Here I’ll post some of my artwork! I’m a fan of doing ceramics, laser-cutter manufacturing, and woodworking, so there will be a little bit of each present in these projects, often with significant overlap.
Dodecapot
Technically this should probably be in the “Ceramics” section, but as of right now it’s the art piece of which I am most proud so it goes front and center. Behold the Dodecapot.
The Dodecapot
Nathan Justus 2025
The Dodecapot is the partial view of the 3-dimensional shadow cast by the 4-dimentional Dodecaplex. In the same way that the hypercube is sort of like a cube extended into the fourth dimension where each “face” is itself a cube, the Dodecaplex comes from extending the dodecahedron into the fourth dimension.
Each face of the Dodecapot is made up of two layers of slab-rolled clay prepared using custom-designed lasercut templates. The faces are assembled together in a similarly custom lasercut former.
Each face has 12 “holes”: 1 large one in the outside layer, 6 in the interior white-glazed layer, and 1 along each of the 5 edges of the pentagon between the two clay layers. This means that each face is topologically isomorphic to a dodecahedron. This is a dodecahedron made out of dodecahedrons!
Math!
Some process pictures below. The lasercut jigs I crafted to construct this project, one of the two “half-shells” I constructed to make the piece drying inside the lasercut former, and a shot of what the piece looked like before the final glaze firing.
Laser Cutting
Doing the following few projects was my introduction to laser cut art! I met George Hart in 2016 at a math event in Georgia and was inspired by his cool sculpture work, so I spent some time recreating some of his pieces. They were fun to cut and build! These first three pieces are my personal recreations of his geometric designs:
Frabjous
design by George Hart
My first laser cutter art! Very sturdy and fun to look at. I tried putting it on a lamp. Turns out that doesn’t work, you can see straight through to the bulb and it makes it hard to look at.
Solar Flair
design by George Hart
This piece was made immediately after I took charge of managing one of the big laser cutters in the robotics manufacturing space. A good use of school resources!
The Sculpture Formerly Known as Swirly
design by George Hart
Very intricate and cool, although I used wood stock that was a little thin and some of the pieces have started to break
I’ve also created a piece or two of laser-cut art of my own design! The following is a cool piece I made that uses the Moiré effect to create cool visualizations as you move your head around it that result from offset patterns.
Spring Leaf
by Nathan Justus
It’s hard to understand why it works in 2D, which is why this piece is best viewed either in person or via video! It’s made of two overlaid pieces of lasercut acrylic that are offset from each other by 1.5 inches using aluminum standoffs. I used an image of a leaf to add some offsets to the diagonal strip pattern to add some flair. It mostly works, although it does look a little like a jalapeño.
Pictured above are the two individual layers of the piece. The same design was cut twice, once in green acrylic and once in clear. The small green bits freed from the larger sheet were then set into the clear rear mount using acrylic cement to provide structure and a solid mounting frame.
Woodworking
This might be my favorite art piece I’ve ever made. It’s a game called Crokinole and it’s a blast to play! I made it over the course of a month with my friend Gabe in his garage using a lot of laser-cut techniques.
Croke
by Nathan Justus and Gabe Sacher
It spends most of the time hanging on the wall in our spare bedroom, although it often gets brought down for when we have guests over. It’s very functional! It was made using a custom-fabricated lasercut jig and a stain-masking process for the darker outer trimming that also involved the laser cutter. It’s just a tool that I enjoy using!
We chose berries and Celtic knots for the trim because Gabe is a Ph.D. plant pathologist and I am a Ph.D. roboticist, often focusing on space topologies.
Below are some pictures from the manufacturing process, demonstrating the use of the lasercut jig, how the stain was applied to each of the trapezoidal pieces around the rim, and how they were then glued together.
Ceramics
Here I’ll show a few of my pottery pieces! I don’t fully document all of my work (I’ve probably made in the neighborhood of 100 or so pieces), but I’ll add some pictures and descriptions of some of the larger pieces I’m more proud of! I enjoy discussing the
Wedding Spread!
These are sets/pieces that I threw to give away at my wedding. My wedding was at a girl scout camp, and we hosted archery/canoe races/gaga ball and other assorted scout-like activities. Completing the activities earned guests merit-badges which could be cashed in for pottery prizes! It was so fun.
Tea Set
by Nathan Justus
First teapot! Throwing spouts is a huge pain, I probably made 10 and only one was fit for purpose. I liked doing the cute geometric designs on the side using black stain! I tend to use tape and an Xacto knife pretty often in my pots.
Fermentation Crock
by Nathan Justus
A little fermentation crock for making sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, or any other fermented veggies. It has a little tray in the top that the lid sits into so that water can be poured in to make an airlock and maintain a safe environment for the fermenting critters! I gave this one to Gabe as a wedding gift, but have since made another to replace it.
Yarn Holder
by Nathan Justus
A gift I made for my partner Sam to aid in her fiber arts. Just a little bowl for a yarn ball to sit in and a spiral used to hold the thread. The little holes on the side are partially decorative and partially to hold knitting needles or other colors of yarn.
Luminary
by Nathan Justus
First luminary I made and another example of how much I enjoy using an Xacto knife in my pottery.
Fish Mansion
by Nathan Justus
A cool sculpture I made to put in a friend’s fish tank as a gift. It’s made of three individually thrown forms, one orb, one cylinder, and one torus. I enjoyed making it!