Browse our selection of pottery videos for beginner potters. If you already know the basics and are looking to strengthen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!
Browse our selection of pottery videos for intermediate potters. If you already know the basics and are looking to strengthen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!
Browse our selection of pottery videos for advanced potters. If you already know the basics and are looking to strengthen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!
Decorating pottery is one of the most rewarding aspects of working in clay. It’s the time when you can add color and life to a bare clay surface and really show off your creative talents. If you are looking for new pottery decorating
techniques, you’ve come to the right place!
There are endless methods for decorating pottery, from the forming stage through final glazing and beyond. Slip decorating is a great example of a versatile technique. If you’d like
a raised design, slip trailing is the way to go. Mishima ceramic techniques are what you’d want for thin lines flush with the ceramic surface. You can also use slip for decorating pottery with various image transfer techniques. But that’s
just the tip of the iceberg! There are MANY other ways to use slip for pottery decorating, and you’ll find them when you browse through our instructional videos!
Learn the intricacies of spraying glazes on pottery with Martha Grover, or how Colleen Riley applies
glaze with a ladle. If you are interested in learning new techniques or brushing up on the tried and true techniques, then you’ve come to the right place!
If you’re interested in atmospheric firing, then you’ve come to the right place. Browse this section of CLAYflicks to learn all about kilns and atmospheric firing, like in gas, soda, and wood kilns. Gas kilns are some of the most
popular kilns used today, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only kiln you can use to control the atmosphere your work is exposed to. Watching these videos can help you choose the right type of kiln, fuel source, and even the types of surfaces
you hope to achieve. In addition to learning about the different types of kilns, you’ll learn the best way to stack a kiln, as well as firing schedules.
If you would like to dive into the exciting world of ceramic sculpture, the clay sculpture videos on CLAYflicks can help get you started! There are so many ways to express oneself with clay sculpture and the CLAYflicks clay video archive provides fantastic
instruction for budding clay sculptors. And our collection of clay sculpture videos is growing with more clay videos being added all the time!
Learn to sculpt the human figure with Melisa Cadell’s Figure Sculpting in Clay video. Or if you’d like to try your hand at clay sculptures of animals, Lisa Naples’ Narrative Animal Sculpture is just what you need! In her video Part Sculpture
– Part Function, Jerilyn shows how to merge contemporary clay sculpture with functional tableware. You can also merge sculptural ideas with architecture and Stephani Stevenson shows you how with her video Studio-Scale Architectural Ceramics!
There’s no end to the creative possibilities when it comes to clay sculpture and the clay sculpture videos on CLAYflicks will help you learn the ins and outs of sculpting with clay, and give you plenty of creative inspiration!
Understanding how to make glaze and clay is an all-important facet of contemporary ceramics. Learning how the different
ceramic materials interact and contribute their specific properties to glazes and clay bodies will help expand your abilities as a clay artist. Experimenting with raw materials is the quickest, and most exciting way to learn about glaze chemistry,
but taking the time to truly understand how they chemically interact is paramount for saving you the heartache of destroying a piece, kiln, or kiln furniture. Once you know the ins and outs of glaze chemistry, you might find yourself test, test, testing
away in the studio looking for the perfect clay or glaze!
Here we’ve gathered the best videos in the field about making ceramic clays, mixing ceramic glazes, and general glaze
chemistry to help you better understand this amazingly complex and fascinating subject. With step-by-step instructions, and the ability to pause, rewind, and watch again and again, you’ll master the art of ceramic chemistry in no time! Learn
at your own pace and watch as your glazes improve over time.
Handbuilding is an ancient pottery-making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel, using the hands, fingers, and simple tools. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery, coil building, and slab building.
To make a pinch pot, one inserts a thumb into a ball of clay and continually pinches the the clay between the thumb and fingers while rotating to thin out and raise the height of the vessel. Pinching can deliver a pleasingly organic look, but can also
yield beautiful, refined results.
Coil building is a forming method that uses ropelike coils of plastic clay, assembled in successive courses to build up wall of vessel or sculpture. The slab technique starts with smooth slabs of clay that are then formed around molds or shaped by hand.
