Stoneware in Motion — The Story Behind Chaps and Bloomers.

There is a distinct magic that happens when you let go of rigid expectations and just have fun with texture and form in the studio. My two latest ceramic sculptures, Chaps and Bloomers, are the direct result of that playful experimentation—a modern, whimsical take on a bygone era.

Video and Music by Mark Carter

Visually, they are a study in contrasts. Chaps is coated in a deep, shiny blue shino and rich black glazes, giving it a bold, rugged presence. Bloomers, on the other hand, wears a striking combination of a matte-leaning white eggshell and a deep, glossy oxblood red glaze.

But the real story of these pieces lies in their architecture.

Both pieces feature two distinct legs that fuse together into a single form at the top. If you’ve ever worked with stoneware, you know that keeping two separate hollow chambers structurally sound—and then successfully joining them together without structural collapse or cracking during the firing—is a massive technical challenge. The drying times have to be perfectly synchronized, and the joinery has to be seamless.

The reward for that engineering puzzle? Each leg functions as its own separate vessel. While Chaps and Bloomers stand beautifully on their own as abstract architectural sculptures, they are fully functional. You can fill each individual leg with water and use them as unique, double-stemmed flower vases.

They represent everything I love about pottery: the intersection of fine art, technical challenge, and daily utility.

Both Pieces are featured in the video below and are available in my collections pages. For this video I wrote the lyrics and created the music with Suno.
Links to Buy Collections are below.