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Pottery Process
Tools and Equipment
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Potter’s wheel and bats
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Towels and an apron
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A small bucket for holding water or slurry as you work
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One or more sponges
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A trimming tool
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A rubber or wooden rib
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A potter’s needle
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A cut-off wire
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Fettling knives
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A box to keep your tools in
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Glazes and application tools such as brushes, tongs, etc.
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Calipers
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Kiln
Choose your clay
Earthenware clay is versatile and typically the easiest to throw on the pottery wheel, so this may be the best option if you are just beginning. Stoneware is another clay option that is easy to handle and work with. Porcelain clay is incredibly strong and is considered the best clay available for making pottery because of its high resistance to heat and high amount of silica. The downside of porcelain is that it is expensive and can be hard to handle for beginners. Before starting your pottery project, you will want to wedge your clay on a surface to work out any air bubbles.
Prep your workspace
Your pottery workspace should include a sturdy table with a surface that clay will not stick to. Consider covering your table in canvas fabric or working on small drywall sheets. Make sure you have excellent ventilation so that your lungs are protected from small clay particles. The floors should be easy to clean at the end of your work session. Set up some shelving or tables where your pots can sit undisturbed to dry for several days.
Before sitting down at the wheel, make sure you gather up all necessary hand tools and equipment. You will want to have a small bucket of water within arms reach, along with your rib, needle tool, rim, and any other hand tools you wish to use.
Dry and trim your pottery
Let your pot dry until it reaches the greenware stage. To trim the base of your pot, carefully remove it from the bat and place it on a clean bat upside down. Anchor it on the bat’s center with wet clay and slowly turn the wheel. With a needle or trimming tool, remove excess clay from the base and edges. Keep your hand steady, with your elbow securely planted on your knee.
Bisque fire your pottery
Dry your piece to leather hard, then bisque fire. Bisque firing is required to increase your pottery’s durability, making it more stable for the next steps of glazing and glaze firing. The temperature and amount of time you bisque fire your clay will depend upon the firing range and cone. It may be low-, mid-, or high-fire clay, measured using the cone system.
The cone system measures the heat of the kiln and the length of firing. Cones are essential when firing to know when your kiln has reached the necessary temperature and to ensure the kiln is heated evenly. Each cone has a number assigned to it corresponding to a specific temperature range. For example, cone 03 indicates a temperature range of about 1,960 to 1,987 degrees Fahrenheit.
Glaze and glaze fire
Once your pottery comes out of the bisque fire, it is ready to be glazed. Pottery glazes are an impenetrable layer or coating applied to bisque-ware used to decorate pottery and waterproofing. There are many possibilities when glazing pottery and ceramics, from colorful patterns to mineral reactions.
The general process of glazing ceramics is first to mix your glaze, apply it to bisque-ware, let it dry, then finally load it into the kiln for the glaze firing. The kiln is slowly brought up to the appropriate temperature for the silica in the glaze to melt, then slowly cooled again. This makes your pottery strong and solid, and impervious to water and the elements.
How to learn more advanced pottery techniques
Look into local classes at public studios and community pottery guilds in your area. If you are local to the Bay Area, The Crucible offers a unique place to learn the different ceramic and pottery building techniques. Our beginner and advanced classes teach you pottery techniques such as wheel throwing, pinching, coiling, and slab rolling, in addition to press molds and slip casting with plaster molds. Students have the opportunity to explore different glazing techniques in low fire, high fire, and other firing alternatives, such as raku firing. Functional tableware, vessels, sculpture, installations, and mixed media—the possibilities in ceramics are endless for youth and adults of all levels.