Cooking-Inspired Pottery Projects to Create This Summer

As the warm days of summer have us spending more time with family and friends, there's no better way to celebrate the season than with delicious meals shared together. Elevate summer flavors with the timeless charm and functionality of clay pottery for cooking and dining. 

Let’s explore how clay pottery cooking enhances your culinary adventures, featuring handcrafted plates, serving dishes, pitchers, and cups.

Plates for Grilled Food

Plates are a staple for summer cooking, and when you create them yourself, you can add a personal touch to any meal. 

First, start by selecting and wedging clay to ensure it's free of air pockets, which is crucial for overall durability. 

Using DiamondCore® Tools’ trimming tools and sticky bats, shape the clay into a sturdy, even base, perfect for withstanding heat as you place your grilled meal on top. Our tools provide precision in trimming and refining edges, which is important for achieving the desired shape you have in mind.  

Next, add personal touches with our carving tools or sgraffito stylus tools. Be sure to apply a non-toxic and food-safe glaze to enhance the plate's appearance and protect it from stains, making it easy to clean and maintain. 

Food-safe glazes have been formulated and tested to ensure they do not leach harmful chemicals into food or drink when used as intended. Ensure they do not have any metal oxide colorants, barium, lithium carbonate, or lead. This final step adds a glossy finish and seals the pottery, ensuring it remains safe for serving food. 

With proper care and attention to detail, your handmade plate will become a centerpiece of your summer gatherings, which you, your family, and your friends will love. 

Serving Platters for Summer Feasts

Serving platters are essential for making your summer feasts shine. They add both style and practicality to your dining setup. Plus, they are unique and fun to bring to gatherings as a small homage to your artistic skills. 

Crafting pottery serving platters involves using DiamondCore® tools to carefully shape and refine each piece.

DiamondCore’s stainless steel blades, hardwood handles and precision-made diamond grits, and more allow you to add intricate designs and more to your work. 

Don't forget the glazing step — it makes your serving platters look great and ensures they're safe for food and easy to clean. 

Elegant Pottery Pitchers

From lemonade and iced tea to margaritas and mojitos, the refreshing drinks of summer taste even better in handmade pottery pitchers. These standout vessels are essentials for summer dining, blending functionality with charm. 

Crafting these elegant pieces involves careful shaping and detailing using DiamondCore® ribs and trimming tools, ensuring each pitcher is both beautiful and practical. 

You can test different techniques to achieve desired shapes and designs, from forming the body to creating handles and spouts. Our handheld clay extruders can help you get consistently shaped handles every time with minimal effort! Our extra-large extruders provide an especially study grip on bigger pieces. 

Adding decorative elements such as those made with our Clay Impression Stamps enhances a pitcher’s visual appeal. 

Applying cooking-safe glaze adds a glossy finish, ensures durability, and makes pitchers safe for serving drinks. Handcrafted pottery pitchers are not just unique dinnerware but statements of craftsmanship that enhance the enjoyment of summer refreshments with every pour.

Cups for Handcrafted Drinks

Crafting cups for handcrafted drinks adds a personal touch to summer refreshments.

Using DiamondCore® Tools, you can carefully shape and refine each cup, ensuring it fits comfortably in the hand while also enhancing your overall drinking experience. 

Whether creating mugs for morning coffees or delicate tea cups for afternoons spent on the patio, attention to detail is key, from selecting clay to applying glaze for a smooth finish. These cups can be detailed with unique designs using techniques like Mishima or sgraffito or embellished with textured fine-point carvings to make them even more special. 

Handcrafted cups and mugs elevate beverage presentation and celebrate artistry and craftsmanship. Remember to polish the bottoms of your pieces with DiamondCore® sanding pads and sandpaper to ensure no tables are scratched throughout the summer. 

Try DiamondCore® Tools for Yourself

Whether you’re new to making functional pottery or a seasoned expert, DiamondCore® tools are perfect for any summer pottery project. 

Get started on making the ceramic pottery you’ve been craving at the table, and remember to tag us on Instagram and Facebook to show off your latest creations. 

We can’t wait to see what you design. Happy creating!