Lititz Potter Dennis Maust presenting his clay art at the November meeting.
The last meeting for 2018 was dedicated to clay art of Dennis Maust, a local potter. Dennis shared the story of his travels around the world, including some exotic places like Tansania in Africa.
“It is actually pretty hard to press-in the designs.”
As some point in his life Dennis and his wife were helping craftsmen in other countries to create items that might sell on the export market. Their mission was connected with the work of the Ten Thousand Villages.
Intricate Designs
At his presentation Dennis showed us some examples of his ring and drum shaped ceramic rolls decorated with exotic ornaments. Pressing these pins into clay creates the desired design. Afterwards, using colored liquid clay, brushed on a sheet of clay, Dennis created colored effects on some of his pre-made items.
Clay with Character
Next, Dennis demonstrated how to make a four-legged mug out of the resulting strip of clay. The shape of the item reminds of an exotic animal, robust and sturdy.