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Forever immortalized in that scene from Ghost, pottery is an exciting, creative, practical, and hugely rewarding hobby, and while Patrick Swayze may not be hovering seductively over your shoulder, working with clay is certainly never tedious.

The sheer joy and sense of achievement of successfully throwing a pot for the first time is a real thrill.

pottery wheels

It'south a hobby that can be pleasing to anyone, with any skill level.

From making elementary hand built curlicue pots to experimenting with complex glazes and firing methods — it's upward to you how complicated y'all desire your pottery hobby to get.

Information technology'southward truthful that when it comes to making pottery at abode there are a lot of things to consider, and it tin all be a niggling overwhelming.

If you are just starting out, it's a good idea to get a taste of what pottery is all virtually by joining up to a beginner's class, or yous could just commencement slow and experiment at home with some basic kit.

Whichever fashion you desire to get started, this super comprehensive guide to everything you demand to know about making pottery at habitation is but what y'all need to aid you have the plunge and dive into the wonderful earth of ceramics.

So buckle up and prepare yourself for a journeying that volition reveal all the important stuff you need to know, including explaining the differences between unlike clays and their uses, a rundown of all the essential equipment you need, to a step by footstep tutorial on how to throw your very first pot, plus much more…

It's time to get your hands dirty and have some fun!

Contents

  • i What is Pottery?
  • 2 Types of Pottery Dirt
    • ii.1 Earthenware clays
    • 2.two Stoneware clays
    • ii.3 Porcelain Clays
    • 2.4 Ball Clays
  • 3 Types of Pottery Glaze
    • 3.one Transparent Glaze
    • 3.2 Opaque Glaze
    • iii.3 Glossy Glaze
    • 3.iv Matte Coat
    • 3.5 Flowing Glaze
    • three.6 Potent Glaze
  • 4 How to Brand Pottery at Home
    • 4.1 How to Throw a Basic Pot
      • 4.one.i What You'll Need
      • 4.1.2 Basic Pot Throwing Method
    • 4.two The Drying Process
    • 4.3 The Firing Procedure
      • 4.3.ane Biscuit Firing
      • iv.iii.2 Single Glaze Firing
  • 5 How Expensive is it to Brand Pottery at Home?
  • 6 Where to Buy Pottery Tools

What is Pottery?

Pottery is ane of our oldest handicrafts, and it is still used but as much today equally in prehistoric times when men and women get-go discovered that wet dirt left out in the sun dried and became hard.

This discovery led to a blast in pottery production, and by around 400BC, earthenware pots, bowls, jugs and decorative objects were existence produced on a huge scale.

pottery

Information technology was the enigmatic Egyptians who invented kilns to fire their dirt pots, and this method was adopted all over the earth. They also created the first glaze, a blue-green mix of minerals that gave the pots a hard, colorful coating subsequently firing.

Skip frontward to more mod times and we are still using very like processes to create ceramics.

Besides as being eminently practical, pottery has get a form of loftier art, with traditional and gimmicky artists creating incredible works which inspire millions of budding potters all over the world.

And now, you lot can do pottery at dwelling house — no studio required!

Types of Pottery Clay

Clay is at the heart of the pottery process.

It comes from the ground, usually in areas where streams or rivers in one case flowed. It is fabricated from minerals, plant life, and animals — all the ingredients of soil.

Made up from decomposing rocks, and rich with minerals and organic remains of plants and animals that have been cleaved down past h2o pressure into super fine particles over fourth dimension, it is slick and cool to the impact.

At that place are several different clays used in pottery making, each i containing a different mix of minerals and other elements that give them different backdrop and make them suitable for dissimilar applications.

Oft, different clays are mixed together, or other things are added to make the clay stronger, or finer, to change its color, or to requite information technology more plasticity.

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When clay is mixed similar this and used to form objects, information technology is called a 'clay body'.

Different clay bodies 'mature' (meaning the point at which the clay is formulated to get hard) at different temperatures.

Equally a general rule the college the temperature the clay matures at, the less absorbent it is in one case firing is completed. This is important every bit if clay absorbs h2o after firing and then freezes, the force of the water every bit it swells can break apart the dirt.

Here's our rundown of the chief clay types…

Earthenware clays

This is the clay which was used by the primeval potters to create pots to carry h2o.

Earthenware typically contains a large amount of minerals such as iron which give it a rich red, orangish or brown colour. This distinctive color has led to it also being chosen by the familiar name 'terracotta', which translates as 'broiled earth'.

