Daily How to Create Beautiful Texture with Thick Slips

Plates are so fun to make because of the large, mostly flat, blank canvas they provide. But rather than just slapping decoration on haphazardly, the most successful potters consider basic design principles when decorating their work.

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Daily How to Make a Custom Carving Tool for Great Lines

David MacDonald's work is known for its wonderful carved surfaces, which one might assume are created with typical loop carving tool or a knife of some sort. But David developed his own custom tool for making his signature marks.

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Daily Out of Stock, Not Out of Luck: Guidelines for Raw Material Substitutions

Few moments stop a potter cold quite like discovering that a trusted material is no longer available. Sadly, potters represent a fraction of a percent of the raw materials market, which means the fate of any given material is almost entirely out of our hands.

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Daily Pushed Patterning: How to Create Lively Organic Texture Using a Simple Blunt Tool

On first glance at Matt Hiller's pots, you might assume that his signature floral decoration is done with stamps. But Matt methodically pushes the clay with a blunt tool to create each individual petal. This creates a lively, organic rhythm that would be hard to match with a stamp.

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June/July/August 2026 Ceramics Monthly front cover featuring Kate Sampson — **June/July/August 2026** Issue

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CLAYflicks is the best place to see the masters in our field demonstrate their techniques and talk about important trends and developments in the ceramic field. Browse CLAYflicks

Pottery Making Illustrated May/June 2026 front cover — **May/June 2026** Issue

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Daily How to Create Beautiful Texture with Thick Slips

Daily How to Make a Custom Carving Tool for Great Lines

Daily Out of Stock, Not Out of Luck: Guidelines for Raw Material Substitutions

Daily Pushed Patterning: How to Create Lively Organic Texture Using a Simple Blunt Tool

Editors' Picks

The Premiere Organization for Ceramic Artists

The Best Instructional and Inspirational Clay Videos Online

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