When I drive past pottery studios I often stop in to see what they make. One potter had these unique toothbrush holders made from speckled clay. I had to make similar ones. Hers was the same height and colour. I made mine a bit different.

I came home, took out my clay and proceeded to make them. I collected cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls, plastic wrap or wax paper rolls, where ever I could get them. I was relatively new at making pottery and hadn’t grasped that clay shrinks when drying and when being fired. Losing the moisture in the clay made sense why it would shrink. When clay fires in the kiln the pours in the clay close up, another time to shrink the clay. The finished toothbrush holders shrunk too small to fit toothbrushes in. I needed larger diameter tubes.

I cut a slab of clay to size and wrapped it around tubes in an ‘S’ form. I let it sit to firm up and discovered a major problem. The clay stuck to the tubes and I couldn’t get the tubes out without the clay breaking. Also if I left the tubes in too long the clay shrunk and cracked. My first attempts ended back in the recycled clay bucket.

Another potter suggested I coat my tubes with Murphy’s Oil Soap. Sometimes the tubes came out, other times the tubes stuck to the clay.

I found a solution. I wrapped the cardboard tubes in plastic, cellophane worked to best. I can pull the tubes out and then peel the plastic off the clay. When I wrap the clay around the tubes I make sure the plastic isn’t trapped in the seams or the bottom. Trapped plastic might burn off in the kiln, but it also might cause the seams and bottom to come apart while being fired in the kiln. I don’t want to take that chance. So no plastic trapped in the bottom or seams is the safest solution.

Now to solve the clay shrinking and cracking around the tubes. I take the tubes out as soon as the clay can hold its shape, about an hour after it is made, definitely not the next day like my early attempts.

Once the bugs were worked out I began making toothbrush holders. I get bored easily therefore I rolled embossed designs on them, combined different glazes, and mixed different coloured clay, such as black, white or brown clay. I even made a few without a bottom and made a tray for them to sit on at customers’ request. Decals of mushrooms and birds have also decorated some.

I began making these as toothbrush holders, then thought “why not put kitchen utensils, pens and pencils, hairbrushes and combs, colouring pencils and markers for the artist and even flowers in them? Do you have any more ideas that they can be used for? Comment in the comment box below.

My toothbrush holders and other pottery can be bought on Etsy. Click on the Etsy button to my The Butlers Pottery

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