Although it can be used to create many of the same shapes that are achievable on a wheel, slab building also allows the potter to create more angular shapes that are more challenging to make on a wheel. All handbuilding techniques can be used on one
piece, such as using a slab to form the sides of a vessel, and then using coils and pinching to create an interesting rim or handles.
Ceramic mold making opens up endless potential for creative expression. Not only does ceramic mold making enable you to repeat a form over and over again, it also makes individual forms lose their preciousness, which frees you up to experiment more! Making
your own custom ceramic molds will help you break out of your comfort zone in the studio and grow as an artist.
Here, you’ll learn how to make ceramic molds, as well as how to use them. Browse through our videos to find a variety of techniques from making plaster molds for slip casting and press molding, to making bisque clay hump or slump molds to creating
molds for casting clay sculpture. Looking for a ceramic slip recipe for slip casting, you’ll find recipes
to try here!
Throwing on the potter’s wheel can either be addictive or frustrating. If you are just starting out and need to ease your frustrations, try watching Jennifer Allen’s Fundamentals of Wheel Throwing video. Jennifer covers
the basics of wedging and centering clay to making basic forms on the pottery wheel. If you have been struggling to conquer the pottery wheel, or want to know what throwing is all about, Jennifer’s instruction in this video is exactly what you need.
For the more advanced potter, we’ve got you covered too! Michael Kline demonstrates the traditional Catawba Valley pottery style of swirlware which combines contrasting clay bodies. Looking to add more movement and gesture to your pottery? Nick
Joerling combines handbuilding and wheel throwing to achieve his signature animated pottery.
Do you have a great tip or technique that you would like to share with other passionate artists? Have you figured out a McGyver-like solution to a common studio problem? Or do you just have a really cool process that you think others would like to see?
Submit your video and you might end up on CLAYflicks! And check out this collection of great videos from other CLAYflicks subscribers!
Welcome to Sights & Ceramics, a video series that explores cities and locations that have a strong ceramic arts presence. Our hope is to provide ceramic artists and enthusiasts an entertaining and informative glimpse into unique
communities of like-minded people. Sights & Ceramics: Exhibitions provides video tours of fantastic exhibitions around the United States for those who can’t visit the exhibitions in person.
Like it or not, every ceramic artist needs to have good ceramic business ideas to help make his or her business thrive. And this doesn’t come easily for many. Coming up with good marketing ideas combined with photographing your work to packing and
shipping are the little things that can make running a ceramic business seem overwhelming. But don’t fret–there are a lot of helpful tips for running a ceramic business in these videos!
Ceramic artists are known for their ingenuity and resourcefulness, and often have creative solutions for studio problems. In this collection of studio tours, artists share a glimpse into their personal spaces and offer solutions to problems they encountered.
Talking Clay is a CLAYflicks exclusive series in which host Simon Levin talks with potters and ceramic artists about all things clay! The Talking Clay Field Trip series is a webinar series created to connect the greater ceramics community with some of
the most influential contemporary artists working today. In the series, we take “field trips” to artists’ studios all over the world for great conversation and demonstrations! The webinars are then archived here on CLAYflicks. Follow
us on Facebook and Instagram to
learn more about upcoming webinars in the Talking Clay Field Trip series!
The Workshop from Home webinar series was started to provide access to high-quality online workshops for those who are unable to attend in person. Recordings of the webinars will be archived on CLAYflicks for those who may have missed the live event.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to
learn more about upcoming webinars in the Workshop From Home series.
CLAYflicks Video Topics
Browse the topics below and click on the title of the area of interest to view all videos in that topic.
Beginner Pottery Techniques
Browse our selection of pottery videos for beginner potters. If you already know the basics and are looking to strengthen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!
Intermediate Pottery Techniques
Browse our selection of pottery videos for intermediate potters. If you already know the basics and are looking to strengthen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!
Advanced Pottery Techniques
Browse our selection of pottery videos for advanced potters. If you already know the basics and are looking to strengthen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!
Ceramic Decorating Techniques
Decorating pottery is one of the most rewarding aspects of working in clay. It’s the time when you can add color and life to a bare clay surface and really show off your creative talents. If you are looking for new pottery decorating techniques, you’ve come to the right place!
