is a wave of interest there that is going to make it more prevalent and people will be out there doing and showing how it’s done.

This is your full-time gig, correct?

Correct.

So how did you find your customer base?

I started selling my work at a small consignment shop in Ballard. It was just only local artists selling their work. So I originally started out doing wholesale where is was the 50/50 split and I did in-person shows, craft fair type stuff. So that was a good testing ground to learn the type of work people want to buy and to also learn what I enjoy making.

Where is currently your best sales outlet?

I sell all my work now direct through my website and I have a sign up that gives people information about time and date for that shop release. So every four to six weeks I release a batch of ready to ship work.

How did slip casting open the door to more creativity?

It behaves so much differently than the clay because it’s liquid the opportunities to marble and layer are just different than what you would be able to do with wheel-thrown work. I also add a lot of texture to my work so with slip because of the way it dries I can do a lot of slip dots and texture on my pieces that I couldn’t do any other way.