BuschKraft

BuschKraft BuschKraft creates pottery, ceramics, and clay tools that merge tradition with modern innovation, inspired by a lifelong passion for craftsmanship and design.

08/10/2026

The ribbons created by the Crescent tool remind me of seashells 🐚 especially when using the very center of the arc.

08/07/2026

Here's a few steps you can try to create this southwest inspired pattern using sgraffito techniques. The base shape is that of a kitchen knife or feather. Using the square blades help create the stair steps, or crisp geometric corners. There's always different levels of detail, and It's up to you when to get off the bus.

08/06/2026

🔍📐 What's the best trimming angle for the Forge? This captures it pretty well, and there's more going on here than what it seems at first glance. First, the entire tool is at an angle, positioning the blade roughly 45 degrees relative to the wheel head. This helps shave the clay off instead of chopping it. In addition, the blade itself is tilted forward so there's almost a ramp for the curl to ride up, lowering the cutting angle of the edge itself. Finally, notice the dirt noodle itself, it spirals up as a single piece, then breaks apart when it falls, this shows the firmness of the clay. The bottom edge of the noodle is rough while the top edge is clean, indicating that there is also a slight emphasis on the top of the blade doing the cutting, while the bottom edge of the blade sort of fades off. What you don't see is my hands bracing against eachother, the piece, and locked in similar to centering.

08/04/2026

When the ribbons hit just right 🤩🍜➿

08/02/2026

This pattern can be seen in a lot of places, especially southwest art and pottery. It's stair step leading into a curved feather shape is simple yet creates the most satisfying radial patterns. To get those sharp inner corners, I always use a square blade. Gently pushing straight down allows the blade to cut that corner shape directly into the clay first, then pull the groove towards the center. If the piece is delicate, then rocking the square back and forth can help it cut without pushing too hard, still achieving that crisp corner.

08/01/2026

🟰〰️🟰Using the Dragonfly square detail blades while trimming works really well to create small, crisp grooves that can later be chopped up with the zigzag technique. I have to be careful recommending this, though, since the detail blades are small and will definitely wear much quicker this way. But there's nothing else to get the result quite like this.

⚠️ Not pottery! This is a snapshot of the last few weeks of margin doodles (and back of the page). Most of the designs I...
07/26/2026

⚠️ Not pottery! This is a snapshot of the last few weeks of margin doodles (and back of the page). Most of the designs I create on pottery come from my sketchbook in some way. Not directly transferred, it’s more of an exploration of concepts and shapes that I can eventually recreate on the surface of a piece. When carving, I try not to draw anything out first, especially the repeating patterns. Everything is assembled from simple components, and together they form complex designs.

I’ve always drawn a lot, it’s how I process new ideas for art or work. Recently I’ve been practicing some swirl shapes quite a bit, you’ll see them here and on pots. Even though it’s a somewhat simple thing to make, the way these swirls end (look closely at the inner parts of the various swirls), can determine what kind of shapes or components they can be used for. It seems a bit systematic, but when learning a new shape, quantity comes before quality, just like pottery.

If you want to see more of these, there’s plenty to share. I try to keep this all about pottery and tools, but BuschKraft encompasses much more than that.

rOtring
Leuchtturm1917 USA

07/23/2026

This pattern explores using the square blades to make stair step grooves, which can be used to create some interesting sunburst type shapes. Overall it was pretty quick and doesn't take up a lot of room. This piece is just bare Bee Mix, so incorporating some underglaze or slip could add a lot of potential.

For the stair steps, I tried to make each cut as even as possible, then came back and smoothed out the "ridge" in between. You can still see the lines, but they shouldn't be as pronounced after glazing.

07/23/2026

Paper clay, that's what comes to mind when the dryness hits just right and ribbons trim off as thin as paper. I usually describe it as wet enough that you can get an intact ribbon to spiral off, but dry enough that it breaks or crumbles the moment you pick it up. Hitting that window makes a huge difference, it lets you trim precise details without sticking, deforming, or squishing the surface.

07/17/2026

😃😝😌😠😑☺️
This vase sat for quite a while unfinished, so it was time to do something fun with it. I divided it into sections and tried creating a characterized face on each. It took a couple of tries to get the depth figured out since I haven't really done something this intricate before. The eyes and nose areas of each face needed a few passes to get right.

There's a reason that I always resort to smaller forms, carving this took way longer than I'm used to. Typically, I will move on pretty quickly with something cup sized, but I had to split this up over a couple of days. The easy part was glazing since I just dipped and poured the blue over everything. Some areas ended up a bit thick, which may have been risky, but the kiln gods were in my favor, a large drip just barely missed the shelf!

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