It's a sticky dirt which is easy to work with and holds its shape well.

Earthenware is fired at low temperatures (between 1745°F and 2012°F), and tin exist more porous and fragile than other clays.

This makes it a good choice when used as a container for things that need pocket-size amounts of air to broadcast — similar potted plants.

Yet, less durable earthenware clay bodies are likewise susceptible to freezing and keen in cold climates, so may need to be brought indoors over the winter.

Every bit, due to its fragility, earthenware may non be the all-time option for other applications where a more resilient clay is required.

Stoneware clays

The name 'stoneware' makes reference to the dumbo, rock similar nature of stoneware clay bodies after firing.

It's extremely tough with practically no absorption backdrop, merely is known to be a little breakable, hence it is oft mixed with more than plastic clays.

Colors of stoneware clays vary from a sandy brown or night brown color, to shades of gray.

There are two different categories of stoneware clays: mid range (those that mature at a firing temperature of 2150°F to 2260°F), and high range (those that mature at a higher temperature of 2200°F to 2336°F).

Depending on which group they fall into volition affect the resulting color subsequently firing, and those fired at a higher temperature will exist much more robust — platonic for utility ware.

Porcelain Clays

Porcelain ceramics are well known for their fine quality and delicacy, and white color.

This is due to their extremely fine grained nature, and likewise their high kaolin content (a white colored mineral with a depression expansion when wet, and low retraction when dry out) and relative lack of other impurities which could crusade discoloration.

Notwithstanding this ways they are as well quite inelastic, and they accept the reputation of being tricky to work with, and so porcelain clay bodies are rarely pure porcelain, instead they oftentimes contain a mix of other clays to stabilize them and make them more workable.

When moist, they will be low-cal grey and shades of white after firing range from a delicate calorie-free gray to an almost pure white.

Porcelain clays are e'er loftier fired (around 3272°F) and as well as being cute, this makes them durable, difficult and gives them a glossy sheen.

Ball Clays

These sedimentary clays accept highly variable compositions, and are significantly more rare than earthenware or stoneware clays.

They are grained with ultra fine particles, and have a high level of plasticity.

If used on their own, brawl clays are not a applied selection as they shrink excessively, but when mixed with other types of clay, they human activity as a binder that makes the dirt body more rubberband, easier to work with, and much stronger (they are oftentimes combined with porcelain clays).

Some other plus which makes them a popular choice with potters is that despite their dark grey color when moist, when fired (they burn down to their mature hardness at nearly 2336°F) ball clays have on a pleasing, high quality white color.

They are unremarkably used to make white ware and germ-free ware.

Types of Pottery Coat

Glazes are applied to the surface of a ceramic object with a castor, or a spray, or by dipping, before your creation gets fired in the kiln.

Bachelor in a whole host of colors and textures, glazes tin enhance not merely the beauty of your finished object, just besides the durability.

They tin be practical in many different ways and fired at a range of temperatures to requite a wide range of exciting results.

When a glaze is heated at loftier temperatures it melts and adheres to the clay surface, creating a hard, glass like surface which seals the object to protect it from breakage, and making it stain resistant.

In their unfired state, glazes accept a liquid yet creamy consistency, and the color of the coat at this betoken is often very different to the final color later firing.

pottery at home

The unlike colors are the result of a mixture of minerals and inorganic compounds within the glaze, for example fe oxides (which give red tones), and cobalt oxide (which gives a blue color).

Glazes are either made from natural and synthetic compounds such as quartz and clays which oxidize when fired, or from pieces of drinking glass that have been previously melted down.

Only similar different types of dirt have their own platonic temperature at which they need to be fired, different glazes melt at different temperatures besides. The heat at which a glaze is fired determines many of the final characteristics of the ceramic coat.

As a general dominion, glazes that burn down well at low temperatures produce very vivid colors, and loftier burn glazes are generally delicate in color and may require repeat applications and firings to get the desired event.

Glazing can exist a fun — but messy — business, and so if possible you'll need to dedicate a infinite only for this purpose.

Glazes often start life as a powder which needs to exist mixed, and you'll need large buckets with lids in which to mix them. Y'all'll need a sturdy surface area at a comfortable height for you to work on to minimize lifting the heavy buckets.

Here'south a quick introduction to the different bones types of glazes you might like to try…

Transparent Glaze

Glazes that have a transparent advent subsequently firing.

They can exist clear; letting the original surface color smoothen through merely giving it a darkened tint, or colored; which add an additional semi-transparent colour over the summit of the original surface color.

