Pottery Making Illustrated Articles (Simple)

  • Soft Story Telling
    Functional ceramics provide a unique opportunity for collectors to interact with fine art on an intimate level. These pieces are often designed to be held in the hands or placed against the lips. They
  • In the Studio: Glazing Large Work
    Glazing large work requires some special techniques. For work that’s larger than any bucket you may have, there are still several ways to get an even coat of glaze. These techniques can require more t
  • In the Studio: Empirical Learning
    The sound of an entire stack of pots falling over in a wood kiln at peak temperature isn’t as bad as you’d think. There’s no loud crash. Instead it’s a low, hollow sound dulled by the sticky, pyroplas
  • Editor's Note: Mingei-Sota
    When I first walked into the clay classroom at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, I was simply clay curious.
  • In the Studio: Business Loans 101
    Applying for and getting approved for a business loan can be challenging. The more you’re prepared and the lower your overhead is, the better. Your largest expense is mostly likely the location of you
  • Pottery Illustrated: Altering Oval Forms
    Drawings adapted from Robin Hopper’s book Functional Pottery, published by The American Ceramic Society and available on the Ceramic Arts Network Shop.
  • In the Potter's Kitchen: Milk + Cookies
    An invitation to participate in the exhibition “Decadence of Display: Ceramics for Dessert” at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, in January 2017 provided a sweet distraction from my production work
  • Evident Process: Coiling and Throwing
    Envision a cabin or a woven basket: both are constructed in a linear manner and demonstrate a labor of love. In the cabin, one log is stacked carefully atop the others, while in the basket, one pass o
  • Evolving From Canvas to Clay
    I began painting as a child, learning oil painting before I was 10. Although I took a lot of ceramics courses in college, I majored in painting and printmaking. A few years after graduating, I found m
  • Get a Handle On It
    When I switched to handbuilding from wheel throwing, I had to rethink how to make handles that best reflected the feel of my handbuilt work, so I began exploring. A few times a year, I set aside a pla
  • Faceted Forms, Geometric Glazing
    In all of my ceramic work, including glazed stoneware bowls with faceted planes and cut feet, I seek to integrate form with surface design and glaze color. The form of a bowl and the cut foot guide an
  • A Good Pour
    Everyday tasks are more enjoyable when using tools that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also excellently perform the tasks for which they were designed. This versatile bottle was designed for
  • Constructing and Carving Double-Walled Forms
    I’ve always appreciated ornamentation and its ability to elevate the ordinary into something magnificent. I’m driven to create work that’s beautiful in its precision and attention to detail and I appr
  • In the Studio: Developing Color: Yellow Glazes
    The coloring oxides are the transition metal oxides vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel and copper. Transition metals can combine with different numbers of oxygen atoms to give differe
  • In the Studio: Group Studio Glaze Management
    A community/group studio, by its nature, has a significant number of variables—not least of which is the glaze palette. Different students will want different colors and properties for their glazes. T
  • Editor's Note: Über Function
    The first stage of pottery making is the one you learn by trial and error through countless hours spent practicing forms after class and by watching endless online throwing videos.
  • Pottery Illustrated: Inlaid Tile Designs
    Inlaid tile design illustrations
  • In the Potter's Kitchen: Combining Clay and Cuisine
    I love to combine handbuilding and slip casting because the finished work is often much lighter in weight and easier to replicate, yet retains the touched pinchy appearance of being entirely handbuilt
  • 8 Ways to Apply Glaze
    No matter how eager you might be to begin splashing on your newly concocted glazes, there are a few details that must be put in order first. The surface of the clay form must be cleaned of any dust or
  • Contrasting Aesthetics and Textures
    After much experimentation, I was able to throw porcelain with feldspar and molochite inclusions and alter the forms with the addition of plain porcelain parts. Throwing with inclusions in the clay is