DIY Ceramic Hanging Planter With A Herringbone Pattern

This herringbone pattern hanging planter is one of the things that i've made and just haven't had the time to share it with you……until today. I made this a good six months ago, but didn't actually hang it until a about a month ago, and I have to say, I'm actually really pleased wtih the results and how nicely it fits with the modern Moroccan scheme I've got going in the living room. My ceramics teacher wanted me to go bold and bright, but while I would have loved the outcome possibly, it never would have worked in my gold, black, and white (plus creme as well) scheme. Actually it is a gold, black and white and green scheme on account of the mini jungle of houseplants, this ittle guy included. I

I actually made a series of three of these hanging planters, each with a different herringbone pattern application and of different heights. Maybe someday they'll all hang together as I had planned, but in the meantime, we are enjoying this one being used as intended, and the other two are sitting in the middle of my round coffee table. Wondering how I made it? Read on…….

Okay, here is a very basic description of the steps involved in making this hanging planter:

Step 1: Building The Vessel

• First of all, this was hand built using the slap technique, and using clay that fires creme, namely the creme color you see here is the color of the clay.
• A chunk of clay is rolled out with a huge heavy wooden rolling pin to the desired thickness, Then one cuts out a circle, (using some kind of vessel as a guilde) and a long rectangle to form the sides. One has to measure to do this correctly. The rectangle is stood up on the long side, and then one wraps it around the circle. First all join areas are scoured and painted with slip, wihich acts like glue.
• With these two pieces the vessel can be formed, and then one goes about creating something that is more or less straight and smooth…..it does take a bit of patience!
• After I was happy with the shape I carefully make four holes that were roughly equadistant around the perimeter and the same distance from the rim.
• The the piece was set aside on a shelf in the studio to dry, for at least a week, and then it was fired.

Step 2: Glazing The Vessel

• The fired piece is now ready to be painted/glazed. One can sand down tiny bumps or imperfections if desired, but no great amount of work can be done to change the shape.
• I choose to apply the herringbone pattern using black glaze in a squeeze bottle, much easier than using a paint brush, for me anyway! I applied strips of masking tape as guildes for the lines that went around the perimeter, but the rest I free-handed.
• After my black lines were dry, the whole piece was dunked in a large barrel of clear glaze, which before firiing is actually green!
• Then one waits until the piece is fired again, hoping that it will come out of the kiln in one piece……sometimes things crack, or explode, even if one is professional (which I am clearly not)
• And then you take your precious ceramic item home carefully, hoping you won't trip on the ancient stones that pave the alleys naar your house, phew made it home in one piece!

I hope you enjoyed my little basic description of the process, it really can be quite satisfying to make ceramics, just wish I could make a whole dinner set! My son and I have yet to resume our weekily studio time, but hopefully will start up again in a week or two…..hmmm what shall I make this winter?

In case you are wondering what this plant is, it is called hoya, and it is flowering vine that I've shared with you many times over the past few years. And these are cuttings from that mother plant, and its a good thing I took these cuttings as the mother plant actually collapsed totally on account of root rot fromHowWonW over watering by the house sitter while we away for the month of August. Either that or that the plant just bloomed itself to death, sad in any case, but these little guys live on!

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