Stray Cat Studio

This is where the studio happens. 🐈‍⬛

Once a month, members gather for our Huddle — the meeting where we connect, talk shop, and make the decisions that keep Stray Cat running. We’re member-run, which means the people who use this space are the people who shape it.

This one was bittersweet: it was Sophie’s last huddle as our studio manager before she heads off to med school. We’re cheering you on, Sophie! 🎉 And in the same breath, we got to welcome Andrea, who’s stepping into the role.

We’ve also locked in a standing date — Huddles are now the last Thursday of every month. Members, mark your calendars.

Nothing goes to waste here. ♻️

Those trimmings, flops, and dried-out scraps? They don’t hit the trash — they get reclaimed. Soaked down, dried back to working consistency, and wedged into fresh balls ready for the wheel.

One of our members taught the rest of us how to do it, and the savings add up fast. A single reclaim session turned 30+ lbs of “waste” back into usable clay — real money back in your pocket and less material in the landfill.

Members teaching members, taking care of our materials and our planet. That’s the Stray Cat way.

Clay or pumpkin pie? 🥧

We’ll give you a second.

Good news for your fork: it’s reclaimed clay, drying out in plaster bats so it can be wedged up and thrown all over again. (Please do not eat it.)

More on the magic of reclaiming clay later this week 👀

Field trip! 🚐

A few of our members road-tripped to Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh — a gallery, store, and workshop space that’s been championing handmade art since 1971.

We wandered the store, soaked up work from makers all over, and left full of ideas (and maybe a little glaze envy). Seeing what other artists are doing is half the fun of being part of a creative community.

Go visit them if you haven’t — 5645 Butler St, Pittsburgh. Thanks for having us, Contemporary Craft!

June challenge: Eat Yer Veggies! 🥕🍅🥬

This month we’re making art inspired by vegetables — your garden, your fridge, your imagination. It’s a loose theme, so go wherever it takes you. Pinch-pot pea pods? A painted tomato still life? A wonky ceramic radish? Yes, yes, and yes.

Inspo photos are up on the studio bulletin board. Make something, leave it out for everyone to enjoy, and take it home when the next challenge posts.

No wrong answers. Just good making.

Do you guys think this is wax? I’m not sure! 😜

Stray Cat Studio is STILL going to partner with Reforest Our Future to replant our gardens with Pennsylvania native plants — but we have to change the date!

Please follow along for the new date and time!

Somebody made mushrooms today.

That's the thing about having a creative home — you come in, you make your thing, whatever that thing happens to be. Mushroom ornaments drying on a rack. A teapot covered in paisley. A wooden bowl with words burned into the rim. Paint splatters here, there, and everywhere.

No wrong answers here.

Stray Cat Studio memberships are open to all skill levels, all media, all makers. Come make your thing.

Before the glaze. Before the kiln. Before it becomes the thing on your shelf.

There's this stage — raw clay, fresh texture, full of possibility — where you can still see every decision the maker made.

This paisley teapot is currently somewhere in that in-between. We can't wait to see what it looks like on the other side.

Member-made at Stray Cat Studio · Beaver Falls PA