Are you looking for pottery tips, techniques and advice about making pots? You are in the right place!
Read on to see some of the best pottery bloggers on the internet share their tips and advice for making pots.
If you missed it, you can see the original 23 Pottery Tips article. Hard to believe it’s already a year old! This year there were so many great tips, demos and techniques shared on the pottery blogs that they will be organized into three separate posts. This one is about Making Pots, soon you will find posts about Decorating Pots, and General Pottery Tips.
You can also check out the Clay Blog Review every month to see a collection of the best pottery blogging on the planet, all in one spot.
And of course, if you want even more pottery making tips, opportunities and potters to follow, sign up for the monthly Pottery Making Newsletter. Let’s get to the tips!
1. Advice for Beginning Potters
Carter Gillies is a wise potter. Here he offers some free throwing and trimming advice for beginning potters.
If pots are not thrown well they do not deserve to be trimmed. The time you spend trimming could have been spent learning to throw a better pot.
2. Making Large Pots
Making a Large Plant Stand
Making a Large Plant StandPeter gives a great explanation of how he makes large plant stands by adding a little clay at a time and using coils to build the walls.
Large Platters 3 Ways
Gary has a nice explanation and images of Nolan Baumgartner making large platters three different ways on the pottery wheel.
3. Judging Bottom Thickness
Big Ceramic Store offers two techniques to get the right bottom thickness while making pots on the wheel.
4. Thoughts On Spouts
Liz shares some great research and thoughts about adding spouts to pots.
5. Handle Tips
Carol and Gary share their process and advice for adding handles to mugs.
6. Takeshi Yasuda Magic Coil Rolling Apparatus
Tony shares such a simple idea but I can’t wait to try it myself! Basically, you can make perfect coils using a flat board and some nuts and bolts. Genius!
7. Making Pots with Slabs
Millefiore Technique
Lori Watts shares a great tutorial about working with two different colored clays to create slabs with interesting patterns.
Layering Clay
Carole shares a great video of Jim Robison using layers of slabs and colors to make some amazing pots.
Textured Slab Cup
Gary Jackson shares the process of another guest artist. This time Kate Chenok makes some textured cups and mugs.
Lace Imprint Casserole Dish
Paige offers a tutorial for making a lace imprint casserole dish with great photos of each step.
8. Spend Time on the Details
I still think about and use many things from this workshop.
Handle With Care Workshop: Eric Botbyl, Matt Schiemann, Todd Pletcher
9. Trimming Chalice Stems
E. Preston Rice shows a great setup for making chalice stem trimming a lot easier.
10. A Guide to Making Wine Goblets
Peter shares a very detailed explanation with images of the process he uses to make wine goblets.
11. Make a Coffee Pour Over
The Clay King blog explains the steps to make a coffee pour over. This little funnel sits on top of a mug. You put a coffee filter in and then add some coffee grounds. Pour hot water into it and it will drip down into the mug to make a hot cup of coffee.
12. Handbuilding Tutorials
Handbuilt Double Wall Vessels
Big Ceramic Store shows how to create a double-walled pot.
Hand Built Slab Mug
Suzi shows us how she uses slabs and a bottle form to create a mug with a handle. Then she shows us some of the different mugs she has created using different forms.
13. (Bonus): Look Good While Making Pots
You can check out the pottery shirt shop for some designs that you won’t find anywhere else! It’s a great way to show your love for clay and support this site at the same time. Look for a new design every month. And if you want to be the first one to see the new designs, sign up for the newsletter.
Thanks for reading! And thanks to all these great bloggers for sharing what they do. Be sure to subscribe to some of the blogs above and leave them comments so they know you appreciate what they do.
[…] forget, you can also find some great stuff in the articles 12 Tips for Making Pots or 23 Pottery Tips or you can see a complete introduction to making […]