I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child, and one of their favorite things to do was attend flea markets. We would spend hours meandering up and down aisles of curious antiques and collections. The excitement of what treasures we might find would keep us going even when our legs got tired. I’ve always gravitated toward textiles, dolls, and folk art from around the world. They’ve had an entire secret life, passed through hands holding energy from a time before us. I love to find ways to inject this animism into my art.
Time and Inspiration
Many of my pieces have scenes of meadows you can frolic in or houses you can envision going inside. I also paint a lot of faces, giving objects a personality we can imagine interacting with. I suppose my art style is a mashup of all my life experiences and memories. It’s all the things I love. It’s about playing, finding that inner child, and creating your own inner world. My background in textiles mixed with my love for all things vintage, the history of women and magic, and a newfound obsession with gardening informs my work in the studio. I guess you can say everything excites me. Inspiration is all around us if you’re looking.
The idea for this project in particular came to me in the form of gifts. My mother sent me a vintage Gemma Taccogna millinery stand (A). I loved it so much I researched her work and realized we shared a lot of the same inspiration: Latin and folk-art influences, along with New York fashion/textiles. I thought I should make my ceramic ladies into pincushions, marrying my love for textiles and clay. I was already doing this with surface design and illustration on clay, but thought it would be fun to take it a step further and create functional objects that were still art pieces for the home. In putting together this latest collection, I thought it would be fun to build on my love for gardening and sewing by giving a nod to the classic tomato pincushion everyone knows and loves.
Making Pincushion People
What I love most about this project is the blending of two crafts—textiles and pottery. The first leg of the project will be clay, and the second will be sewing with fabric.
Planning and Sketching Ideas
Before starting to sculpt or throw, I like to make thumbnail sketches of my ideas (B). This allows me to maintain focus and not go skipping off with another idea. It also sets my designs up for success as I know what shape, colors, and surface design I’m working toward. For simplicity, you can start with a simple cup form that can also act as a catchall by removing the pincushion and storing little scissors, needles, or thread colors. The world is your oyster when it comes to shapes and decoration. All you really need for this project is an opening for the pincushion to sit. If you’re feeling stuck for inspiration, I highly suggest a walk through an antique store, thumbing through art books, taking a walk in a garden, or just following along as I make a set.
Creating the Vessel
For simplicity's sake, I’m demonstrating on the wheel with a basic cylinder, but you can also start with a pinch pot or use a slab to create a cylinder/cup shape. I make these cylinders a little heavier, leaving the walls about ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thick with a heavier bottom. This is so it doesn’t knock over when one is going back and forth with pins while sewing. Center 1–1½ pounds (0.4–0.6 kg) of clay into a 4–5 in. (10–12.7 cm) diameter puck. Then, open to about 3–4 inches (7.6–10 cm) wide and pull the walls straight up, aiming for a finished opening width of about 4–6 inches (10–15 cm).
The bigger the opening, the bigger the pincushion. You also want your mug tall enough to have room to draw a face. There is lots of room for playing with proportions here, but I find a minimum height of 4 inches (10 cm) gives you the room you need to fit all the features (1). I use a rib to give the mug a curved shape and use a foot tool to give the bottom a little detail. Then, cut your piece off the wheel and wait for it to dry to greenware.
Another variation is my pothead shape where there is a vase on top of the head holding the pincushion. For this shape, you would follow all the same steps as above, but throw a taller cylinder (6–9 inches (15–23 cm)) (2). Then, collar in or pinch using your pointers and thumbs to create an indentation where the bottom of the vase and head will meet (3). Next, roll out a small coil and shape handles for the pot, then slip, score, and attach handles to the pot (4).
Illustrating Pincushion People
Refer back to your thumbnail sketches and mix up an underglaze palette of colors to give you the desired effect. When it comes to surface design, you can also choose your own adventure and use regular glazes, Mason stains, or majolica—whichever technique you prefer. Here I will be using underglaze.
Using a pencil, lightly sketch on your greenware piece, split the face into proportion using lines (5). Draw one line vertically down the center where the nose will be and the center of the eyes and lips, and one horizontally through the center of the eyes. Once that is complete, sketch in any details like hair, pupils, flowers, and cheeks.
