The shape and form of the Gloopy Ashtray is based on the first Ashtray Set that Seth designed for Houseplant, but where did the idea for the eponymous Gloop, and what exactly is it, actually.

Designed by Seth to be both gloopy and globby.

The Gloopception

During the course of making countless ashtrays and playing around with just as many glazes, Seth started making a gloopy glaze out of melted globs of glass. As he put it, “I thought it looked cool and was texturally really unique.”

It was when he started posting pictures of the Gloop, and saw the reactions of fans, which made him decide Houseplant should try and produce a Gloopy Ashtray based on his designs and glaze.

Houseplant

What Next?

It’s one thing to make a glaze at home and apply it to a single piece, it’s another to create hundreds of almost identical pieces to sell online through your house goods company. Seth reached out to Curt Hammerly at Hammerly Ceramics. Together, they figured the process out.

Imperfection is Perfection

When it comes to art, there’s an old saying that goes, and we’re paraphrasing here: “imperfection is perfection.” It’s a mantra Seth and Curt embraced when continuing to develop the gloopy process. It was apparent pretty quickly that brighter, poppier colors were going to work well to give the gloopy part of the glaze a really nice contrast. The more it stands out from the base ashtray, the more dramatic the gloopy effect. The glaze has to be added by hand, and it’s a human hand that makes each one perfectly imperfect. This process is not only more time and labor intensive than other pieces, but part of why every single Gloopy Ashtray is a one-of-a-kind piece.

Houseplant