Thomas Shafer is best known for hand-built decorative stoneware forms and wheel-thrown functional stoneware. Common forms are plates, bowls, and covered jars. Some pieces are decorated by using molds to either stamp into the clay surface or to create sprigs (a molded clay detail to be applied with slip to a clay vessel surface). Before glazing, Shafer stains the form with iron or manganese oxide to create a surface for colorful patterns made with enamel-like glazes. The glazes contrast with the earth tone of the stoneware.
Shafer?s inspirations are Spanish and Middle Eastern pottery designs.
"Other works by Jones
Jones in other collections
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Last updated: April 22, 2026
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