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

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....

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...

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...

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...