Behind the Scenes: Making Halloween Ceramics for the October Art Fair

Every October, something shifts in the studio.

The glazes I reach for change. The shapes on the wheel get a little more playful. And instead of the quiet calm of my usual matcha bowls and mugs, I find myself carving tiny pumpkin faces into soft clay at two in the morning, genuinely happy about it.

This year I'm making jack-o'-lantern candle holders and ghost candle holders — a whole little Halloween crew — for the Los Angeles art fair on October 10th. They're small, handmade, and carved by hand while the clay is still leather-hard. Each one has its own slightly lopsided smile, which feels right. No two are the same.

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**Where things stand right now**

The pieces are in greenware stage — fully formed and air-drying in the studio. If you've never made pottery before, greenware is that fragile, bone-dry state just before the first firing. The clay looks almost finished, but it's actually at its most delicate. One knock and it's gone.

This Thursday, September 25th, they go into the kiln for bisque firing. Bisque is the first of two firings. It transforms raw clay into something solid and porous — ready to absorb glaze. After bisque, the pieces are much sturdier, and that's when the real color work begins.

Once they come out of bisque, I'll apply glaze: deep oranges, smoky blacks, a little warm ivory. Then back into the kiln for the glaze firing, which is where everything fuses and the surfaces come alive. From soft terracotta clay to something you'd actually want on your mantle.

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**Why Halloween ceramics matter to me**

I grew up in Kyoto, where every season has its own aesthetic rituals. Autumn in Japan is taken seriously — the colors, the light, the feeling of things winding down before winter. Halloween isn't a Japanese tradition, but the spirit of it — honoring darkness, playing with symbols of the season, finding something beautiful in the spooky — resonates with me.

These handmade candle holders are meant to do what all my pottery does: slow you down for a moment. Light a candle inside one on a dark October evening, and there's something quietly magical about it.

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**Come find them on October 10th**

If you're in the Los Angeles area, I'd love to see you at the fair. I'll have the Halloween pieces alongside my usual collection of matcha bowls, mugs, and plates — all handmade in my Marina del Rey studio.

Inventory is limited. Everything is one-of-a-kind. And this little pumpkin crew is already filling up the kiln shelf.

See you there. 🎃