Liz Denys

While on a short road trip and then recovering from surgery, I hand quilted and hand embroidered a linen lily pad quilt.

As a fan of both Animal Crossing New Horizons and the LEGO Botanical series, I figured I'd make the ACNH in-game LEGO Plum Blossom item with real LEGO pieces: The real LEGO brick one even has a similar scale compared to LEGO Fauna as the in-game item comp…

I've worked out of a handful of different community studios at this point, so I figured I'd share a (probably incomplete) list of you might want to consider when picking a community ceramics studio for your practice.

My partner and I played a lot of Outer Wilds during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's probably no surprise that I fell in love with its charming characters and expansive universe.

I wanted a small embroidery project after spending months on my Northern Sky & Southern Sky quilts, and since I was in the middle of planning a complicated original design that would use a many, many colors, I wanted something that used just a single embr…

Like so many other hat knitters, I've knitted the classic WWII watch cap, which is also known as Beanie no. 212, more than a handful of times.

After five different drivers, including a school bus driver, aggressively close-passed me in Midwood last night and two of them threatened me just for being on the street, I realized there's a huge gap in educational outreach about bike rules in NYC: driv…

I reference a lot of different data sources when forming opinions at Community Board hearings and testifying at local public meetings, and since there are so many useful sources, I started keeping track of which ones I used a couple years ago.

Here's how to fold a mini-zine, featuring my mini-zine So you want to make a public comment!

Some issues are easier to to figure out how to file than others, so I've compiled some of common ones I've filed to improve bicycling infrastructure in NYC.

I find a lot of value in doing creative work that isn't in clay - I can feel more fully relaxed creating something that's purely a hobby, and working in other mediums inspires my ceramic studio practice in unexpected ways.

I made my So you want to make a public comment!

I've been testifying at local public meetings for safer streets and more housing and affordable housing, and sometimes people ask me how they can do the same and what to expect.

I've been biking in Brooklyn for a few years now!

I found inspiration for this pitcher's glaze design in the night sky.

When I was glazing this v60-style cone, I was thinking of rising sea levels, eroding beaches, and melting ice caps.

Clay shrinks as it dries and even more as it's fired, so it's useful to have a way to estimate the final size of in-progress work - especially if you're making multiples or trying to fit pieces together.

I'm continuing my clay body reviews series with two very heavily grogged "sculpture" clays I've used.

Starlit sky on a clear night / the milky way / eternity / clarity / raindrops sticking to window glass Black stoneware clay with fine white grog, slab-built, denim satin glaze

Blue jeans / well worn leather / rows of cornflowers along a dirt path Medium brown stoneware clay with white grog, slab-built, denim satin glaze

Bauhaus design / negative space / boundaries that are clear on paper Tan stoneware clay with black speckles and light grog, slab-built, glossy yellow, glossy orange, and matte turquoise glazes

Rising sea levels / eroding beaches / between saltwater and the sea strands / melting ice caps Reclaimed stoneware clays with black speckles and light grog, slab-built, glossy teal and white glazes

Gov.

Starlit sky on a clear night / the milky way / eternity / clarity / raindrops sticking to window glass Black stoneware clay with fine white grog, slab-built, denim satin glaze

Tan stoneware clay with black speckles and light grog, slab-built, denim satin glaze

One of the things I love most about working in a community studio is hearing about other ceramists' experiences with new-to-me clay bodies.

Blue jeans / well worn leather / rows of cornflowers along a dirt path Medium brown stoneware clay with white grog, slab-built, denim satin glaze

Starlit sky on a clear night / the milky way / eternity / clarity / raindrops sticking to window glass Black stoneware clay with fine white grog, slab-built, blue hare's fur glaze

Tan stoneware clay with black speckles and light grog, slab-built, matte copper patina glaze

Algae in pond water / crests and troughs / sea glass Heavily grogged buff stoneware clay, slab-built, glossy bottle glass green glaze

Heavily grogged black stoneware, coil-built, denim satin glaze

The classic New York City treat reimagined as a pill jar Tan stoneware clay with black speckles and light grog, slab-built and altered, porcelain slip, brown underglaze, black, white, and clear glazes

When brewing filter coffee, it's common to come up against one of the main limitations of the Niche Zero grinder: the Niche Zero has no markings past the 50 mark.

Sedimentary rock / canyons / weathering and erosion Agateware made with tan stoneware clay with black speckles, red stoneware clay, medium brown stoneware clay, and grey stoneware clay, slab-built, clear glaze

Heavily grogged black stoneware, coil-built, glossy blue glaze

Silver bushes on the red rocks in the Mojave desert / western bluebirds / Brooklyn brownstones Red stoneware clay with grog, slab-built, denim satin glaze

Tan stoneware clay with black speckles and light grog, slab-built, satin bright blue glaze

Aged leather / dazzle camouflage / coming together?

I got an embroidery kit for an old Nordiska apple tree by Ingegerd Hyltén-Cavallius from Studio Flax and ended up modifying it to make it a peach tree because I decided to put the finished project up in my powder room and can't resist a terrible pun:

I got an embroidery kit for a wreath of flowers by Studio Flax and Purl Soho and could not resist making the stitching more complicated.

I got a crewel embroidery kit for a variety of flowers and their roots from Purl Soho.

Last November, signs banning e-assist bikes were tacked onto Prospect Park's rule signs: The original signs announcing this ban only stated it in English.

Content warning: discussion of fatphobia in advertising Practically overnight, my ads on Instagram went from annoying but benign reminders of capitalism to an utterly dehumanizing nightmare.

A fan of my Library Blanket color palette preview tool asked if I could make one for the Mitered Corner Blanket, so I did.

Joelle Hoverson designed another blanket that follows a similar construction as the Library Blanket, so I figured I'd make another color picking tool for the new Side Street Blanket.

I've been biking for transportation for a few months now, and honestly, I've never been a happier person.

This year, my household's holiday card will celebrate ("celebrate") one of New York City's most iconic images: The back of the card explains why this problem is so commonplace on NYC's streets and says how we could fix it: Piles of trash blocking sidewalks

Since Summer 2020, I've been organizing with Bridges 4 People, a campaign of the Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn, North Brooklyn, and Manhattan activist committees.

I've been increasingly seeing an item for Route Package Protection automatically added to my cart when I purchase things online: I went partially through the checkout flow of a shop that uses Route with a $278 item I have no interest in purchasing to illu…

Purl Soho added some new colors and discontinued some old colors of the yarns called for in Joelle Hoverson's Library Blanket.