Time to apply underglaze. I tend to apply one thick, smooth coat of underglaze, but some colors need more than one (6). Test tiles are your friend, but I also enjoy the mystery of not knowing. I love this part where I get to play with hair and eye color, flower colors, and little personal details. For the potheads, I love painting the pot a contrasting color, so it pops (7).
Firing and Glazing
I bisque fire all my work to cone 04 and glaze fire to cone 6. Keep in mind some underglaze colors, particularly reds, yellows, and purples, can burn off at cone 6 or above. Test test test!
For a clear glaze, I brush on two coats, and for a colored glaze, I apply three. Since this project is for decorative purposes, glazing is only necessary if you want a glossy finish or to use the cup for holding liquid. Glazing the inside is optional and depends if you intend on gluing your pincushion in place (8), or if you want it to be removable.
Another option is to bisque fire your pieces before decorating them. Using the majolica technique, apply three coats of a white opaque glaze and then paint on top of the glaze with various colors (9).
Thimble Friends
I found a vintage slip-cast mold for thimbles on eBay, which makes these tiny things much easier (10). I use my leftover clay to make a slip and pour it into the mold to cast the thimbles (11). The excess slip can be poured off in five minutes, and then I leave them to dry until just past leather hard before removing them from the mold (12).
Alternatively, you can handbuild thimbles by rolling a little cone shape and using a small wooden dowel or pencil eraser to carve out the inside. Then, use a pointy-tipped tool to make divots in the top to ‘catch’ the pins as you sew. Or, create a texture so it's less slippery.
Clean up the seams on the casts, then smooth out any rough edges with a lightly damp sponge. Next, decorate the tiny forms with underglaze in the greenware state the same way you would the larger vessels above (13).
Sewing Pincushions
Now for the sewing part! I love the classic tomato pincushion and thought adding it to these forms would be the perfect blend of my love of sewing and gardening. If you don’t want to sew, use a non-fraying fabric like felt for the tops and a glue gun to create a similar version.
Supply List (14)
Velvet or woven fabric: I’m using red velvet and green quilting fabric for the tomato top (do not use upholstery fabric; it is too thick for the needle to go through)
Embroidery floss or thread
Stuffing: poly or wool
Pencil or fabric marker
Scissors
Pins and needles
Tapestry needle
Iron
Plain paper
Begin by measuring the inside diameter of your cup/vessel. Cut a circle of red fabric 2–3× the diameter (15). I aim for 2.75× so it’s not too tight of a fit. I find this number and then trace the circle onto the side (back) of your fabric and cut (7a-c).
Next, using your embroidery or crochet thread, thread your embroidery needle and knot the end. Create a running stitch around the entire circle about a ¼ inch (0.6 cm) in from the seam. Then, carefully pull the string, gathering the fabric and evening out the gathers. Before it’s fully closed, stuff it with the filling, fully tighten it and tie a double knot (16). You can end this process here and just cut the string, push the puff into your mug, or glue it to the inside rim of your cup. However, if you want the traditional vintage pincushion tomato shape, proceed to the next steps.
Send the needle through the bottom opening and up through the center of the tomato; continue doing this step as you work your way around the tomato, making tomato-slice sections. Tie a knot and set the tomato aside while you make the leaves (17).
You can make the tomato top leaves two ways. First option: cut a star shape out of felt and hot glue it to the top. Second option: make a leaf pattern by roughly drawing a star and adding a ¼ inch (0.6 cm) seam allowance that tapers toward the end of the star (18). I don’t strive for perfection with these as I love the hand-crafted vintage look. Trace the star shape onto the green fabric and cut it out. Fold the tabs in and iron them flat. Now, thread the needle through the bottom of the leaves and push them to the top of the tomato. Make a loose loop and tie a knot for the stem (19). Pin down the edges of the leaves and slip or blind stitch the ends to the tomato, ending with a double knot.
The last step is to cut a small circle of fabric and glue or slip stitch it to cover the bottom opening (20). Your tomato pincushion is now complete (21).
Corinne Lent is a Portland-based artist who makes playful ceramics inspired by traditional folk art and the natural world. Leaning into her background in fashion and textile design, she mixes whimsical patterns and storytelling into each hand-painted piece. Her work turns everyday domestic crafts into charming one-of-a-kind sculptures meant to bring a sense of magic and personality into the home.
