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potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Pottery by Osa
@potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
93 followers 7 following 220 posts
Nigerian American studio potter (she/her)
Gulf Coast Florida
Tap “Media” for pottery content 👇🏾
Solar powered home & studio 🌞
I get verbose in the #alttext […]

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@potterybyosa, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Had a couple of my friends’ kids over for a #pottery making session. I’ve known the boy for a year and a half now and I just met the girl for the first time at that skatepark event a couple of weeks ago. I bisque fired the mug she made and today she got to […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A little boy in a blue collared shirt with black curly hair holding a paint brush, standing at a table filled with pieces of pottery and little bottles of colored underglaze. In the upper right corner, you can see the hand of another child working across from him and the legs of one of the moms in the background. A little girl intently painting a ceramic mug. She is wearing a floral dress and the colors of her mug are aqua, white, light blue and pink. There is a paper plate on the table in front of her dotted with small amounts of different-colored underglaze. There is also a large plastic measuring cup full of water, brushes and bottles of underglaze.
December 3, 2025 at 11:10 PM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The purple coloration in the sand and clay at the park comes from the presence of manganese.
My hand on top of a patch of dark purple sandy soil surrounded by light gray sand & silt. My hands holding two broken chunks of clay showing gray and purple strata in the cross section. The background is a blurred geological setting—mostly gray.
December 2, 2025 at 2:34 AM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Another cool thing about Providence Canyon is there’s glitter and rainbows everywhere. At first I thought the rainbow water at the bottom for canyon was gasoline runoff but then noticed it was more concentrated wherever there was granulated mica. I looked it […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A close-up view of a iron red muddy surface with an iridescent sheen, surrounded by thin grass and debris. The colors reflect hues of pink, blue, and gold, indicating possible oil or contamination on the wet ground. My hand holding a small, rounded piece of clay, with a textured surface, yellowish hue and flecks of mica against a backdrop of dirt and pine needles. There is the golden flakey residue of mica on my fingers.
December 1, 2025 at 7:27 PM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
We visited Providence Canyon State Park in #georgia for my birthday, which was on Thursday. The park has a disturbing origin story but the beauty of the strata below is undeniable. Earth is the original work of #art from which all of the art we create is […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A closeup of an eroded section of earth displaying beautiful layers of colors, including shades of pink, rust, and ochre yellow and lavender. It looks like an abstract expressionist painting with horizontal layers of color and rust color drips traveling down throughout the frame. A rugged landscape featuring a steep, multi-colored rock formation surrounded by sparse vegetation, including pine trees. The background displays reddish and beige layers of earth, suggesting a unique geological context. A close-up view of a kaolin deposit featuring various shades of gray, pink and purple, with uneven textures and cracks. The purple color comes from manganese. Small fragments of clay are scattered throughout. A rocky cliffside displays layered formations in various shades of gray, beige, and red, with a few sparse trees on the summit. The surface features visible erosion patterns and a steep, sloped area leading down the rock face.
December 1, 2025 at 3:45 PM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Just finished working on some pages for a kids' art #zine we're making for upcoming community #kwanzaa celebrations. Each child will be given a gift bag with zines, stickers, clay and other little art supplies. Last year, I just attended the celebration and […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A zine page. The background is green and the text is white and handwritten. The title reads "How to make a bowl from clay" laid over a photo closeup of my hands holding an unfired red clay bowl. Underneath it says Kuumba in Kwanzaa colors: red, green, black (and yellow.) Underneath the text reads: "Kwanzaa celebrates creativity, community and working with our hands, just like shaping a bowl from clay. When we make something ourselves, we honor the spirit of Kuumba--using our imagination to bring something good into the world. As you for your bowl think of it as a small piece of tradition: building, creating and sharing with others. A green page with white handwritten text, decorated with red, black and green triangles. It contains steps 1-4 of making a clay bowl. There are four closeup photos of my hands performing each step. The text reads: take a small amount of clay and roll it between your palms to make a ball. Lightly pound the ball with your fist to flatten it into a "cookie."
November 25, 2025 at 4:37 AM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The handful of you who also follow my gardening account @PermaSolarPotter know that I’ve begun #spinning native cotton. I love plants in the hibiscus family and was given permission to gather some seeds from a plant at the community garden last spring. I […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
My hand holding three homemade spindles. The two on the left feature ceramic whorls while the one on the right has a circular wooden whorl. The wood has a greenish hue. The ceramic whorl on the far left is circular with a scalloped edge. It is off-white with some light olive green detail. The center whorl is aqua in color with a narrow tapered top that flows downward into a wide undulating “skirt”. Each whorl is affixed to a wooden dowel with a small metal hook at the top.
