I bought this strange object at a thrift store last year. It looks like a Mr. Potato Head or anthropomorphized M&M version of Darth Vader, with all the facial features missing, but with a nicely formed helmet. I attempted a Darth Vader pot a few years ago and it didn't survive. I managed to make a small flowerpot with simplified helmet and features, but it wasn't what I wanted. This time, I tried to use the helmet from this thing as a mold. It didn't work and I ended up destroying the whole pot. It was about half a bag (ten dollars worth) of clay and about three days' work, but the disappointing part is finding something that I can't make out of clay. Why should Darth Vader's helmet be so difficult?
Unfortunately I didn't document the process of the failed Darth Vader pot, but this what I made tonight after I destroyed it. One of my Halloween Devotion statues from 2011 sold on Etsy so I thought I would make another one.
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Aberrant Ceramics is the artwork of Aaron Nosheny,
ceramic artist and potter in Tucson, Arizona.
I work in the medium of stoneware clay and make hand-built pottery, sculpture, hamsas, ornaments, masks, and a variety of other forms.
I’m a self-taught autistic artist working in my medium for over twenty years. I like monsters, insects, weird animals, body horror, folk horror, horror comedy, horror in general, Halloween decorations, fast food mascots, kitsch – all of these creep into my work, but there’s really no overarching theme.
I am in love with my medium. I love the process of frantically birthing clay monstrosities, subjecting them to an epic trial by fire, and sending them out into the world.