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I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child, and one of their favorite things to do was attend flea markets. We would spend hours meandering up and down aisles of curious antiques and collections. The excitement of what treasures we might find would keep us going even when our legs got tired. I’ve always gravitated toward textiles, dolls, and folk art from around the world. They’ve had an entire secret life, passed through hands holding energy from a time before us. I love to find ways to inject this animism into my art.
Time and Inspiration
Many of my pieces have scenes of meadows you can frolic in or houses you can envision going inside. I also paint a lot of faces, giving objects a personality we can imagine interacting with. I suppose my art style is a mashup of all my life experiences and memories. It’s all the things I love. It’s about playing, finding that inner child, and creating your own inner world. My background in textiles mixed with my love for all things vintage, the history of women and magic, and a newfound obsession with gardening informs my work in the studio. I guess you can say everything excites me. Inspiration is all around us if you’re looking.
The idea for this project in particular came to me in the form of gifts. My mother sent me a vintage Gemma Taccogna millinery stand (A). I loved it so much I researched her work and realized we shared a lot of the same inspiration: Latin and folk-art influences, along with New York fashion/textiles. I thought I should make my ceramic ladies into pincushions, marrying my love for textiles and clay. I was already doing this with surface design and illustration on clay, but thought it would be fun to take it a step further and create functional objects that were still art pieces for the home. In putting together this latest collection, I thought it would be fun to build on my love for gardening and sewing by giving a nod to the classic tomato pincushion everyone knows and loves.
Making Pincushion People
What I love most about this project is the blending of two crafts—textiles and pottery. The first leg of the project will be clay, and the second will be sewing with fabric.
Planning and Sketching Ideas
Before starting to sculpt or throw, I like to make thumbnail sketches of my ideas (B). This allows me to maintain focus and not go skipping off with another idea. It also sets my designs up for success as I know what shape, colors, and surface design I’m working toward. For simplicity, you can start with a simple cup form that can also act as a catchall by removing the pincushion and storing little scissors, needles, or thread colors. The world is your oyster when it comes to shapes and decoration. All you really need for this project is an opening for the pincushion to sit. If you’re feeling stuck for inspiration, I highly suggest a walk through an antique store, thumbing through art books, taking a walk in a garden, or just following along as I make a set.
Creating the Vessel
For simplicity's sake, I’m demonstrating on the wheel with a basic cylinder, but you can also start with a pinch pot or use a slab to create a cylinder/cup shape. I make these cylinders a little heavier, leaving the walls about ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thick with a heavier bottom. This is so it doesn’t knock over when one is going back and forth with pins while sewing. Center 1–1½ pounds (0.4–0.6 kg) of clay into a 4–5 in. (10–12.7 cm) diameter puck. Then, open to about 3–4 inches (7.6–10 cm) wide and pull the walls straight up, aiming for a finished opening width of about 4–6 inches (10–15 cm).
The bigger the opening, the bigger the pincushion. You also want your mug tall enough to have room to draw a face. There is lots of room for playing with proportions here, but I find a minimum height of 4 inches (10 cm) gives you the room you need to fit all the features (1). I use a rib to give the mug a curved shape and use a foot tool to give the bottom a little detail. Then, cut your piece off the wheel and wait for it to dry to greenware.
Another variation is my pothead shape where there is a vase on top of the head holding the pincushion. For this shape, you would follow all the same steps as above, but throw a taller cylinder (6–9 inches (15–23 cm)) (2). Then, collar in or pinch using your pointers and thumbs to create an indentation where the bottom of the vase and head will meet (3). Next, roll out a small coil and shape handles for the pot, then slip, score, and attach handles to the pot (4).
Illustrating Pincushion People
Refer back to your thumbnail sketches and mix up an underglaze palette of colors to give you the desired effect. When it comes to surface design, you can also choose your own adventure and use regular glazes, Mason stains, or majolica—whichever technique you prefer. Here I will be using underglaze.
