Pottery Blog - Making Handmade Mugs & Tableware — How To Make Pottery

How to centre clay - The one sided method. Beginners Guide

Let's first ask ourselves why centering clay is important. It's possible to throw a lump on the wheel, push it roughly into a ball in the centre and then start opening up and throwing a pot. The problem is any small differences in the clay at the first stage is amplified once you start pulling the walls thinner.

Firing Pottery With Small Gas Kilns - A Beginners Guide

I'm going to assume you are reading this because you either just bought a gas kiln or are interested in getting one. I'd thought about firing with gas long before I made my kiln. It just seemed very scary to actually start messing with big gas bottles and lots of flames.

Buying Plain, Unglazed Pottery To Paint Yourself

I've been asked about providing pottery for people to paint a couple of times so thought I'd write about it. I'm not that keen to do this, mainly because I'm not sure bisque fired pots would make it through the post safely. My method of making pottery is to throw the item on the wheel, then bisque fire it. After the bisque fire it is ready to glaze. At this stage it is very pourous and fragile. Not at all suitable for holding liquids or to be used for anything functional. I'm not sure what people mean by 'painting' ceramics....

How To Make Plates on the Pottery Wheel

It can be very satisfying eating from wheel thrown pottery plates. I thought I’d write about how use a pottery wheel for beginners who are interested in making plates. Many moons ago I wrote an article about why potters don’t like making plates. Whenever I look at the catalogues of other potters they rarely have plates in their range – such a shame! I have avoided making plates for many of the reasons in the article. In the end I just couldn’t resist making a set for us to eat our dinners from. It turns out I actually quite like...

Clay Weights & Sizes For Handmade Tableware – Repeat Throwing Pottery

I’ve spent the last few years trying to design and make the ultimate handmade tableware collection. The thing that has improved my pottery the most is using a gauge and repeat throwing the same clay weights. Why make standard sized pottery with repeat throwing? Some potters prefer to make tableware completely free form. Depending on their ability, they make be able to throw very similar pots each time, or they might enjoy variations in their work. For me, I make one-off pieces to whatever size the clay allows. However, for tableware sets I’ve found it best to set a standard...

Carving Clay – How to make Stoneware knitting Bowls

What is a knitting bowl? In this article I demonstrate carving clay leaf patterns into knitting bowls. They are bowls used by knitters and crocheters to hold balls of yarn whilst working. This stops them rolling all over the place whilst the knitting needles are flying! Most knitting bowl designs have some sort of cutaway that allows the yarn to be threaded through. This means different projects can be done using the same bowl. How I carve clay to create my knitting bowls I have made a few different designs of knitting bowls in the past. This time I had...

How To Make Hand Thrown Stoneware Pottery

The process of making hand thrown pottery is long but very rewarding. Working with badly prepared clay makes the job of throwing pottery much harder. If the clay is softer ( more watery) in some parts than others, it may go thin unexpectedly during throwing.