The Selma Times-Journal

You can’t make a big bust of Elvis anymore, but the Selma City Ceramics department has thousands of other molds to choose from.

For 30 years the entire bottom level of the Dallas Academy Building, which was built in 1889,

has been home to a sprawling studio packed full of the tools and materials used for making ceramic objects that rivals the facilities of a large university.

After paying the yearly $15 membership fee, anyone can come and work whenever the doors are unlocked which is

on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from

9 a.m. to noon and Tuesday afternoon from 3 to 5:30 p.m., and Thursday evenings

from

7 to 10 p.m.

First,

a

plaster

mold is filled with slip,

a

very watery mud,

and then allowed to dry.

When the mud hardens

and the plaster is removed, it is called greenware.

That is then fired and becomes bisque.

At this point the bisque can be glazed and fired again or painted.

“It is very inexpensive,” Vicky Sommerville, a teacher at the studio, said.

“I know in other places to go in there and make a big platter would cost you about $100, but here you can do it for about $10.”

The most popular

objects people make are utilitarian dishes but there are thousands of

molds for everything from

ashtrays to Easter bunnies.

During the summer there is a two week art camp for children.

Participants make seven or eight projects in different media and learn from local artists such as Charlie Lucas.

Individual art classes in painting and drawing are offered and the building is handicap accessible.

For more information, call City Ceramics at 334-874 -2143.