Using a pencil, lightly sketch on your greenware piece, split the face into proportion using lines (5). Draw one line vertically down the center where the nose will be and the center of the eyes and lips, and one horizontally through the center of the eyes. Once that is complete, sketch in any details like hair, pupils, flowers, and cheeks.
Time to apply underglaze. I tend to apply one thick, smooth coat of underglaze, but some colors need more than one (6). Test tiles are your friend, but I also enjoy the mystery of not knowing. I love this part where I get to play with hair and eye color, flower colors, and little personal details. For the potheads, I love painting the pot a contrasting color, so it pops (7).
Firing and Glazing
I bisque fire all my work to cone 04 and glaze fire to cone 6. Keep in mind some underglaze colors, particularly reds, yellows, and purples, can burn off at cone 6 or above. Test test test!
For a clear glaze, I brush on two coats, and for a colored glaze, I apply three. Since this project is for decorative purposes, glazing is only necessary if you want a glossy finish or to use the cup for holding liquid. Glazing the inside is optional and depends if you intend on gluing your pincushion in place (8), or if you want it to be removable.
Another option is to bisque fire your pieces before decorating them. Using the majolica technique, apply three coats of a white opaque glaze and then paint on top of the glaze with various colors (9).
Thimble Friends
I found a vintage slip-cast mold for thimbles on eBay, which makes these tiny things much easier (10). I use my leftover clay to make a slip and pour it into the mold to cast the thimbles (11). The excess slip can be poured off in five minutes, and then I leave them to dry until just past leather hard before removing them from the mold (12).
Alternatively, you can handbuild thimbles by rolling a little cone shape and using a small wooden dowel or pencil eraser to carve out the inside. Then, use a pointy-tipped tool to make divots in the top to ‘catch’ the pins as you sew. Or, create a texture so it's less slippery.
Clean up the seams on the casts, then smooth out any rough edges with a lightly damp sponge. Next, decorate the tiny forms with underglaze in the greenware state the same way you would the larger vessels above (13).
Sewing Pincushions
Now for the sewing part! I love the classic tomato pincushion and thought adding it to these forms would be the perfect blend of my love of sewing and gardening. If you don’t want to sew, use a non-fraying fabric like felt for the tops and a glue gun to create a similar version.
Supply List (14)
Begin by measuring the inside diameter of your cup/vessel. Cut a circle of red fabric 2–3× the diameter (15). I aim for 2.75× so it’s not too tight of a fit. I find this number and then trace the circle onto the side (back) of your fabric and cut (7a-c).
Next, using your embroidery or crochet thread, thread your embroidery needle and knot the end. Create a running stitch around the entire circle about a ¼ inch (0.6 cm) in from the seam. Then, carefully pull the string, gathering the fabric and evening out the gathers. Before it’s fully closed, stuff it with the filling, fully tighten it and tie a double knot (16). You can end this process here and just cut the string, push the puff into your mug, or glue it to the inside rim of your cup. However, if you want the traditional vintage pincushion tomato shape, proceed to the next steps.
Send the needle through the bottom opening and up through the center of the tomato; continue doing this step as you work your way around the tomato, making tomato-slice sections. Tie a knot and set the tomato aside while you make the leaves (17).
You can make the tomato top leaves two ways. First option: cut a star shape out of felt and hot glue it to the top. Second option: make a leaf pattern by roughly drawing a star and adding a ¼ inch (0.6 cm) seam allowance that tapers toward the end of the star (18). I don’t strive for perfection with these as I love the hand-crafted vintage look. Trace the star shape onto the green fabric and cut it out. Fold the tabs in and iron them flat. Now, thread the needle through the bottom of the leaves and push them to the top of the tomato. Make a loose loop and tie a knot for the stem (19). Pin down the edges of the leaves and slip or blind stitch the ends to the tomato, ending with a double knot.
The last step is to cut a small circle of fabric and glue or slip stitch it to cover the bottom opening (20). Your tomato pincushion is now complete (21).
Corinne Lent is a Portland-based artist who makes playful ceramics inspired by traditional folk art and the natural world. Leaning into her background in fashion and textile design, she mixes whimsical patterns and storytelling into each hand-painted piece. Her work turns everyday domestic crafts into charming one-of-a-kind sculptures meant to bring a sense of magic and personality into the home.
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