May 2025 - Brie Bakers — but actually — Bookend Planters
So, as you may have noticed if you have been following along since January. The monthly list of throwing challenges is… flexible.
May was intended to be the month I made a brie baker/warmer. But it’s hot. No one needs baked brie right now… my husband will surely disagree with this statement. I do plan to make the brie baker/warmer still, and it will be ready in time for the cozy fall weather - probably.
I decided to focus on making some bookend/wall hanging planters this month as May leads into June and now that I am a potter - gifts are typically handmade for my girlfriends. 3/4 of us have June birthdays and one in July. So it was time to start getting creative with them in mind.
Up first was Samantha because I am still struggling with what to make Meghan and Alex — note the posting date is in July, though I am only technically behind on Meghan’s — who turns out decided to make herself a matcha bowl in the pottery class she has been taking with her partner — cool cool cool - back to the drawing board now lol.
Anyway - Sami really loves sunflowers, and I got her hooked on plants during the period of time that we lived together as adults - we only had a bamboo plant in college - which to this day is alive despite my mom’s cat trying to murder it last year. Sami also reads… like a lot. She should turn this superpower into a profession - as of the date of this post she has already read 100 books this year. Yeah - so I took out my paint brushes and what little hand building skills I have and made some bookends out a planter I threw, then chopped in half, then added slabs to and subsequently painted a large sunflower on. I was a bit nervous about how they would turn out as the felt a little rushed.
Side note - my husband and I finally went on our honeymoon trip to Europe 7 months after the wedding - this took up most of the making time of May - so I had like 8 days left in May when I started these.
But even with not having a lot of time for trial ones — I love the way they turned out. Amazing. I have a black set for myself to hang on the wall above our fake fireplace so I can have a large pothos plant climbing around our wedding portrait - if I ever get around to hanging it.