November 22, 2025 at 8:53 PM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Twinning in the sun 🌞 with my favorite mug from this collection. I did not consciously dress like the mug but considering the fact that I mostly wore neutral tones before I started working with #wildclay sig, it’s safe to say that the clay is speaking through […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A square photo of me standing in the sun in front of my studio holding a mug with pink, orange and olive green earth tones, with a abstract plant motif, and the interior glazed glossy chartreuse green. I am wearing a light coral mesh shirt , chartreuse green long beaded earnings and bright green shorts. A small cactus palm can be seen in the background.
November 22, 2025 at 6:31 PM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
TGIF! I just finished writing up my newsletter that will go out tomorrow and I started it by mentioning that my pieces for this month’s collection had to share kiln space with a fair number of pieces by kids & students as well as my larger sculptural […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A collection of intricately designed ceramic pottery, including a teapot and several mugs, showcasing various warm colors and geometric patterns. The pottery is arranged on a neutral brown background.
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 PM
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These photos are from last weekend. I provided a free Clay Play table for an event at the local skatepark. My husband’s a skateboarder & skatepark designer so I got linked in through his network. It was so sweet, fun and, best of all, relaxing. A few kids got […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Two children are engaged in crafting with clay at an outdoor table. One child, wearing a blue shirt, is focused on shaping the clay, while the other child, in a white shirt with sparkly designs, is also working on her creation. A child’s hand is shaping a clay mug using a blue sculpting tool. The mug is partially finished, displaying a handle and an unfinished surface. The setting includes a table with a patterned cloth and hints of a lively outdoor environment in the background. A young person wearing a maroon beanie is focused on shaping clay at a table, while another child beside them works with clay as well. They are outdoors at a skate park with tents and other people in the background.
November 20, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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This was my student’s first time making glaze. Exciting! They’ve finished building their pieces which are now ready to be bisque fired and we’ve made a small amount of glaze to test on little tiles before we apply it to the larger pieces. I referred them to […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A person looking down, writing in a note book, wearing a dust mask. They are surrounded by glaze ingredients and bottles of terra sig, a scale and a cup filled with white powder (glaze ingredients.)
November 14, 2025 at 12:11 AM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Before I can switch gears and begin on my smoke fired pots, I’ve got to finish up this last batch. It’ll be a mixture of smaller sized tableware, a couple of lamps and some larger pieces for an upcoming show. I’m in the carving and decorating phase of the […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A small batch of bone-dry pots sitting on a wooden shelf. Intricately decorated jugs, jars, vases and vases are clustered together with a light blue wall in the background.
November 13, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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Here is the original #clay. We found it in a construction site in Venice, just south of us. They were digging a retention pond beside a new road. The construction is now complete and the pond is filled with water, but for a moment the site was kind of like a […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Closeup of a cross section of bluish gray clay with streaks of rust.
November 13, 2025 at 12:16 AM
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Last year, I sent some #clay that I collected to the University of West Georgia Archaeology Dept and they just sent me the results of their experiment. They tested how the addition of sponge spicules (or fired sea sponge) affects the strength of the fired […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
About two dozen dark gray bars of clay lined up in rows, sitting on a wooden table in what seems to be an institutional setting (school lab). A small, orange-brown, fired rectangle of clay being held by a three-point bend test machine. It's metal with two control panels attached to wires. Two graduated cylinders. One filled with dry, pulverized gray clay and the other filled with black pulverized burned sea sponge (sponge spicules). A poster summarizing students' research results titled "Evaluating the Performance Characteristics of Spiculate-Tempered Pottery." There are four blue squares, one in each corner, filled with text with the headings: Introduction, Methods, Materials, Discussion. The rest of the poster is filled photos of test materials, microscopic images, graphs and tables. If you're really interested in the entire contents of this image, message me and I will send you a pdf with readable text.
November 13, 2025 at 12:05 AM
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#rocketkiln test fire. No pots in the kiln, just a quick inaugural burn. It’s always fun to watch the flame travel downward and then horizontally into the J-tube.