There are endless methods for decorating pottery, from the forming stage through final glazing and beyond. Slip decorating is a great example of a versatile technique. If you’d like a raised design, slip trailing is the way to go. Mishima ceramic techniques are what you’d want for thin lines flush with the ceramic surface. You can also use slip for decorating pottery with various image transfer techniques. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg! There are MANY other ways to use slip for pottery decorating, and you’ll find them when you browse through our instructional videos!Ceramic Glazing Techniques
Sometimes tackling a blank canvas (or pot) can be daunting, but with our decorating and ceramic glaze techniques, you’ll find new and exciting ways to transfer imagery, color, pattern, texture, and glaze without breaking a sweat! There are endless possibilities for decorating pottery, from the forming stage through the glazing, and beyond. Create graphic pots by combining printmaking and ceramics, or go the more traditional route and discover the joys of majolica and painting glazed ceramic wares.
Learn the intricacies of spraying glazes on pottery with Martha Grover, or how Colleen Riley applies glaze with a ladle. If you are interested in learning new techniques or brushing up on the tried and true techniques, then you’ve come to the right place!
Ceramic Kilns
If you’re interested in atmospheric firing, then you’ve come to the right place. Browse this section of CLAYflicks to learn all about kilns and atmospheric firing, like in gas, soda, and wood kilns. Gas kilns are some of the most popular kilns used today, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only kiln you can use to control the atmosphere your work is exposed to. Watching these videos can help you choose the right type of kiln, fuel source, and even the types of surfaces you hope to achieve. In addition to learning about the different types of kilns, you’ll learn the best way to stack a kiln, as well as firing schedules.
Ceramic Sculpture
If you would like to dive into the exciting world of ceramic sculpture, the clay sculpture videos on CLAYflicks can help get you started! There are so many ways to express oneself with clay sculpture and the CLAYflicks clay video archive provides fantastic instruction for budding clay sculptors. And our collection of clay sculpture videos is growing with more clay videos being added all the time!
Learn to sculpt the human figure with Melisa Cadell’s Figure Sculpting in Clay video. Or if you’d like to try your hand at clay sculptures of animals, Lisa Naples’ Narrative Animal Sculpture is just what you need! In her video Part Sculpture – Part Function, Jerilyn shows how to merge contemporary clay sculpture with functional tableware. You can also merge sculptural ideas with architecture and Stephani Stevenson shows you how with her video Studio-Scale Architectural Ceramics!
There’s no end to the creative possibilities when it comes to clay sculpture and the clay sculpture videos on CLAYflicks will help you learn the ins and outs of sculpting with clay, and give you plenty of creative inspiration!
Glaze Chemistry
Understanding how to make glaze and clay is an all-important facet of contemporary ceramics. Learning how the different ceramic materials interact and contribute their specific properties to glazes and clay bodies will help expand your abilities as a clay artist. Experimenting with raw materials is the quickest, and most exciting way to learn about glaze chemistry, but taking the time to truly understand how they chemically interact is paramount for saving you the heartache of destroying a piece, kiln, or kiln furniture. Once you know the ins and outs of glaze chemistry, you might find yourself test, test, testing away in the studio looking for the perfect clay or glaze!
Here we’ve gathered the best videos in the field about making ceramic clays, mixing ceramic glazes, and general glaze chemistry to help you better understand this amazingly complex and fascinating subject. With step-by-step instructions, and the ability to pause, rewind, and watch again and again, you’ll master the art of ceramic chemistry in no time! Learn at your own pace and watch as your glazes improve over time.
Handbuilding Techniques
Handbuilding is an ancient pottery-making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel, using the hands, fingers, and simple tools. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery, coil building, and slab building.
To make a pinch pot, one inserts a thumb into a ball of clay and continually pinches the the clay between the thumb and fingers while rotating to thin out and raise the height of the vessel. Pinching can deliver a pleasingly organic look, but can also yield beautiful, refined results.
