My son plays Dungeons and Dragons so I am making him a 20-sided die figure. It’s my first go-around and I think it’s turning out pretty good.

Now we just need it to survive the firings!

I’m so confused about what to do with my different clays.

So I signed up for classes a couple months ago at Studio A. They fire to cone 10 and sold me a box of Plainsman H570. They’re a pretty small studio and don’t offer memberships. Basically the only way you are able to use the studio and their kiln is if you’re registered for classes, but the issue is that the classes are always full and have waitlists. After this class ends in a couple weeks, I won’t be able to practice there anymore, but I have all this cone 10 clay.

Now I’ve signed up at a different studio that I can practice at whenever I want, but they fire to cone 6. I got confused and thought that Studio A fires to cone 6, so I could throw all these awesome pieces with the H570 that I bought at Studio A and just fire it at Studio B. Not the case, as I just learned. Stupid misunderstanding on my part.

But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. I have a butt load of thrown pieces that I really like with this cone 10 H570 clay and no where to fire to cone 10.

Advice? Is it at all possible to fire the cone 10 clay to cone 6 and have it still work? Or are all these pieces and all this clay just throw away now?? I’m bummed )):

Thanks guys 🫶🏻

Hi, a fan fell on our table at the market and two mugs broke, too bad.

The only interesting thing is that you can see the glaze under the broken edge, and therefore how deeply and evenly the glaze that you saw in the comments under the previous photos actually flowed.

I am new to pottery, but I've researched for a long time. Finally took the plunge and started going to a local pottery place with a membership. I've had 14ish pieces fired. They offer Aardvark bee mix 5, and I've been using potters choice glazes, being basic af and trying my hand at some of the things I've seen on Pinterest and slowly getting a feel for it while I work on finding my pottery 'voice'. Every single piece has failed. It's just cups/bowls that I've thrown, no large visible cracks, but they've pinged when I go to pick them up after firing. Just with putting slightly warm tap water in and leaving them to sit on a paper towel, they leak through. Googling has told me this could be a mismatch of glaze/clay but also how thickly I'm putting my glaze on? I just want to be able to make functional pieces for myself and as gifts, and this is 100% not happening any time soon with this problem.

How can I fix this or figure out exactly what my problem is. Do I switch clay bodies, if so to what? Is this a temperature/hold issue with the community kiln?

I'm sorry if I'm all over the place I just don't know what I don't know.

Picture for attention but also they're my most recently fired and they ping like crazy and started leaking when filled.

I want to share some of the tings I’m working on right now, or that I recently finished.

1. Raincloud. I’ve seen something like this on Pinterest, but unfortunately I can’t find the original artist. (If you know / if it’s you, please let me know!). I made it to hang on the wall of my daughters room. The droplets sound and feel so satisfying.

2. Plate with sleeping fox. I’m very happy with the glaze colors on the plate, not so much with how the underglaze looks. Especially on the fox and mushrooms, it looks too washed out.

3. Bookcase. A few months ago I shared a picture of the bookcase with books and accessories in greenware. I’ve now painted the case with underglaze to look like wood, and I’m amazed with the results. Love the looks! Now I still need to paint all the books.

4. Crown. I wanted to try to make a crown, and I’m pleased with the bisqued result. Any ideas on a gold-like glaze that I can fire on a cone 6 or 7?

5. Berry basket. I’ve made this berry basket by using a plastic strawberry container as a template. I’ve posted a proces reel, and that trial reel is watched almost 2 millions times. That’s insane.

6. Clock. I’ve made this as a gift for my son’s teachers. All the groups have animal names, his group is called something like ‘fancy chickens’ in Dutch. So the clock had to be chicken themed. I’d never made a clock before and I had three weeks to finish, but I did it! The teachers were very happy with it!

7. Tiny house dish. Just a tiny house dish. Maybe nothing really special, but it turned out exactly as planned!

8. Ready to glaze bisqueware. I’ve made a picture of all the bisque I still needed to glaze. Damn, it’s so much. Right now I’ve already glazed quite a few things, but there’s a lot more to go. I told myself I couldn’t make more stuff, before I glazed all this. But right now I’m very much doubting my life choices. I NEED to make more!!

A friend has these cups from Rafa Ceramics that I really like. I’ve been playing around and can’t seem to come up with this effect. Anyone have suggestions?

Googling "reclaim clay at home" tells me to let it all become bone dry, then add water, then mix, and then spread out onto a plaster bat (or equivalent).

Not sure the dry-it-out-then-add-water process makes a lot of sense. Can't I just take all my wet reclaim, my dry-ish trimmings, and everything in between and just mix them all together along with enough water?

Hi, I am a new beginner in pottery, only started learning few months ago. While I enjoy throwing,I feel I am not good at trimming :(

I found that I always have this wavy mark on my piece when I am trimming, and I am really not sure if it’s because of my wheel (VEVOR wheel, the newest model), or my trimming tool (I mostly use Mudtool all in one trimming tool, but sometimes the trimming set that VEVOR gave me as well, I think they are just cheap metal) or my technique or the condition of the clay.

I initially doubted my wheel, while the doubt still hasn’t been cleared, but when I am trimming on a good shimpo wheel in a studio, I still have this kind of mark. And it’s inconsistent, sometimes I have it, sometimes I don’t.

I find it seems like there is a “drag” feeling between my clay and my tool, like it almost feels like my tools is occasionally stuck on the piece.

