Hello everyone!
On Monday (March 30), we’ll be welcoming ceramic artist Lea as a guest on “Work hard – play hard”, a series on Twitch. Hosted by ARD, the biggest German Public Media Broadcaster. It won’t be a traditional interview. Lea will be testing various simulation games designed to "replicate" her craft (i.e. Sims4 & Master of Pottery).
Our goal is to find out how realistic these games actually are and what everyday life in her profession really looks like. To help break down prejudices, viewers can unlock so-called “prejudice questions”. And now it’s your turn:
What preconceptions about the profession of ceramic artist have you come across? What are the weirdest/stupidest/funniest "frequently asked questions" you had to answer? And: What topics related to the job need to be discussed urgently?
We’d love to include your questions in the show. Thank you!
P.S. Thanks to the mods for allowing us to post here.
With Christmas approaching the “I want to surprise my [wife/boyfriend/mother/cat/DoorDash driver] with a kiln, what should I get them?” threads are beginning to show up daily.
Do not buy this person a kiln.
Even if they’ve told you they’d like a kiln someday. Even if they’re frustrated with having to take their work somewhere to be fired.
The only circumstance in which a kiln is an acceptable gift is if this person has told you “I want a kiln for Christmas, and here’s the specific model I want.” Period.
A kiln is not like a new TV. Kilns need specific electrical and ventilation requirements that your house/garage/shed/whatever almost certainly does not have. The electrical work needs to be done by a professional, and it needs to be done right- many kilns use heavier gauge wiring and bigger circuit breakers than you typically encounter in a residential setting, and using undersized wire can start a fire. In some cases, especially older houses, the home’s entire electrical service will need to be upgraded. In a best case scenario you’re probably looking at around $1000 in additional expense before you can even turn the kiln on. Worst case you could incur costs approaching $10,000.
Kilns come in all shapes and sizes with different capabilities, and what works for one potter may not work for another. Also, many used kilns you find for sale online aren’t capable of being used for ceramics at all.
Surprising someone with a kiln is like surprising someone with a horse. Without being prepared to take it in the prospect is a burden, not a gift.
If you really, REALLY want to buy someone a kiln for Christmas, have this conversation: “I want to buy you a kiln. Let’s pick one out together.”
I am a hobby artist who took a beginners pottery course with my fiancé, we both enjoyed it so much! I was a terrible thrower but managed to somehow throw this basic shape. I spent several hours etching into it with a round ball tool once it was leather hard.
I just wanted to show it off, it’s the culmination of my skills but both of us have agreed we’d love to get a wheel to continue learning.
How should I value my work? Hear me out I understand this is a silly question to ask. I use to sell my work often but stopped for a bit after giving birth. I don’t really have a ton of unbiased opinions but this is my current work. I have about 6 years of experience and okay following but I’m nervous selling online again and would love to hear how you guys would imagine these pieces valued for.
My mom collects turtles and that is all she wanted when I asked her if I could make her something after recently joining a studio. So behold my mom’s new little turtle.
I have been working on improving the realism of my sculptures for about 2 years... if anyone else out there sculps little animals, you will know the struggle of toes... 😅 What color(s) should I glaze him?
Hi! I'm making some little pet bowls inspired by an image online. The bowls I saw online were commercially made. I decided to do the inside image with a stamp and glazed it with Stroke and Coat. My problem is coming up where the white glaze and red glazes meet. I did my best to keep them from touching but clearly failed. Would I be better off using red and white underglaze, or even just white underglaze and red Stroke and Coat, then clear glazing over the white underglaze?
Initially I underglazed the bowl in white, but I'm not very well practiced in underglaze. I bisque fired the underglazed bowl and it came out with brush strokes. Would those have shown under a clear glaze at a hot cone 5? Please send me any helpful tips you have, thank you in advance!!!
I've worked in this piece for about 12-16 (i forgot) hours in total, i think i used stoneware clay, and i forgot which glaze i used, it was in preparation for a competition i wanted to enter, it's my best piece ever, and I'm only 14, been working with pottery for about 3 years now, starting completely from 0 experience, tell me what you guys think :D (i made this entirely by hand, with help if my instructor) I'm also making a dragon, using Tradinno from the German town of Furth im Wald
so I'll post the finished piece here, it would be lovely to hear feedback and opinions from you all.
(i can't really remember how i made it, it was finished about 3 weeks ago, sorry for the lack of information)
I’ve been lurking here for a while and finally decided to share. Here are some bud vases I made recently. I’ve just started adding fun details via carving and handles and I’m so happy with the results!
I was going for a floating iron type of glaze, green with red undertones. I made my own glaze, since buying commercial would have cost so much. This did not turn out how I was hoping....but I think I like it. What do you all think??
