Cass has been in love with clay always - and, in fact sometimes, she longs for a lifestyle where her art is all she has to do each day. Ha!

Someday, maybe. But meanwhile, working with the clay is a wonderful way to relax and re-create, so she escapes to her studio every chance she gets.

Although Cassie uses a variety of styles, shapes, and glazing techniques creating tiles and vessels of all kinds, one of her favorite things to do is to make custom plates and platters on the theme of “family”.

This idea was born because she was looking for a way to decorate her dining room walls - with something that would celebrate her large, extended family. Since it was a dining room, the idea of plates seemed right. But, what kind of plates? And what should she put on them?

For years, Cass had brightened all her written communication with a cast of “stick” people that she would endow with emotions, expressions, and recognizable physical characteristics - using just a few simple strokes. She came to be fascinated with how the smallest mark could make such a big difference - and how much these simple stick figures looked like the people they were supposed to be! (See the bottom of the page for a good example) So, why not put these folks on plates?

Handmade plates would have too much personality of their own, and her stick folks had to be able to express themselves without competition, so she decided on white, bisque plates - the perfect blank “canvas”.

It took awhile to work out the details, but as soon as the dining room project was finished and hung, there came a barrage of requests from friends and their friends to do plates for their families, and a phenomenon was born.

Cassie now produces plates and platters for lots of families. I recently visited her studio and followed her through the creation of a platter that would be a wedding gift for our niece. I asked her to share that experience with us so we can all see how it’s done.

Contact Information:
Cassie Schindler
Email: cassschin@aol.com