Firing at night helps me see gaps between any of the bricks since they may have shifted over […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A dark closeup photo of the rocket kiln firing chamber. Pieces of wood protrude from the top of a square soft brick furnace glowing from the fire within. Looking down at the firebox into the flame below.
November 12, 2025 at 12:32 AM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Every potter is a bit of a pyromaniac. As soon as the temperature drops below 60°F, it’s fire season. I have an entire body of work that I only make in the winter because I fire #pottery in my outdoor woodfire kiln. #permaculture geeks will love this: I built […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
One of my smoke fired pots collaged on top of a photo of a prescribed or controlled burn in Sarasota County. The pot is a gradient of tones from terracotta to grayish black. It has a wide mouth and narrow foot—a very deep bowl. The lip is curved and a series of ridges follows the curve of the rim all the way down to the foot. The background shows a brush fire with gray smoke filing the air above. A small black bowl sits above the furnace of the rocket kiln as a fire burns below. The bowl was smoke fired to blacken it. The furnace is square and formed with off-white fire brick. Scrap would is partially visible in the burning chamber. The bowl is simple but well formed and features two scalloped decorative ridges on the exterior surface.
November 11, 2025 at 3:36 PM
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Just a middle aged woman getting her first pair of progressive lenses. I’ve been slightly nearsighted since I was a kid but in recent years it’s been getting more difficult to read up close. I would have just grabbed a pair of drugstore magnifiers but my eyes […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A selfie I took sitting at the optometrist office wearing a new pair of glasses. They are somewhat large and cat eye shaped with a brown and black pattern that almost looks like animal print but isn’t. The white price tag is still a fixed to the frame. I’m a black woman with shoulder length locs wearing dangly earrings and a black and tan sweater.
November 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM
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I’m feeling refreshed, inspired by the seascape that surrounds me and ready to create this week. This is an old photo from one of those days when the Gulf is so clear, it looks like a swimming pool.

I’ll be ending the week with a workshop for #ceramics students at St. John’s River State College.
My hand holds a decorative ceramic cup above the surface of clear turquoise water, with light reflections and bubbles visible in the water. The cup is off white with carved geometric leaf-shaped patterns, with aqua color accents that match the water.
November 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I started with another Ringling College of Art student a couple of weeks ago. They don’t have a #ceramics program at their school so whenever a student approaches me with an interest in #clay, I provide a free 6 week studio intensive where they get the entire […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
The student’s hands forming a pot with a soft organic form out of brown clay. The pot sits on a small piece of cardboard on top of a work table. A beam of light shines softly onto the table, pot and the makers hands. A light blue wall and shelving are partially visible in the background. The student taking a photo of the pot they worked on in the previous photo. Various objects sit on the table along with the pot; a plastic water bottle, a ceramic bowl, pieces of clay, cardboard and tools. The background is a pottery studio with a light blue walls, lots of shelving and a window.
October 30, 2025 at 10:20 PM
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Saturday's "Clay Is for Everyone" virtual class went really well. I think it was a revelation for some to realize that the once-a-week community class model is not ideal for advancing your skills over time and can feel quite limiting. $200-300/mo is a lot to […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A video still from the virtual workshop I gave this past weekend. The screen is split showing a frontal view of me starting a coil built pot and a closeup of my hands from a different angel, at the same time. The closed captioning at the bottom of the screen reads "So, I'm pinching with my thumb in a rhythmic way to attach..."
October 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
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Photos from last Friday's #artisttalk at UUSRQ Lexow Gallery for "The Re-Enchantment of Nature," a showing of work by myself and digital collage artist Stephen White. This was my first opportunity to speak in person with a local audience since I began […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Close up of punch bowl sitting on a banquet table. The bowl has a pedestal and a undulating rim. The interior is glazed aqua, which contrasts nicely with the dark red color of the roselle tea inside. The exterior of the bowl is carved with a geometric motif inspired by the roselle calyx and painted with wild clay earth tone--variations of iron red. The table cloth below is dark green and a branch of the Thai roselle plant from my garden is displayed on the table, just next to the bowl. Three individuals sitting on folding chairs in front of a wall featuring three of Stephen White's large, colorful digital collages featuring radial, mandala-like patterns. From left to right: Stephen White, a man with white hair pulled back in a ponytail and glasses; Dalia Colon, the conversation moderator, a black woman with short hair wearing a dress; and on the right me sitting with my legs crossed wearing a tan top and light green pants. A shot of my husband, @joeyomahoney smiling brightly (as always) as he chats with Dalia Colon. She moderated our talk and is the host of WEDU PBS program "ArtsPlus" as well as the host of a food post called "The Zest". Joey is holding a paper plate with food and a drink as they talk. Three individuals posing in front of a display case featuring one of my pieces. From left to right: Larry Winegar (Director of Philanthropy at WEDU PBS), myself and Dalia Colon. In the background, a white gallery room with digital art on the walls and display cases filled with ceramics.