Opaque Glaze

These are glazes which give an object a solid color cheers to either tiny particles or trapped air bubbles contained inside the coat itself. In addition, different minerals can sometimes cause opacity.

Glossy Glaze

Sleeky glazes are super smoothen, and reflect light plenty that you tin can see your own reflection in them one time they are fired. Glossy glazes are oftentimes bright and showy.

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Matte Coat

The reverse to gloss glazes, matte glazes nevertheless accept their own amuse, giving either an understated elegant simplicity or rustic entreatment to an object. A matte glaze on a surface has no shine and absorbs light with no reflection.

Flowing Glaze

When a flowing glaze is fired and begins to melt it becomes very runny and bleeds into any glaze next to it.

This can produce some interesting and unexpected finished glazes.

Stiff Glaze

Likewise a stiff coat does not motility from where information technology has been applied during the firing process, making it ideal for 'painted' glaze designs.

How to Make Pottery at Home

How to Throw a Bones Pot

So at present you're more clued upwardly about the dissimilar aspects of pottery making, you lot must exist impatient to get started!

We'd recommend starting to experiment past creating a pinch or whorl pot (these are pots fabricated on a flat surface) just and so you can get used to the feel of the clay.

Or if y'all're feeling confident you could just leap straight in at the deep finish and throw your very first pot!

Here's our fail-condom guide to ensure your start pot throwing experience is fun and hassle costless…

What Yous'll Need

Here's a list of essential tools for this tutorial. The near of import of which we'll await at in more detail next…

  • Clay
  • Plaster slab
  • Potter's wheel
  • A big bowl of water
  • Throwing rib
  • Potter'southward needle
  • Sponge
  • Cutting wire

how to throw a pot

Potter's Wheels

Choosing the right wheel for you is perhaps the well-nigh important decision you lot will make when you showtime making pottery at home.

Wheels vary in size and will take up space, and so brand sure you lot accept enough room to use the size of wheel y'all choose. If y'all need to move your wheel about, y'all'll demand to consider weight.

Electric wheels are the lightest and near portable, and the throwing speed is also faster, but as they use electricity they are less economical and may spin too quickly for beginners.

Kick wheels on the other paw are much heavier and not very portable, and require transmission effort (many are foot powered) to make them circumduct.

That said, there is usually more control over the spin speed and they are great for both left-handed and right-handed throwing because it easily allows for both counter-clockwise and clockwise rotation of the wheel.

Throwing Rib

Used when throwing pots, throwing ribs help shape and smooth pots as they are being formed on the wheel, and are particularly useful for hollowing out the center of a pot.

Throwing ribs are available in an assortment of shapes and can be made from wood, rubber, or metal.

Potter's Needle

These potent, pointed needles are ane of the almost of import tools a potter tin can have in their arsenal.

They are set into handles to make them comfortable to utilize, and are useful for a broad multifariousness of purposes, including trimming the top edges of pots on the wheel.

Cut Wire

A cutting wire is a super fine wire (think cheese wire) stretched between two handles. It is used for cutting the bases of objects neatly away from the wheel.