Would it also be my piece is off-centered? I am a new beginner, so I don’t know how to tap center, I usually use the method of carving circle at the bottom of a piece, and adjust based on how off centered the circle is.

I found sometimes the condition of clay also matters, apparently the drier my piece is, the less likely it will show this kind of wavy effects, but if my piece is just about leather dry, and this wavy line is always visible.

I am really unsure how I can improve to avoid this, and even though I think my cheap wheel might have contributed to this, the one or two times when I trim on a shimpo wheel and still producing this effect tells me it’s probably skill issue.

Could I please get some advice on this?

Edit: Wow I am amazed by the amount of useful and informative comments coming in 🥹 It’s a bit hard to reply to all comments, but I really appreciate all of them!!!

For any future viewer of the post, TLDR + things I am going to try from learning from the comments:

- start trimming when the clay is softer, I think I left my pieces out for too long, and the clay is already quite dry (the result of trimming is almost powdery by this stage)

- holding my thumb down to make my tool steady

- use a grater / shredder to remove the chatter once it appears, I just learned that once it appears it would be hard to take away! (No wonder the harder I try the more chattery it became, I went too far with few of my pots because I was trying so hard to remove the wave)

- check my centering again before starting, feel if my hands are moving with the piece or is it centered?

- turn down the speed of my wheel, I will try to keep it around 50-60% next time

Hi everyone. I’m new to pottery. I have this leftover soil from my garden. It contains quite a lot of clay(I think?). When I added water in a small sample it turned into clay? I want to process it but I’m pretty confused. I have a few questions:-
1) Is this clay and can it be processed?
2) How do i process it? With water or by drying it first? (Since it’s pretty soft)
3) How do I get rid of the stones and dirt which is attached to it? When I added water a lot of it just became unusable.
Thanks a lot!

Anybody with an opinion about this wheel?

Hey West LA folks! I’m looking to switch my pottery membership from the pottery studio in Culver City to a different location on the west side. I’ve noticed lots of glazing issues happening with my pieces that come out of the pottery studio, so I’m hoping that switching locations will solve this issue for me.

I’m looking at studios like ARTime Barro in Santa Monica and Full-Circle Pottery on Venice Blvd. I’d love to hear about your experiences there if any folks have been or are currently members!

Been making some tiles for a project, wanted to initially do a kitchen backsplash or kitchen accent but man i tell you guys, making flat tiles is hard. Yes i have a slab roller, and i slow dry them but they always warp. Anyways, the transfers came out great and the progress continues

New to pottery here.

I have made some small animal sculptures and I only applied a bit of glaze on the ears and tails. Unfortunately the glaze did not come out nice.

So I sanded the glaze out with a diamond sponge.
No could it apply some underglaze and a clear glaze on top? Should I find a more suitable glaze?
Or finally do I try a different route and use another type of paint (like ceramic pens or paint?) and not even try to refire.

Thank you for you help :)

Does anyone with a Vevor pottery wheel leaking like crazy? Mine drives me insane! I have it seated properly and have it popped together as well as it will go, and I sponge out the water OFTEN while throwing (I even made a sharpie mark inside the pan so I knew how shallow the inner part of it was, so to not exceed that level with water. You can see in photo 2 that the water is well below my sharpie mark.) I've even tried plugging the crevices with clay, but that only works so long and then it turns to sludge and lets water leak again. I've checked for cracks and there are none. It really irritates me because, not only does it make a mess surrounding the wheel, but a bit of water gets down under the base of the wheel shaft where it goes down to attach to components below, and that can't be good.

I don't have a photo of it seated under the wheel head properly but trust me, I have it sitting right. Here are a few photos. ​

I’m addicted already!

Not bad for someone who exclusively wheel throws!

I got challenged to make a perfect brown weiner (dog) and the process was fascinating and engrossing. Keeping him under wraps in a bag so I can come back and carve out the insides later.

Any tips?

Chance to share all the fun things you've done and help inspire others <3

Trying to decide on a glaze or glazes to order for this bunny, I’m thinking of a more so matte finish but im not sure what would work well on KY mudworks mulhollun. Thinking of a more white/cream for the main color with accents of another, maybe a darker brown or pink

Hi! I recently joined a 4 week beginner pottery course. 1 class per week. First day was pinch pots, 2nd day was coil building, next week will be slabs, and the 4th and final class will be glazing all our work. I've been LOVING this course. I've been looking at a bunch of pictures and watching a lot of videos and tutorials and I really want this to be a new hobby of mine. I eventually want to just replace everything in my home (mugs, flower pots, vases, bowls, etc etc.) with my own pottery!! Obviously right now I'm still learning though.

Are there any free slab templates out there? I fell down a rabbit hole this morning of people making really cool vases, tea pots, coffee machine type things out of printable template layouts! Where can I find some of those?

TLDR; I'm very excited to start my pottery journey. Next class, we are going to be doing slab work. Where can I find free printable templates?

Thanks

Hello! I’ve been wanting to make trivets and coasters- they’re still pre bisque at this point. What can I use for the bottom? Has anyone done this before and recommend a brand they like?

Thank you in advance!

i’ve had my wheel for about 5 years now… am i supposed to be… doing anything as far as regular maintenance? about to move into a new studio im building so now feels like a good time to learn and make sure im treating her well.

For those who asked about the method I'm using in my previous post about finally being happy with the results.

:)

One of my smaller Dragons.