8 Expert Tips for Making Perfect Plates Liz Pechacek

Crafting a perfect plate is deceptively complex. Liz Pechacek admits it took her about a decade of trial, error, and refinement to develop a design and technique that consistently delivers both beauty and function. Lucky for us, Liz is happy to share what she learned along the way!

In today's post, an excerpt from the July/August 2025 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated, Liz shares what she considers the eight most important design elements and tips to keep in mind when making plates. –Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

PS. To see how Liz handbuilds her plates from start to finish, check out her full article in the July/August 2025 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated! Not a subscriber? Subscribe today!

Plates are hard! Deceptively so (as anyone who’s tried can tell you). It’s taken me about ten years of experimentation to finally arrive at a solid, straightforward design and technique, and here’s what I find to be important:

1. Rise/Height They need to be tall enough from the bottom of the foot to the top of the rim to stack properly. If the plate is too short, the constant bumping is annoying and damaging to the glaze on the rim. It also feels better in the hand.
2. Glazed Center and Outer Rim I like to embrace some bare clay in my designs, but find that it’s an unpleasant surface to scratch with utensils and wipe when cleaning. If the bare clay accent is kept to the outer ring of the plate, you get the best of both worlds. I also like to sand the bare clay and foot ring to make it feel nicer and keep it from scratching the table or other plates in the cupboard. The glazed center is shiny and an inviting surface for service.
3. Quiet in the Middle/Action on the Edge It’s nice to leave the center unadorned so the food can be the star of the show (or at least a supporting lead). If the plate is too busy all over, it looks better without food on it.
4. Unglazed, Slipped Foot I love the look and feel of a glazed foot, but have lost too many plates from sticking to the shelf as the clay slumps a little in the kiln. By leaving the clay bare on the very bottom but accenting it with a slipped design I can avoid loss at the final stage and keep things pretty. 
5. Size Matters 10½ inches (26.7 cm) for a dinner plate and 7½ inches (19.1 cm) for salad works for most cabinets, placemats, and serving sizes but I can still fit a few on each kiln shelf while firing. You want them to be consistent or it is annoying to stack the plates in the cupboard and makes their role in serving a bit amorphous. If the salad plate is too small, it’s only good for something like a sandwich or a muffin. Sometimes people like to have a stack of 6-inch (15.2-cm) plates for this purpose and then it is referred to as a cake plate. If the dinner plate is too big, it’s annoying to store and starts to feel more like a serving plate. 
6. Weight Matters If the plate is too heavy, it’s unappealing in the hand. If it’s too lightweight, it’s fragile and feels scary to use. 
7. Slope of Interior I like a smooth, continuous curve inside the plate versus an angle at the rim and flat bottom. This shape stacks a little more consistently (especially when handbuilt) and allows me to be a little freer with surface ornamentation. 
8. Shiny Glaze that Doesn’t Craze Matte glazes are more prone to marks and look beat up quickly, while any crazing can quickly turn to cracks. 

As you make your own plates, you will find your own opinions about all these elements. None of them are exactly deal breakers. After all, there are plenty of plates in the world and most of them are perfectly adequate. The goal as a maker is to create your own most perfect thing—and in that pursuit, there is no substitution for time, trial, and error. 

Liz Pechacek is a ceramic artist working and teaching in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has a BFA from Indiana University and exhibits nationally in galleries, craft shows, and from her studio in the Northrop King Building.