Top Pottery Blogs of 2016

Welcome to the Top Pottery Blogs of 2016! Thanks for visiting, reading and sharing.

Have you read a blog lately? If not, you may be missing out! About 6 months ago, I shared 23 pottery tips that I discovered on pottery blogs. It was one of the most popular posts on this blog. So go check out the blogs below and see how many great things you can discover. Probably some great resources to help make 2017 your best pottery year yet!

Let’s get to it. The top 16 17! pottery blogs of 2016:

16. (tie) Tales of a Red Clay Rambler

• Blog Author: Ben Carter
  
• URL: http://www.talesofaredclayrambler.com
• This blog was mentioned 32 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 10

If you need something to listen to while making pots, check out this podcast. Ben interviews potters and makers from all over the world.

16. (tie) Ron Philbeck Pottery

• Blog Author: Ron Philbeck
  
• URL: http://ronphilbeckpottery.com/blog/
• This blog was mentioned 32 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: unranked

And as it was prophesied, so it has been done…

Welcome back Ron! I’m happy to see the great pots and helpful videos back in the top blogs list!

15. FetishGhost’s Secret Studio

• Blog Author: Zygote Blum
  
• URL: http://fetishghost.blogspot.com
• This blog was mentioned 33 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 10

Zygote, or Joel, creates stunning pots decorated with a cut paper resist technique. He works alongside Jessica Fong and has another blog that was a Very Honorable Mention below.

13. (tie) Whynot Pottery Blog

• Blog Author: Meredith and Mark Heywood
  
• URL: https://whynotpotteryblog.blogspot.com
• This blog was mentioned 34 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: Honorable Mention

Mark and Meredith share their latest pots and tiles and show some of their creative process they have learned while working with clay over 30 years.

13. (tie) Clay by Laura

• Blog Author: Laura Silberman
  
• URL: https://www.claybylaura.com/new-blog/
• This blog was mentioned 34 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: Honorable Mention

Laura’s blog is full of great photos of her finished work and thoughts about her creative process.

12. Carol Clarkson Pottery

• Blog Author: Carol Clarkson
  
• URL: http://www.carolclarksonpottery.com/blog.html
• This blog was mentioned 42 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: Honorable Mention

Carol does a great job sharing pottery related events, tips, shows and opportunities.

11. Big Ceramic Store

• Blog Author: Big Ceramic Store
  
• URL: http://www.bigceramicstore.com/blog/
• This blog was mentioned 47 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: Unranked

If you are looking for tips and projects for clay, this blog is worth checking. And you can conveniently purchase just about anything mentioned from the online shop!

10. Carter Gillies Pottery

• Blog Author: Carter Gillies
  
• URL: https://cartergilliespottery.wordpress.com/
• This blog was mentioned 49 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 9

Carter takes more of a long-form approach to his blog. His blog is must-read, especially if you like to read and challenge your own thoughts about art, beauty and other issues.

9. Meesh’s Pottery

• Blog Author: Michèle Hastings
  
• URL: http://meeshspottery.blogspot.com/
• This blog was mentioned 52 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 11

Michèle shows a lot of the process and the pots that she and Jeff have come up with from years of making pottery.

8. NCECA Blog

• Blog Author: NCECA
• URL: http://blog.nceca.net/
• This blog was mentioned 60 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 7

Updates from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.

7. Alchemy of Clay

• Blog Author: Barbara Rogers
  
• URL: http://blackmtnbarb.blogspot.com/
• This blog was mentioned 65 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 8

Barb shares an almost daily look into her life making pots and living in North Carolina.

5. (tie) The Potters Cast

• Blog Author: Paul Blais
  
• URL: http://thepotterscast.com/
• This blog was mentioned 103 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 4

Paul keeps cranking out the podcasts so fast I can barely keep up! He has interviewed nearly 300 potters and makers so far!

5. (tie) Tony Clennell

• Blog Author: Tony Clennell
  
• URL: http://smokieclennell.blogspot.com/
• This blog was mentioned 103 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 3

The tales from Tony and his cast of characters should definitely be in your blog subscription list. He has short, frequent, often humorous stories and updates from the Cactus Lounge and his travels.

4. Gary’s Third Pottery Blog

• Blog Author: Gary Rith
  
• URL: http://garysthirdpotteryblog.blogspot.com/
• This blog was mentioned 108 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 2

RIP Gary’s Third Pottery Blog. Follow Gary here now: https://www.facebook.com/garyrithpottery/

3. CFile

• Blog Author: Garth Clark and Staff
  
• URL: https://cfileonline.org/
• This blog was mentioned 113 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 11

Cfile includes frequent news from contemporary ceramics, design, architecture and more.

