Animal Bottles – Ceramic Art

Birds of a Feather
Giraffe

About the Bottles

This section contains images of some of the many Animal Bottles I have made over the years. Interested in exploring the use of an extruder, a type of pottery equipment, I was initially inspired to create tall bottles of long-necked animals. The “Birds of a Feather” and the Giraffe were the original creations. I then moved on to make other animal representations.

These are fun to make because they require using multiple techniques: the bases are made with a slab roller, the lower bodies are made with the extruder, the upper bodies are thrown on the potter’s wheel, and the heads, which serve as the stoppers, are sculpted. Watch the studio tour video that demonstrates the various pottery equipment and techniques. These bottles are glazed inside and out, so they can be used for liquids, even though many people just enjoy them as sculptures. These bottles range in height from 12 to 18 inches, with most being in the 16 to 18 inch range.

In addition to the images shown here, I have made many other animals, including a poodle, a dachshund, a chihuahua, a beagle, an English bulldog, a fox, a Belted Galloway Cow, a puffin, a parrot, an alligator, a frog, a dragon, a baby baboon, and I’m sure several others that I have forgotten.