Liz Hanlon of Etch5 Artistry is a creator at heart, most notably with clay. Her love for ceramics came when she took a ceramics course during a gap year while at Baton Rouge Community College. Liz came up with the business’s name from their own name. Their initials are E.T.C.V.H., so she kept E.T.C.H. and changed the V to the roman numeral 5, hence ETCH5.
Even though their ceramics business is a side gig, Liz can’t seem to stop working with clay. Liz’s favorite objects to make are mugs, platters, and pretty much anything that can be held in your hands or shared with people. Liz states she loves making mugs because they “are like your own little artistic hand warmers in cold months and mornings,” and she loves making platters that can be used to gather people around a table for conversation and food. Liz would also love to get more involved with creating sculptural pieces. Because of the amount of HGTV shows she’s seen, Liz is inspired to make personal mosaics or custom tiles for kitchens and bathrooms.
During the week, Liz works as a financial aid officer, but tries to attend markets or local community events on the weekend. She loves using the weekends to spend time with her dog and husband by checking out the farmers market, Local Pop-Up markets, visiting new businesses that opened recently, or checking out new menus around town. When Liz isn’t spending time with their family, she is creating new ceramic pieces. She said that one piece can take between 4-7 hours to complete, so the majority of their crafting time takes up most of the day. Liz is an advocate for using clay, whether it is trying wheel throwing ceramics or getting your hands on air dry or polymer clay. She emphasizes not being scared to try it out because of all the fun things you can do with clay, and how amazing it feels “to make something with your own hands.”
Starting your clay journey may be daunting, but Liz mentions that there are ways to get involved in Baton Rouge that are easily accessible. Southern Pottery is a local pottery supply store that produces their own clay batches that a lot of local artists use, including Liz. There are also places around the city that provide classes, such as Belly Fire on Lee. Local Supply even hosted a clay workshop with Amanda Proctor, who teaches classes on the regular at Creative Crafts on Florida Blvd. Liz ends by saying that everyone should try clay at least once in their life if they can.
Local Supply currently sells some of Liz’s mugs in store that she made exclusively for the store. Her designs range from DND dice, plants, astrology, and fruits, which you can find here. Also be on the lookout to see the next time Liz will be attending a Local Pop Up market!