2. Fire When Ready Pottery

• Blog Author: Gary Jackson
  
• URL: http://firewhenreadypottery.com/
• This blog was mentioned 121 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 1

I’m not sure Gary actually sleeps. He finds time to bike and run, capture the sunrise, make and stamp amazing pots, fire them, sell them and then blog about all of it just about every day!

1. Musing About Mud

• Blog Author: Carole Epp
  
• URL: http://musingaboutmud.blogspot.com/
• This blog was mentioned 187 times in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 2015 Rank: 6

If you haven’t realized by now, this is a must-read blog if you are at all interested in pottery or ceramics. Stay up to date on the latest opportunities, emerging artists and more.

The Very Honorable Mention

Be sure to check out these blogs as well!

• Gillian McMillan
• Rachel Dorn
• Fine Mess Pottery
• Zygote Blum
• Jenny Mendes
• Clay Club
• Marian Williams Pottery
• Courtney Martin Pottery
• Haldeblog
• Jenni Ward
• John Britt Pottery
• Kim Murton
• Bauman Stoneware
• Blue Starr Gallery
• Carpenter Pottery
• April Noble Studio
• Dawn Whitehand
• Objective Clay
• Art by Fuzzy – Brandon Schwartz
• Patricia Griffin
• Hand Eye Foot Brain – Marshall Colman
• Rough Ideas – Catherine White
• Liz Crain Ceramics
• The Smart Cat
• Ceramic Artists Now
• Joel Cherrico Pottery
• Gaea Beads

Congrats!

Congrats to all the blogs that made the list. If you’d like to show off your accomplishment or give your blog visitors a little confirmation that they made a great choice by reading your blog, feel free to use any of these images as you wish. Click an image to get to a larger version. Right click and save the image to your own computer to alter it however you want.

What Do You Think?

Do you agree with this list? Is there a blog missing? Leave a comment below! Or if you know a clay blog that I should know about, find out how to add it here.

Fancy Stats

One reason that makes this list fun for me is the statistics that come out of it. Here are some that I found interesting:

• 166 blogs were mentioned at least one time in the Clay Blog Review in 2016.
• 44 blogs were mentioned at least 12 times. That’s an average of once per month!
• 6 blogs had over 100 mentions each this year.
• 40 blogs were mentioned at least one time in the “Can’t Miss” section for the month.

Choosing the Top Pottery Blogs

Choosing the top pottery blogs of the year is far from an exact science. But it’s not something I take lightly! Below is a brief (but probably boring) explanation of what goes into it:

Clay Blog Review

On this site you can find a monthly feature, called the Clay Blog Review. In it, you will find highlights from the best pottery blogging from around the world. (This is the subjective, inexact part!) I do my best to scan every pottery blog I can find and link to the best parts. A list of links is compiled at the end of the month and sorted into categories. At the end of the year I count each time that a blog was mentioned in the Clay Blog Review and rank the top blogs by the number of times they were mentioned.

Changes From Last Year

If you look closely, you may be able to tell that the list seems a little different from last year. One major change: I added the “Opportunities” category to the Clay Blog Review.

I also started including blogs more often that were promoting other artists and potters. In previous years I linked mostly to individuals showing their own work. This made a big difference for sites such as Cfile and Musing About Mud.

One other small change happened gradually throughout the year. If one blog had a number of similar posts in a month, I most likely only picked one or two to link. This keeps the Clay Blog Review from getting too large and I hope it encourages readers to go explore each blog and find some of those other posts.

The Future

After a few discussions with some fellow bloggers I am considering some changes to the Clay Blog Review. But I’d like to hear from more of you before doing anything too drastic.

After looking at some analytics data for the site, it looks like interest in the monthly Clay Blog Review steadily declined. Especially compared to a post like 23 Pottery Tips. But I hear from many loyal readers that they enjoy looking through it each month and it provides value to the clay community. The interest hasn’t declined enough to stop doing it but if I’m going to do it, I want it to be the best it can be.

So, here is your chance to help make it better! Is the Clay Blog Review too long? Overwhelming? Too short? Would you like to see any changes? Would you add any other categories? Remove categories? If you are a blogger, what kind of traffic to you get from the Clay Blog Review? Click below to fill out a short survey and share your opinion about the Clay Blog Review:

Shop Now Open!

Check out the new Pottery Making Shop! The product offering is a little slim right now but more things will be added soon. Look for a new shirt design every month!

Newsletter and Social Media

If you haven’t signed up for the Pottery Making Newsletter or followed Pottery Making Info on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or G+, make sure you do! I have some new features planned for the new year that should allow some fun interaction.

Thanks

Thanks to all of you for the support of this site. And thanks most of all to the bloggers for putting in the work on their blogs and sharing their tips, views and fantastic work with all of us!

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