Bones Pot Throwing Method

  1. Grab a couple of handfuls of clay — not as well much as a smaller quantity will be easier to handle — and mold it into a ball shape.
  2. This step is a dandy way to work out your stress! Throw the brawl of clay repeatedly against a hard, flat slab of plaster. This kneads the clay and gets rid of any air bubbling or extra moisture that might affect the centre of gravity of your dirt once it'due south on the wheel.
  3. When finished, ringlet the clay dorsum into a ball.
  4. Brand sure your body is centered over the bicycle and legs are planted firmly on the ground.
  5. Start spinning your cycle at a fairly fast speed, and with a decent amount of force throw your ball of clay into the center.
  6. Wet your hands in the bowl of water and cup the clay in your hands, keeping your arms firmly in position and pressed into your thighs.
  7. Squeeze the dirt into a high cone shape.
  8. Keeping your easily wet and the wheel spinning, push downwardly on the heart of the cone. This will flatten it out and keep everything rotating evenly.
  9. Don't worry that excess clay and h2o are sliding from your hands and off the wheel.
  10. Repeat this process three or iv times until you lot are satisfied that your clay is well balanced and well positioned in the heart of the wheel without wobbling.
  11. Once you feel your clay is ready, y'all are all set to start sculpting! Make a hole in the centre of your pot by pushing your forefinger down into the center of the clay and using your other hand to cup the outside of the clay to keep it stable and give information technology some shape at the same time.
  12. Gradually ease your finger out of the hole
  13. To brand the hole in your pot bigger, reinsert your forefinger, and with your other hand stabilizing the exterior, gently pull your finger towards your body until the sides are around two inches thick.
  14. One time you are satisfied, gently take the force per unit area off and remove your finger.
  15. Next y'all need to accept your throwing rib and take out all the off-center dirt from the around the base of operations of your pot. Retrieve to use one hand to keep the pot stable at all times.
  16. Now your pot is really beginning to take shape. To make the sides of the pot thinner, place your fingertips of the get-go hand against the inside wall toward the bottom, with the your thumb braced to keep everything in place without slipping.
  17. Then using the fingertips of your other paw, hold your small sponge and place information technology on the exterior side of the pot exactly opposite the position of your fingers on the inside.
  18. Gently apply pressure as if you were bringing the fingers of your two hands to meet each other through the side of your pot, and slowly raise them. This force per unit area squeezes the clay upwardly, creating a sparse wall.
  19. Repeat this process several times until you lot are happy that the sides of your pot are thin enough without losing their shape.
  20. Call up to keep your pot moist. Use the sponge to control the strength and moisture level of the clay.
  21. You're nearly finished. Take your potter'southward needle and whilst supporting the sides of your clay, press it into the dirt where y'all want to level it off. This will cut information technology evenly all the way round, and once the excess clay is cut you can only lift it off.
  22. Gradually decrease the speed of the bike until it slows to a stop.
  23. Take your cut wire and place it on the surface of the bike, positioned backside your pot. Keeping a downward force per unit area on the wire, run it all the style through the base of your pot from back to front, keeping information technology tight and straight at all times.
  24. Your pot can now be removed from the wheel.

If y'all're more of a visual learner, take a look at this astonishing video by Danielle The Clay Lady on how to throw a pot:

The Drying Process

'Greenware' is the term for unfired pottery.

It is very fragile in this land, and needs to be dried before existence fired in a kiln and transformed from raw clay to finished, hard ceramic.

You're going to need somewhere out of the way to store your greenware whilst information technology goes through the drying stages: from obviously damp, through leather hard, to bone dry.

This drying process is critical as greenware mustn't exist fired before achieving the final state of bone dry, as it will misconstrue its shape or fifty-fifty crack completely in the kiln.

Bone dry greenware is extremely brittle and can shatter extremely hands, so care must be taken when handling it.

A good way to test if greenware is bone dry is to touch information technology to see if it is at room temperature and not cool to the touch.

Drying should take identify naturally, in a safe place, on a stable gear up of shelves or racks that allow air to broadcast all the manner round the greenware — if you're tight on space, attempt drilling holes in regular wall mounted wooden shelves to allow air flow.

At this phase information technology's also important to protect your greenware from dust and dirt.

All individual pieces of greenware should exist dried separately, so if you've fabricated a pot with a lid, don't be tempted to dry the pot with the lid even so on or they may finish up existence stuck together.

Before greenware reaches the os dry out phase, it is still possible to dispense information technology. This is a good moment to add handles, carve patterns onto the surface, or decorate information technology with an underglaze.

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The Firing Procedure

Firing clay transforms information technology from moist mud to strong ceramic.

Firing takes place in a kiln, a special type of oven which produces the extremely high temperatures necessary to mature the different types of clay (i.e. fuse the molecules together).

Sadly, your dwelling house oven just can't get hot enough, then y'all'll either need to make or buy your ain kiln, or find somewhere shut past where yous tin can get your greenware fired for you in an advisable kiln.

Types of kiln vary. Each type has its own 'atmosphere', and different types of firing produce different end results.

The most basic type of firing is oxidation firing, which allows air to circulate freely throughout the firing process, and tin be performed in any type of kiln.

Reduction firing is another popular but more circuitous method which requires a fuel burning kiln and restricted oxygen levels to produce certain special glaze furnishings.

Firing is a irksome procedure and can take many hours or even days — but it's worth the wait!

There are 2 chief firing methods. Unmarried firing, and the more than unremarkably used 'Biscuit', or 'Bisque' firing.

Biscuit Firing

This is a two pace method which is widely regarded as the almost sure fire, piece of cake fashion of getting a good effect that won't damage your work.

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Pace One

This is when the greenware is fired for the first fourth dimension. The purpose is to make it robust plenty to handle existence glazed.

For this stage, clay is typically fired at between 1,800 to two,000°F.

