Oktcha TeSelle

Okcha has been a potter for close to 20 years. She lives and works in a quiet countryside in Loudoun County of Virginia with a dog and a husband. Okchadoes all her creations at home studio. She has three electric kilns, a RAKU kiln, and a pit that is constantly changing in sizes and shape, depending on the finish she is trying to achieve and the number of pots that are going into the pit on that particular day. After nearly 20 years of being a potter, Okchais still learning and evolving in pottery. It tests her limitations,imagination, patience, and creativity. All in one pot at a time.

Okcha’s works are mostly wheel thrown vessels. Occasionally, hand-built clay embellishments accompany her pieces. Okcha enjoys making all shapes and sizes of pottery and enjoy firing them in many different firing techniques as well.

She has worked with electric, reduction, and soda kilns to fire her vessels. These days she is mainly concentrating firing on cone 6. All her glazed potteries are dishwasher and microwave safe. Along with these modern methods, she has been firing with primitive techniques; Raku, pit, naked Raku, and combination Raku and sagar. Okchaenjoys pit firing mostly because of the idea of dancing flame decorating thepot is very exciting. She puts several coats of terra sigillata on the pot to encourage a certain base color. It is interesting to experiment with different forms of pits or kilns, chemicals, and organic materials from her surroundings to enhance the color of her pieces. Sometimes, Okcha fires twice in a quick succession to achieve a specific finish. Once the vessel has been cooled enough, Okcha washes it with warm water, then polish it with wax . In the end,the result could still surprise you.