BuschKraft

BuschKraft BuschKraft creates pottery, ceramics, and clay tools that merge tradition with modern innovation, inspired by a lifelong passion for craftsmanship and design.
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05/21/2026

Do you see owls? For this dish, I created two border lines just below the rim. The inward facing direction of the relief makes it look like a recessed horizontal space. Adding these lines while trimming creates a distinct area for carving, and it saves time by challenging me to design within that narrow band.

05/19/2026

This little teacup had two narrow grooves, a perfect place for a repeating texture. At this scale, much of the small detail will be covered by glaze, so the 'cleanness' of the carving is less important than the consistency. It's more like making repeatable scratches, rather than perfect individual lines. A translucent celedon or crackle glaze will even everything out and help create the overall effect of a continuous woven pattern.

05/15/2026

The plastic blade holder had to go. My goal is to eliminate plastic as much as possible (I'm working on the blade tube coveres next), and Kraft paper based materials are underrated. They can be recycled, regrown, easy to produce, and actually quite durable in the right situations. In a world of easy access plastic, it's sometimes not easy to go the paper route, but it's worth the resources and time, and in this case was a cost effective alternative.

I struggled to replicate the existing box concept, given it's size, it just wasn't easily produced and glued together using typical machines. The best route was something that didn't require glue, and the fewest details (less cutting die complexity). This triangle shape works wonderously, when folded in half, it's large enough to be produced with machines, and blades, bits, or tips can poke through. Then as it's opened back up and becomes shorter, the holes take on an oval shape, adding friction to whatever they are holding. It'll fit in existing packaging, and will hold existing and future blades.

05/14/2026

These are the two main methods I use to divide a piece into sections. It really comes down to how much wiggle room are you comfortable with, and with practice it gets a lot easier to adapt if you need to. The first method uses some sort of divider, the circle rib in this case. Usually I make a small dot, or a tiny line to act as a reference point. If you need more then that works too, but I find this to be sufficient for very equal sections. The same method can be applied to the inside of foot rings or even as a standalone mandala design using the teardrop rib. It'll help you add divisions inwards and very close together if needed.

The second method, which I use far more often, is just eyeballing it. If you are beyond 4-6+ sections then most of the time you have enough wiggle room to make this work. I make the first mark of each instance, then move it over a little bit. By the time you make it around you can eyeball the last couple. The more divisions (or closer together they are), the easier this is. It doesn't need to be perfect (in my opinion, but I totally get it if that's what you're going for).

05/09/2026

This large closed form jar took a lot of steps to complete. Trimming these is a process, I usually start by cutting off the lid and flipping it over on the base to clean up the upper groove. While the base is still stuck I trim the bottom gallery and rim. Then put the lid on and trim it as a a whole, this matches the lid and base really well and also helps support the delicate lid while adding details on the very top.

Trimming the bottom of the base is like a normal pot at that point, applying undergalze, trim the edges and prepar for carving. The swirl designs for this piece were a bit of an experiment as usual. I divided everything first with a basic curlicue, then progressively added offset lines, sometimes I matched the curves of the initial curlicue exactly, othertime I added a corner and went in another directly, slowly filling in the space between.

Carving away some negative space really helps the swirly parts stand out. Everythign here is bee mix.

Can you spot the mistake? These were some of the better pieces from a recent firing, the colors turned out brighter and ...
05/06/2026

Can you spot the mistake? These were some of the better pieces from a recent firing, the colors turned out brighter and bolder than I ever imagined. The top left was the jar that I repaired after the rim cracked, well worth the effort. The carvings on these were each experiments of their own, trying new curlicue shapes or wavy woven patterns.

These were all made from bee mix, and using underglazes, one strokes, and cafe colors, obviously favoring the reds and blues. The clear I've been using is a zinc free dry mix which I brush on very thin. The results have been really great honestly, no hazy patches and all very even.

05/01/2026

Try this simple petal pattern. The closely spaced divisions make it possible without having to use any divider (you can if you really want to). By the time you make it all the way around you can usually eyeball that last line. The teardrop shape at the bottom of the line is something I've been showing a lot in workshops, it's a helpful way to make the positive space curved and flowy but without having to freehand or draw all the ins and outs.

04/28/2026

Woven patterns are fun, and they don't need to make sense. This bowl started with a thin band of underglaze around the inside rim, I created a simple overlapping texture by layering parallel lines one after the other. Then repeated something similar around the outside face. There are a ton of knot patterns and weaving textures that are much more organized, but it's not too hard to create that illusion strands even if it's not logical.

Next will be a longer walkthrough of this pattern specifically!

Clay is bee-mix
Underglaze is

Here's the breakdown on the wave pattern! While it may not be the easiest in the book, it's not too complicated either a...
04/23/2026

Here's the breakdown on the wave pattern! While it may not be the easiest in the book, it's not too complicated either and is based off of a single curlicue. You can apply this technique to almost any size piece, each instance of the pattern can be stretched out if needed to cover more space. The first few steps give you a solid foundation where you can wander off in your own direction. When spacing out the beginning, I don't worry too much about making each section equal. It helps sure, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

If you like this breakdown let me know!

04/20/2026

Wait till you see the final colors at the end! I tried a new type of pattern here, like wispy clouds, some of them are a little wonky, but I was trying to figure out how they join eachother. The base and lid both have a section of negative space that doesn't look as pronounced while carving, but after firing it creates a strong contrast against the clouds. I often think about this balance between positive and negative space, and between detail and solid shapes. Here the large curles lead into long solid lines, balancing out the tiny curles in the corners, it doesn't always work out but something to think of when adding details.

Clay is
Underglaze is

04/17/2026

One of my favorite relief design patterns, it's like a wave that loops over and over. This is all using the Dragonfly Chisel blade, which works great for small scale relief lines. The point creates the deeper and defined edge, while the angle tapers it out. You're left with slanted grooves that catch glaze, or light, and create a layered effect.

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San Diego, CA
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