Make a Pot Person

Gardening by the Yard : Episode GBY-520 -- More Projects »
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When Gardening by the Yard host Paul James takes a break from the hard work of gardening, he likes to make the garden a fun place. Here, Dottie Trizza, co-owner of Mama Trizza's Pottery Shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shows James how to make a whimsical "pot person" in a chair. Each of her pot people is made of various sizes of terra cotta pots, plenty of heavy-duty stick glue and galvanized wire.
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Figure A
Dottie starts with a 6-inch terra cotta pot to serve as the base of the pot person's body. She first drills two small holes (for the galvanized wire to pass through) about 45 degrees apart in the side of the pot near the bottom (figure A). She also drills a larger hole (for a bolt to pass through) in the chair seat about where the base pot's drain hole will sit.

Next, she applies glue to the bottom of the base pot and positions it on the chair seat, centering the drain hole over the hole drilled in the seat. To secure the pot firmly, she places a nut, bolt and washer assembly of appropriate size through the drain hole and the hole in the seat.

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Figure B
Then Dottie cuts a piece of galvanized wire (making it more than long enough for both of the pot person's legs) and threads it through the two holes she drilled in the side of the base pot. She forms the person's legs by stringing smaller pots along the wire and then gluing each pot to the one before it (figures B). When the legs are finished, she cuts off any excess wire.

After the legs are completed, she builds the top of the body by putting glue on the top rim of the base pot. Then she places another 6-inch pot upside down on the glued rim of the base pot.

Preparing the pot for the head comes next, and Dottie uses yet another 6-inch pot, this time with a face molded into the surface. First, she cuts a piece of wire long enough for both arms. Then she positions a washer in the middle of the wire by looping the wire twice through the center of the washer (being sure the washer is larger than the drain hole). Running the ends of the wire through the drain hole, she pulls the washer snugly against the opening. While Paul James holds the ends of the wire taut against opposite sides of the head pot, Dottie spreads glue on the bottom of the pot and Paul places the glued bottom on the top of the body assembly.
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Figure C
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Figure D
Dottie then pieces the arms together by threading the arm wires through the drain hole of each pot and nesting the pots as she goes (figure C). She secures each pot to the preceding one with adequate glue at the points where they touch. As with the legs, she cuts off any excess wire when the arms are finished.

Next, Dottie and Paul have lots of fun decorating the pot person with Spanish moss, green moss and lichens (figure D), and it's also a great way to cover up excess glue. As a final touch, she places a smaller potted plant in the pot person's head and fills the space between the two pots with moss.

Guests
Dottie Trizza
1448 S. Delaware
Tulsa, OK 74105
Phone: 918-743-7687
URL: mamatrizzas.com/
Also in this Episode
Gardening by the Yard : Episode GBY-520
•Humidity for Houseplants
•Make a Pot Person
•A Simply Zen Water Garden
•Q&A: Ground Leaves
•Q&A: Leaf blowers
•Q&A: Feeding Birds
•Q&A: Extra Spinach
•Q&A: Kale
•Paul's Twin Ponds
•Clothes Dryer Vents