Pottery Making Illustrated Articles (Simple)

I make a variety of bowl forms that perform complementary services. Some are open and graceful forms lending a sense of offering to the center of a table and can serve your fresh-picked summer greens.

Tall pots are not necessarily big pots. Rather, they are forms that are several times higher than they are wide. Throwing high, slender, lightweight pots may seem an impossible task, but the secret of

When I was an undergraduate ceramics student, I learned to throw something called a yo-yo pot. It’s a straight-walled cylinder, that is collared in at the top until completely closed. After leveling t

Creating a pattern with glaze using the techniques that I do takes a bit of planning to make a successfully designed pot, and my process is not without its awkward moments. I don’t always cover the en

Like yoga and meditation, clay has always been a part of my spiritual practice. Creating ceramic vessels allows me to explore my personal striving for emotional and spiritual equilibrium. I explore th

Having grown up on a farm as the youngest child in a large family, I spent my childhood observing nature, playing with my eight older brothers, and daydreaming. Today, I look to my childhood explorati

Whenever I start a large piece, I make sure to have all the clay weighed out and ready, so I don’t have to deal with any inconsistencies later on. The platter demonstrated here is made from two 30-pou

What is a creativity vacation? Rather than a pause on your creativity, it’s an opportunity for expanding and exercising it without the typical day-to-day constraints. It’s an intentional planning of t

Maybe you are among the many potters who are intimidated by math—you’re an artist, you’re intuitive, you naturally see proportion and balance, so who needs math? But since we work with a material that

Have you ever thrown a lovely form to only find later that you have thrown the bottom too thin? If so, you know the feeling of being both frustrated and left with thoughts on how to fix it. Of course,

Here comes spring, just as expected, like an old friend who shows up exactly when you need them. Fortunately, spring has no idea a pandemic lingers, like a chatty aunt who’s overstayed her welcome, an

Wedging is the process of mixing clay by rotating and compressing it in a continuous rocking motion. The purpose is to homogenize the clay and to remove all air bubbles.

I delight in the intimate, sneaky, old-timeyness of a pocket flask. I think about them as having an individual personality, hiding in a purse or back pocket, and it makes me grin.

Jen Allen and Maia Leppo return to Pottery Making Illustrated to demonstrate a new collaborative technique for making beautiful ceramic jewelry in your own studio. Jen and Maia first appeared in the J

My work is an embodiment of the inseparable relationship among earth, body, and plant. I do not try to put this relationship into words or grasp this concept too tightly; so when I make vases and pots

Working in clay, a familiar method and style emerge that provide relatively accurate expectations of results. This is an important foundation for any ceramic artist. It can also be a jumping off point

For as long as I can remember, I have been a collector of all manner of things. To me, the smaller the object, the more appeal it has. As a little girl, one of my most loved collections featured minia

My admiration for Oribe pottery, a love of Japanese rock gardens, a utility cover on a Tokyo street, and two surprises in the studio were the elements that converged to inspire my Tokyo bottles. From

One of the wonderful things about making functional pottery is that the creative work of my hands becomes an intimate part of someone else’s daily life—what a joy! I also see one of my roles as a pott

Porcelain can be worked like other clays, but when fired can reach a state of extreme whiteness, becoming vitreous and often translucent, similar to glass. When tapped on, it has a ringing sound like