Always take smashing care when loading your greenware into the kiln as information technology is extremely delicate.

It's imperative that the kiln is heated slowly throughout this phase, as as well much heat as well soon can plow the remaining water in the clay to steam, resulting in shattered dirt.

Once the desired temperature has been reached, the kiln needs to gradually absurd downwardly before opening, as if the inside cools too quickly information technology can cause pots to break.

At the end of this starting time firing, your greenware has get transformed into a strong ceramic which remains porous enough to accept a glaze.

Step Two

It'due south fourth dimension to add some color and extra strength to your clay creation past adding a coat.

Glazes must dry thoroughly and and then pots can be gently loaded into the kiln for the final firing.

Make sure that there is enough space in betwixt each individual piece to avert them fusing together as the glaze melts.

As in step ane, the kiln is gently heated up to the advisable temperature.

The correct temperature with both fully mature the dirt and the glaze. In one case the kiln has cooled downwardly your handiwork is finished and can exist removed and enjoyed.

Single Coat Firing

This is a single footstep method that involves glazing your greenware, and firing information technology directly.

Normally, a glaze is applied to the greenware when it is at the 'leather hard' phase.

This is a ordinarily used firing method which is less fourth dimension consuming that bisque firing, and it also means that you only have to burn down upwards your kiln once.

There are however certain drawbacks to single coat firing. It is a riskier business organization.

Handling the greenware and so much when bone dry is a fragile procedure as information technology is fragile, and objects in the kiln are more likely to crevice or shatter when in the kiln than when using the beige firing method.

Glazes are likewise trickier to get correct, and are more than likely to crack or flake off. Perhaps save this until you've mastered how to make pottery at home.

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How Expensive is information technology to Make Pottery at Home?

By far the biggest investment you're going to make for making pottery at habitation is a potter's wheel.

In that location are a huge variety of wheels on the market place, ranging vastly in terms of quality and cost.

As with virtually things information technology often doesn't represent expert value for coin in terms of quality and durability to simply get out and purchase the cheapest bike bachelor.

Wait to pay annihilation from a few hundred dollar to over a thousand for a decent wheel. Besides, the price for home kilns ranges from effectually $300 up to a staggering $four,000.

On the brilliant side, other pottery accessories and equipment are relatively cheap.

For example, cut wires, potter's needles and throwing ribs tin all be purchased for under five dollars, and other tools tin be picked up every bit cheaply.

Clay and glazes are also cheap, with small amounts of glaze available at around five dollars.

Where to Purchase Pottery Tools

Amazon

We always recommend Amazon for craft supplies — they have a huge selection available, and y'all tin often find tools for much cheaper than in more than specialist stores.

Plus, information technology's much more user-friendly to buy all your things from one store!

Big Ceramic Store

The Big Ceramic Store was the first ceramic supplier on the cyberspace in 1999, and at that place are now over 12,000 unlike pottery products available on the site at reasonable prices, plus free shipping on nigh equipment.

There's an extensive range of clay and glazes categorized past type and by firing temperature, a superb selection of kilns and wheels, and a huge range of other tools and supplies.

There is also a team of ceramics experts on hand to answer whatsoever questions you lot may have about home pottery.

pottery supplies

Tucker's

Tucker's comport some of the all-time brands of pottery wheels, Cone Art electric kilns, gas kilns, slab rollers, extruders, pugmills, and clay mixers.

Additionally they manufacture their own range of clays and glazes.

Also, in the online shop you'll observe an splendid choice of studio equipment, tools, brushes and sponges, glazes and underglazes, and decorating and finishing equipment.

Clay Rex

At Dirt King you'll find a web log with handy 'how to's' for domicile potters, as well equally a wide variety of pottery tools and equipment including kilns and kiln accessories, wheels, glazes, sculpting tools, bisque ware ready for glazing, and of course, clays.

Atlantic Pottery Supply

Based on the sunny north Florida coast, Atlantic Pottery Supply features everything you demand to get your home pottery studio up and running and well kitted out.

Everything including useful books, wheels and accessories, clays, glazes, tools, moulds, brushes, kilns and dry out materials are available in the comprehensive online store.

Aardvark Clay and Supplies

Aardvark is a comprehensive supplier for the ceramicist.

The online store offers a complete line of ceramic materials, equipment, and supplies; including clays, glazes, kilns, potter's wheels, tools, slips, underglazes, frits, stains, chemicals, refractories, books, and gift certificates.

Have you tried making pottery at home yet?