October 24, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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Even as I create larger statement pieces for upcoming shows, my functional ware is still the most important aspect of my work because of the way it exists in people’s homes and everyday lives. Here are a few pieces that have come out of the kiln over the past few weeks. #pottery #ceramics
An off-white handcrafted ceramic mug with a textured surface featuring geometric designs and intricate patterns. The mug has a stylized, curved handle and the off-white glaze allows the red clay to break through the texture giving it a somewhat aged look. There is also an aqua glaze painted into an abstract flower burst pattern on either side of the cup. It is displayed against a neutral background. A decorative ceramic teapot with intricate leaf and geometric patterns in earthy tones. It features a lid topped with a large light blue patterned knob with a pointed top, patterned knob. The colors of the teapot are a dark brick red, olive green abstract leaf pattern and neck rings and a bit of light orange. The background is a solid warm brown color. A decorative off-white ceramic pitcher with intricate patterns, featuring aqua diamond shaped turquoise accents. The piece has a pronounced handle and a wide spout, showcasing a textured surface with geometric designs. The red clay shows through the white glaze giving it an antique look. There are very small coils attached to the surface like tiny ornamental ropes, swooping decoratively across the top and bottom. A handcrafted clay cup with a textured design featuring geometric diamond patterns in brown, green, and light blue colors. The interior is turquoise, contrasting with the earthy tones of the exterior. The background is a warm brown.
October 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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I already have more than enough #clay samples to keep me busy but somehow everywhere I went in #louisiana there seemed to be a pile of disturbed clay soil just waiting there for me to find. The most interesting was at the #lsu Lakes which they are currently […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Five small samples of natural clay on a gray concrete floor photographed from above—two along the top, three along the bottom. They range from light to dark gray and tan to dark pink. Some have a sandy appearance, others resemble rocks but crumble easily when handled.
October 22, 2025 at 4:25 PM
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Yesterday we took our family to our favorite #nature park in #louisiana. It was my 3 month old nephew’s very first hike and the first place I ever found #wildclay years ago when we lived in Baton Rouge.
Me standing on a wooden path in a forest, wearing a baggy t-shirt and black pants, and carrying a baby in a front-facing carrier. The baby is dressed in colorful pants. The setting features trees and pine needles on the ground. My hand holding a piece of colorful clay, showing a rough, crusty surface with peach, red and yellow hues. The background features brown earth and scattered leaves. A close-up view of textured clay strata featuring swirling reddish and brown hues, with patches of green moss or small plants, surrounded by fallen leaves.
October 21, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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We flew to #louisiana to see family but made a quick stop to visit @archeaids and his wife Ann on the way from the airport. James gave us a quick pit firing demonstration, gifted me a sample of #clay from his yard and showed us different pots, clay samples […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
James crouched over a small but deep fire pit, adding small sticks of wood. A small amount of smoke emerges from the pit, which is surrounded by green grass and small piles of wood. James is wearing a gray shirt and a black hat with white hair visible underneath. A large orange flame emerging from the fire pit. A pile a dirt that was dug from the pit can be seen in the background. Green freshly mown grass all around. James and Osa crouched around the fire pit. James is wearing gloves to protect his hands from the heat. Osa is further back observing. There is a house and trees in the background. The fired bowl, still hot, sitting in ashes. The bowl is mostly an orange-brown color with black markings from carbonization called “fire clouds.”
October 18, 2025 at 9:42 PM
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This vase was a custom order for a couple’s 9th wedding anniversary. They wanted something they could pass down to future generations and thought a ceramic piece would make a good commemorative heirloom. They mentioned their love for terracotta amaryllis, a […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A decorative vase with a flared, undulating rim and partially visible turquoise interior. The vase is a warm brick red with textured floral designs in peach and dark orange with olive green stems. There are several carved rings around the neck of the vase painted in the same satin-sheen olive color as the flower stems. Additional carved geometric patterning and raised dots ornament the vase.
October 16, 2025 at 11:48 PM