About

Welcome to Wissahickon Pottery! I am a one person pottery operation. Every piece of pottery that I sell is handmade by me. I design and create each piece to be functional, artistic, and fun! I hold my pottery to the highest standards of craftsmanship, and quality. My work incorporates the thousands of years of tradition that came before me, and blends that tradition with creativity and function in todays world.

Nick Corso – Potter

My Materials and Process.

Clays

I use a variety of clay bodies for my pottery. My main clay is versatile clay that I dig from the ground in Maryland. I also mix and blend commercially mined clays to create specific clay bodies for specific needs. I like to experiment with different clays to bring variety to my work, and I like to use local materials to bring a local and unique element to my work.

Glazes

I develop and formulate all of my own glazes. Most of my glazes are “ash based” meaning they contain 30-50% wood ash as the core of the glaze. Wood ashes are rich in minerals like calcium, Potasium, Sodium, Silica… and many others. All key ingredients in pottery glazes. Wood ashes are also free, abundant, and a waste product. Developing my own glazes allows me to have complete control over the color and texture of the glaze. I uses my glazes to bring a very unique element to my work. All of my glazes are food safe, microwave safe, and dishwasher safe. Also, I do one thing different from most potters I “raw glaze” my work, meaning I make and glaze my work and fire it only one time, eliminating the bisque firing.

Firing

All of my pieces are fired in my gas fired kiln. Check out my wood fired work on my other website www.woodfiredclay.com

Process

I often look to old handmade pots as inspiration for my own work. I always find something honest and special in pottery made by potters of past generations. The quality of the craftsmanship of pottery made 1000 years ago easily surpasses that of today.

All of my work is handmade. I gather the elements of my pottery and transform them into works in ways that I understand and control, while a sense of mysticism, mystery and wonder is always present. There are always challenges and opportunities along the way.