Daven Hee – Making adult toys (not that kind)

Hi, my name is Daven Hee, and in this workshop, I’ll be showing you how I make one of my “toys”.

The potter’s wheel is used as a tool to make different forms fast and efficiently. You will see the process that I use when making one of my toys. These toys are made up of all wheel-thrown components.

Using simple manipulation, additions, and a small torch, new and interesting forms can be developed. The torch is used to speed up the drying process, which allows pieces to be joined quickly and spontaneously. A small teapot can be thrown and assembled in as little as 10 minutes and a “toy submarine” can be made and assembled in about 30 minutes.

In this workshop, I will be going over how to determine the best type of clay for this process and how to design a basic toy. I’ll teach you how to throw the shapes needed, how to use a torch for fast drying and how to put it all together.

At the end of this workshop you’ll understand how to use the torch to firm up basic thrown forms and join them together. The benefits from this technique helps to free you to create new and spontaneous forms.

You will need a potter’s wheel, basic throwing tools, a small brush, a hand held torch, towel for your hands and some paper and a pen.

When you buy this workshop, you get:

• Watch my Live Online Workshop
  • The workshop will be around 1 hour long.
• Bonus Q&A
  • Join my bonus Live Q&A where I answer questions about my process face-to-face
• Lifetime Access to the Replays
  • The workshop and the Q&A are recorded, and you will have lifetime access to it. You can watch it online, or download it to your device to watch offline at any time

After this workshop, you could be making amazing work like this:

Daven Hee is a local potter and ceramic artist from the island of O‘ahu. Born in Honolulu and raised with traditional Japanese and Chinese values, Daven was officially told in high school that he was meant to be either a farmer or a circus performer.

Instead, Daven grows pots and entertains his students at Mid-Pacific, an arts-focused private school in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, where he serves as instructor of ceramics and leads the 3D art program. Prior to COVID-19 times, Daven could also be found teaching at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, the Hawai‘i Potters’ Guild, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Alongside mentoring students of all ages, Daven maintains an active studio practice. His work can be found in permanent and private collections nationally and internationally, including at the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and the National Institute for the Arts, Australian National University.

Daven holds a Master of Arts in the Visual Arts (MAVA) from the Australian National University School of Art & Design and he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Website: https://davenheeceramics.com