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18 (More) Pottery Tips

November 24, 2017 by Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz 2 Comments

Do you remember 23 Pottery Tips from A Year of Pottery Blogs? Or recent tips for Making Pots and Decorating Pots? Below you will find 18 more pottery tips that pottery bloggers have shared during the past year.

18 more pottery tips

We’re talking everything from making kilns and pottery wheels to photographing and shipping pots. Go take a look at these amazing resources and be sure to subscribe to the blogs listed below. And if you enjoy these kinds of tips, sign up for the Pottery Making Newsletter to get tips, opportunities and great information emailed to you nearly every month.

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This collection of tips is brought to you by the Pottery Shirt Shop. Full of one-of-a-kind pottery shirts! Any purchase you make helps support this site. Check out the latest design that was just added to the shop:

I throw, therefore I am (pottery shirt)

new pottery shirt design!

Now, on to the pottery tips!

1. Take Notes

Have you ever pulled something out of the kiln and weren’t quite sure what amazing glaze combination you used to get a stunning result? Or maybe you’re about to throw a form you haven’t made in a while but can’t remember how much clay to start with or how tall it should be before you take it off the wheel? Whynot Pottery encourages you to take notes on everything.

Link

2. Bat Stabilizer

Wobbly bat? Preston shares a tip that was published in Ceramics Monthly that may fix it.

Link

3. Transform an Electric Kiln into a Raku Kiln

How To Make A Raku Kiln Out Of An Old Electric Kiln

4. Do Mugs with Thick or Thin Walls Keep Coffee Warmer?

Or, Jack Reacher’s ideal coffee mug. The result may surprise you. You have to love the scientific experimentation involved!

Link

5. How To Flocculate a Glaze

Flocculate a glaze? But we’ve just met! Okay, sorry for the sad attempt at humor. For our purposes, you can think of flocculating a glaze as making it thicker for application or so it doesn’t settle into a hard layer at the bottom of your glaze bucket. John Britt explains the basics in this video:

Now you know the basics so you are ready for this in-depth article from Clay Times Magazine.

Link (originally shared by Carol Clarkson)

6. Making Plaster Molds

Shawna explains how she makes plaster molds.

Link

7. Drying Flat Pieces

Drying flat pieces of pottery can be tricky. Take a look at how Michèle does it.

Link

8. Pottery Tips for Smoother Pots

Before Firing

John Britt has a video demonstrating how he smooths his pots with a wet sponge.

Link

After Firing

There are a number of ways to smooth the bottoms of your pots after you fire them. Marian uses her wheel.

Grinding Your Pots Feet: A Great Solution!

Page shares how she gets a super smooth bottom on her pot (link) and shares the article by Jeff Campana that helped her figure out what to do (link). Jeff bought his equipment from toolocity.com but you can also find similar items on Amazon:

Big Ceramic Store also shares a couple ways that you can smooth out the rough spots on your pots.

link

9. DIY Sink Trap

Tim shows how he made a sink trap himself to keep clay and other materials from going down the drain.

Link

11. How to Make Hard Clay Soft Again

Gary rehydrates a solid 25 lb. block of clay… the easy way!

Link

12. Damp Box

Lori’s damp box works well to keep clay projects soft until the next time she can work on them.

Link

13. Baking Mat for Clay

Carol Clarkson had a blog post about using a baking mat as a work surface while working with clay. The link to her post doesn’t work anymore but you can find plenty of baking mats on amazon.com. Here are a few that look promising and also include measurements.

14. Raku Firing Tips

Lori is back with some tips for firing a raku kiln.

Link

15. Sculpey Stamps

Over on the Clay King Blog you can see how to use an oven-fired clay like Sculpey to make stamps.

Using Sculpey to Make a Stamp

Of course, I usually just make my stamps out of my normal stoneware clay and bisque fire them to make them hard. I would be interested to see if Sculpey offers any advantages.

15. Photo Booth Example

Rachel gives us a look at her photo setup using a portable photo studio purchased at BH Photo.

Link

Amazon also has a variety of portable photo booths and light tents.

16. DIY Pottery Wheels

Here is a collection of cool pottery wheel projects. If you have the right stuff lying around and a little extra time it would be fun to try.

5 DIY Electric Pottery Wheels

17. Pack Pots for Shipping

Pots are fragile. It takes a little extra care to make sure they arrive at a new destination in one piece. Antoinette has some ideas for shipping artwork safely.

Link

18. Set a Goal, Make A Plan, Make It Happen

A short guide to help you make the most of the next year. This article was published at the beginning of 2017 but it should work for any year. I hope you were able to meet and exceed your goals this year and continue to grow as a potter or ceramic artist.

https://www.potterymakinginfo.com/best-pottery-year/

Thanks for reading! These pottery tips were collected over the past year from some of the amazing pottery blogs out there on the web. Be sure to visit their blogs, subscribe and leave some feedback. And be sure to read through the Clay Blog Review every month to get more pottery tips, inspiration and stories from potters all over the world.

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Filed Under: Articles, information, Lists Tagged With: blogs, ceramics, links, making pottery, pots, pottery, pottery blogs, pottery equipment, pottery tips, pottery wheels

Comments

  1. Carol Clarkson says

    January 17, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    Hi….I noticed that my tip for number #13 no longer reaches my blog. After years of blogging on Vista Print, I changed to Square Space. Below is my new blog address.
    ( the old blog does not seem to point to the new one) Many Thanks!!

    https://www.carolclarksonpottery.com/wwwcarolclarksonpotterycom/bloghtml/

    Reply

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  1. 5 Awesome Pottery Gifts to Add to Your List - Pottery Making Info says:
    November 30, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    […] about giving (and getting!) gifts. As a potter, are you always thinking about what can help you make better pots AND help support our pottery community? Here are some pottery gifts you can add to your wish […]

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