I love carving, but am not much of a project planner. Most of my carvings are basically intricate doodles on porcelain. I started this dragon vase project during the pandemic, but wasn’t thinking about the obvious difficulties in glazing such finely carved lines using our cone 10 studio glazes. The carving itself took several days and I hated the idea of ruining it. So it sat, bisqued and gathering dust on my living room shelf for 4 years until I became comfortable with inevitable failure. But it worked out beyond my wildest dreams!! Shoutout to Aftosa wax…our studio wax would absolutely not have resisted getting Shig black all over the dragon’s body during dipping.
I'm starting to feel like I have really dialed in my decorating process. I have been using engobe with a manganese inlayed outline, then glazing with stroke and coat. This particular mug has Coyote Oasis for the interior/handle.
The process is time consuming but I have been loving the results.
First time buying kiln accessories (I fire at a community studio so it's mostly provided) but I bought a tile stand so I can fire flat test tiles vertically.
It came wrapped VERY VERY WELL, but I still found some small pieces that chipped off. Would you reach out to the company and ask for a refund or a replacement or is this just normal?
I work at a pottery studio that does one-time wheel throwing classes. Many of my students will come in with acrylics. Most students are beginners.
I would say I typically have at least one student with long nails in every class that I teach.
Personally, I keep my nails short when throwing, but I've been thinking about growing them out or getting acrylics so that I can better understand and help these students when they come in.
Do you guys have any specific tips for throwing with long nails? I'll typically have them cover their nails with a small sponge when raising walls, and use a wooden knife when opening holes, but I'm just curious if there are better ways.
hello, i made some test tiles for my new glazes … they all work well except for the Mayco Frost Blue? I’m sure you can tell (all circles in blue) which test tiles I am talking about lol
I did three coats, stirred the glaze well before using, etc. First time using this glaze and opening the jar.
Is this something wrong with the glaze itself, or my technique.
The tile I also circled in purple I added honey flux to the stars, which seemed to make the Frost Blue look more to what I expected it to look like. All the test tiles are on black clay, with the stars made of cream clay.
ETA: Title is wrong— this is MAYCO FROST BLUE not Amaco
A few people here asked how I make and attach handles on my mugs. I took some pictures today. I'm sorry it's not in video format--I am not very good at "content". Hopefully this is helpful to someone.
I pull my handles pretty conventionally starting with a sort of carrot-like shape made by throwing a ball against the wedging table and rotating it. The rib for scale is the standard wood rib from the student kits. I didn't have any bananas.
I let them dry over the edge of my table until they are just firm enough I can handle them without distorting but soft enough that I can still easily bend them. I was in a hurry today so I hit them with a heat gun for a couple minutes.
For each cup I make two little "lugs" that will be my attachment points. I use very soft clay for this.
My cups are about leather hard, maybe just a bit softer. I score and slip the spots where I want to attach the handle.
I then smoosh the little lugs on.
And compress them
I then cut the handle to the desired length, which is for these large cups about the length of my index finger.
I shape the handle. There will be room for adjustment later. They are still pretty soft at this point.
I dip the ends of the handle in slip and roughly attach them to the lugs.
I then smooth and compress the pieces of the lugs around the ends of the handle to get the look and feel I want. This is the part that takes the most patience and practice.
I'll let them rest/dry for a little bit, ideally covered if I have time, and will then again address the surfaces when they are a little firmer. At that point I sign the pot and set it to dry.
Has anyone played with Laguna’s Moroccan fusion glazes? I just bought a bunch during their anniversary sale and I can quite figure out what they want. They seem to run a lot and I’ve gotten some crazing sometimes and pinholes sometimes. Wondering if anyone has tips and tricks. I usually like to combine two glazes to get a variety of glaze looks. First go around I did 3 coats of each glaze (total of 6) cause I’m used to amaco glazes and it ran like crazy. Totally fused my piece to the cookie. This time I did two coats of one upper half of piece. Two coats on bottom piece with a little overlap. And it dripped a bit, but only had one contact point with the cookie that I can definitely fix. Just wanted to know if anyone has tips and tricks for these glazes. I’m firing at cone 6, the studio I go to uses Georgie’s clay bodies.
Has anyone picked up this book: Mastering The Potter’s Wheel by Ben Carter?
Ceramics Art Network email is featuring it and I’m intrigued. Just wondering if anyone has read it or has any knowledge about it before I pick up a copy.
Some recent work from my last glaze fire. I'm really happy with how these turned out. The white really needs to be touched to get the full experience; it's a satin surface that's like textural ASMR for me.
