I’ve told you plenty in a bazillion different posts about my Aunt Tena’s pottery. My number of mentions and my Kitchen Cabinets definitely attest to my love of her work.

But I’ve been keeping a secret from you: Her son, Nathan (my cousin), and his wife, Katie.katie-nathan-payne-custom-potteryThey also have some magnificent work that they’ve been selling at art shows for years, but they just opened up a shop on Etsy to share it with the online world.

(Their Etsy site still a work in progress, so all of their work isn’t up yet, but if there’s something you see in this post you want to buy, I’m sure they’ll let you.)

While Tena’s work is mesmerizingly sophisticated, Nathan’s is every bit as whimsical. You can immediately sense the masculine touch in his humorous designs.

My favorite of his creations is the Monster Bowl, sure to get any picky eater to chow down if they get to eat straight from a Monster’s Mouth, right?monster-bowls-custom-pottery

These retail for $30, and I adore them.

Some of his other creations include this fish bowl:custom-pottery-fish-shaped-bowl

And his Robot Bottles, which are ever-so-creative:blue-robot-bottle-custom-pottery

robot-bottle-shot-glass-demonstration

His wife, Katie, also has a knack for clay. She has been using it to make gorgeous and unique jewelry pieces:alabama-custom-jewelry-clay-ring

They are all hand-formed, so each one is a unique work of art:katie-payne-custom-jewelry-necklace

custom-jewelry-rings-necklace

Now, for the giveaway:

I have two Monster bowls, and one will go to the child winner of my Basketball Bracket Pool (which is actually the one who does the worst, as I previously explained), and the other one is to give away to one of you!monster-bowls-custom-pottery

If you’d like to win a Monster Bowl, simply comment on the post.

You can earn up to four extra entries by:

  • Going to Nathan and Katie’s Etsy Site and tell me one thing that you would want to order.
  • Subscribe to OR Follow my blog
  • Follow me on Twitter OR Facebook
  • Tweet, blog, OR Facebook about this giveaway

(be sure to leave separate comments for your extra entries.)

Best of luck! This giveaway is open until Monday, April 5th. The winner will be randomly selected and posted on my giveaway winners page on Tuesday, April 6th.

I’d like to give a special Thank You for all of these amazing photos, which were provided courtesy of Amanda Pair, an awesome local photographer. Be sure to check out her site – I was blown away! Thanks, Amanda!


Disclosure: I received no compensation to run this review and giveaway. I do it simply out of love to all of you, and out of love of Nathan and Katie’s work. And I’m really starting to consider writing completely oddball things in these required-by-the-Government-disclosures, just to see if anyone reads them. Such as, I find the term “Opposable Thumbs” strange sounding. That’s all.

94 thoughts on “Monster Bowls: A Giveaway!

  1. Your new blog design is so adorable! (I read through Google reader you know…) You and your family are just some talented folks!

  2. I feel bad about trying to win this so I'm only going to do one entry. But you know I'm a follower, I LOVE the square clay ring and I posted this giveaway on my sidebar!

  3. Those are so cool! And really, I think $30 is a fabulous price for something so unique and awesome.

    Thanks for the chance.
    soluckyducky at gmail.com

  4. I really love the green and rust colored robottle in their shop too, and what a clever name!
    soluckyducky at gmail.com

  5. I have a fussy 3 year old boy and if that monster bowl will motivate him to eat then i'd buy 100!!

    I'm a follower!

  6. I don't think my thumbs ever opposed anyone…I don't think. Now there's another finger we could definitely call opposable.

  7. That monster bowl is hilarious!

    Opposable thumbs are what separate us from the animals… Except for monkeys! When I had my cookie-making accident and severed the tendon in my thumb I discovered just how important opposable thumbs are!

  8. Love the Robot bottles. Became a fan on Facebook would have signed on for newsletter but couldn't find link nor a link for google read or friends. But would love to have the monster bowl for those we tiny monsters that drive one crazy for example that button with no hole or the paper clip with no paper and there is always a penny that nobody wants but it needs a home anyway.

  9. First Comment: Nathan & Katie are just brimming and overflowing with talent and creativity – so congratulations on their new Etsy Shop – which I immediately added to my Etsy Favorites!

    Suggestion: with the Rings, Pendants and AMAZING ReBottles (!) PLEASE give or assign them names to make it easier to specify which item one is referring to/trying to order. (see second comment)

  10. I also Follow your blog publically via Google.

    (Aside: I love your Blog name:

    "grasping for objectivity in my subjective life" is a marvelous, provocative and inspired name – and sounds like the story of my life too!)

  11. I work in a public school system, and whenever I can, I try to win stuff we can use as door prizes for our ESE teacher training sessions. This bowl would be PERFECT–any teacher would love to have hit. Thanks for the chance to win!
    bbentry [at] aol [dot] com

  12. If I had any money to spend (which I unfortunately don't right now), I would love to order their clay pendant.

  13. I had lost Nate and Kate’s email about a year ago and have been searching for them ever since. I was hoping to see them at the 2010 Monte Sano Art Show this year but they weren’t there. Thank you for this blog and helping me find them!

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