Pottery Making Illustrated Articles (Simple)

No matter which one, writing a well-focused how-to guide will draw attention to you, your process, and your ceramics.

I love surface pattern and working with slips and oxides and am able to use these materials to get creative with the paintbrush when making my clay games.

The artists in this issue, who all focus on handbuilding as their primary forming method, did just that, and their efforts lay on the pages that follow.

Illustrated clay measuring devices.

A good citrus reamer is an indispensable kitchen tool. From making cocktails to citrusy desserts to salad dressings, my ceramic reamers are some of my most unexpected kitchen treasures.

What I came up with were these elegant facets that created a dynamic rim but also literally pointed my eye down to my decorative surface.

Raku firing consists of heating the ceramic piece to the temperature required to melt any glaze on the surface, then removing the piece from the kiln while it is still red hot and any glaze is molten.

I was initially drawn to the familiarity of the quatrefoil motif, but also fell in love with the negative spaces created when repeated shapes are laid out in a grid.

My current body of work came about when renovating a 100-year-old cottage. All the layers of paint, wallpaper, and varnish that I peeled away inspired me to create a story with age, texture, and color on my work.

I have been trying to translate drawings onto clay for over 20 years, and the reasons that make it brain-breaking for me are also the reasons that make it fulfilling.

My hope is to contribute something beautiful to society, something that will impact the human heart, drawing us out of ourselves into something greater and higher, something that can fill us with a hunger for truth, goodness, and beauty.

There is more to this life. For those of you whose career is pottery, find a hobby. For those of you whose hobby is pottery, it could be more than that.

Creating a renewable and dependable revenue stream through online ceramic sales takes a bit of ingenuity. Read how one ceramic artist profits both financially and socially from her Mug Club Membership offering.

This ceramic artist developed a unique studio on wheels to not only sell mugs, but also educate others on the value of the handmade object.

In my practice, I often use nichrome wire to add feet and attachments to my handbuilt pots. There are a few crucial characteristics of nichrome that require respect of the material.

This issue of Pottery Making Illustrated showcases the practice of up-and-coming artists who never stop learning, teaching, and innovating in order to propel their practice forward.

Excerpted from Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose by Robin Hopper, published by The American Ceramic Society.

If you have an understanding of how to throw basic forms on the potter’s wheel and your aha moments when centering the clay and pulling the walls up have started to click, you will soon be able to throw almost any form.