Coil building is a forming method that uses ropelike coils of plastic clay, assembled in successive courses to build up wall of vessel or sculpture. The slab technique starts with smooth slabs of clay that are then formed around molds or shaped by hand. Although it can be used to create many of the same shapes that are achievable on a wheel, slab building also allows the potter to create more angular shapes that are more challenging to make on a wheel. All handbuilding techniques can be used on one piece, such as using a slab to form the sides of a vessel, and then using coils and pinching to create an interesting rim or handles.
Making Ceramic Molds
Ceramic mold making opens up endless potential for creative expression. Not only does ceramic mold making enable you to repeat a form over and over again, it also makes individual forms lose their preciousness, which frees you up to experiment more! Making your own custom ceramic molds will help you break out of your comfort zone in the studio and grow as an artist.
Here, you’ll learn how to make ceramic molds, as well as how to use them. Browse through our videos to find a variety of techniques from making plaster molds for slip casting and press molding, to making bisque clay hump or slump molds to creating molds for casting clay sculpture. Looking for a ceramic slip recipe for slip casting, you’ll find recipes to try here!
Wheel Throwing Techniques
Throwing on the potter’s wheel can either be addictive or frustrating. If you are just starting out and need to ease your frustrations, try watching Jennifer Allen’s Fundamentals of Wheel Throwing video. Jennifer covers the basics of wedging and centering clay to making basic forms on the pottery wheel. If you have been struggling to conquer the pottery wheel, or want to know what throwing is all about, Jennifer’s instruction in this video is exactly what you need.
For the more advanced potter, we’ve got you covered too! Michael Kline demonstrates the traditional Catawba Valley pottery style of swirlware which combines contrasting clay bodies. Looking to add more movement and gesture to your pottery? Nick Joerling combines handbuilding and wheel throwing to achieve his signature animated pottery.
Interviews & Conversations
Interviews and conversations with ceramic artists about all things clay!QUICKflicks
Do you have a great tip or technique that you would like to share with other passionate artists? Have you figured out a McGyver-like solution to a common studio problem? Or do you just have a really cool process that you think others would like to see? Submit your video and you might end up on CLAYflicks! And check out this collection of great videos from other CLAYflicks subscribers!
Sights & Ceramics™
Welcome to Sights & Ceramics, a video series that explores cities and locations that have a strong ceramic arts presence. Our hope is to provide ceramic artists and enthusiasts an entertaining and informative glimpse into unique communities of like-minded people. Sights & Ceramics: Exhibitions provides video tours of fantastic exhibitions around the United States for those who can’t visit the exhibitions in person.
Studio Business
Like it or not, every ceramic artist needs to have good ceramic business ideas to help make his or her business thrive. And this doesn’t come easily for many. Coming up with good marketing ideas combined with photographing your work to packing and shipping are the little things that can make running a ceramic business seem overwhelming. But don’t fret–there are a lot of helpful tips for running a ceramic business in these videos!
Studio Tours
Ceramic artists are known for their ingenuity and resourcefulness, and often have creative solutions for studio problems. In this collection of studio tours, artists share a glimpse into their personal spaces and offer solutions to problems they encountered.
Talking Clay™
Talking Clay is a CLAYflicks exclusive series in which host Simon Levin talks with potters and ceramic artists about all things clay! The Talking Clay Field Trip series is a webinar series created to connect the greater ceramics community with some of the most influential contemporary artists working today. In the series, we take “field trips” to artists’ studios all over the world for great conversation and demonstrations! The webinars are then archived here on CLAYflicks. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about upcoming webinars in the Talking Clay Field Trip series!
Workshop from Home™
The Workshop from Home webinar series was started to provide access to high-quality online workshops for those who are unable to attend in person. Recordings of the webinars will be archived on CLAYflicks for those who may have missed the live event. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about upcoming webinars in the Workshop From Home series.
CLAYflicks Video Topics
Beginner Pottery Techniques
Intermediate Pottery Techniques
Advanced Pottery Techniques
Ceramic Decorating Techniques
Ceramic Glazing Techniques
Ceramic Kilns
Ceramic Sculpture
Glaze Chemistry
Handbuilding Techniques
Making Ceramic Molds
Wheel Throwing Techniques
Interviews & Conversations
QUICKflicks
Sights & Ceramics™
Studio Business
Studio Tours
Talking Clay™
Workshop from Home™