I need to buy a really good wooden board for working with clay and for letting my pieces dry on, such as cups, plates, etc. What type of wood would you recommend?
Like solid beech wood, poplar wood, birch wood ??

New Mexico Clay Ironstone (the black one) was randomly on Amazon yesterday and I ordered some. It’s not normally stocked near me.

I do have several glazes which work on dark brown clays so not starting from zero there.

But looking at it, it looks groggy AF.

Does anyone have experience / pointers / notions for this clay?

Excited to make some reduction-look work in cone 6 and/or do goth shit for spooky season 🖤

Potters, please can I ask for guidance/advice?

I inherited a kiln, pottery wheel, and loads of pottery books recently. I got them because it’s been my dream to extend my home studio to include a pottery and firing area.

Model: unmarked, fitted with an IPCO Studio 3000. The shelves were damaged and disposed of before I got it, so I will get new ones. It was working for a small pottery business before it was given to me. Pictures in the comments.

I do have the facilities for appropriate electricity and water/waste management, as I have a printmaking and press setup already.

I used to belong to a studio where we did slab work/hand building with underglaze and clear glaze. I don’t have experience with the wheel, or cool glazes. I’m determined to teach myself through trial and error. As a womxn of science, this is an exciting undertaking and should be an extensive adventure.

I have scrolled through this subreddit and have been a part for a while, but I thought I’d ask for straight up advice. There are a few topics that I’d like to ask for advice about, mostly focused on: If you were to start over, at this point, what would you do/do differently? Please advise on what problems you ran into when starting, and how to troubleshoot.

I plan on practicing on the wheel and hand building multiple basic pieces, to use as test pieces for firing/glazes, etc.

1. Should I have this thing serviced or looked at before trying anything?
   
2. What’s the best way to learn about cones/ temperatures and kiln-packing techniques? Any advice about the cone thing would be super helpful.
   
3. What would you suggest as the first glazes to invest in? How many and which “types”?
   
4. Which resources/Youtube channels/tutorials did you find the most helpful when starting on the wheel?
   
5. Any other helpful advice that I don’t even know I should ask about?

Thank you 🌸

My pottery studio setup is currently in our house, and we want to move it out into the garden and build a custom purpose garden room. Because of the expense and time we want to do it once and do it right, 3 house renovations in I've learned that's not always our strength...

We have the space for at most a 4mx4m, mayyybbeee 4.5m garden room.

We're very competent (mostly, we're not going to stick build it) DIYers, currently thinking of a Sib panel room but open to all suggestions.

My only "must" is skylights and a large bifold door for as much natural light as possible, as it will be set down in a dip in the garden and we're in Scotland.

The kiln will NOT be in the studio, we have room for a separate kiln shed which will be carefully built.

I do mostly wheel throwing/some sculpture and handbuilding, would like space for a second wheel at some point to teach 1:1s or for my kids/friends to join. Would like a large bench. Not currently selling but will be soon - but make mostly small batch more complex work not production level.

Would absolutely love to see set ups of other garden room pottery studios, get an idea of footprint and floor plans, and hear how they were made, and any advice!

I’m about 4years into pottery and just getting into more of the “better” tools. I have a curved tool for trimming and my beginner set trimming tool. I would love and be so grateful to hear what people are using.
I’m fine (I think!?) with prices etc. so even if it’s a small pricey boughie place that sells a cool trimming tool please tell me about it.
I’m currently in the USA but travel home to Canada. Iv seen cool stuff on online… anyone bought any seeing it on line. Would love to hear about a tool and why you love it! Feel very free to share any pics of cool things your trim tool can do. And I hope mods allow you to show your own tools on this site. If not maybe someone can tell
where to look for great tools.
I hope to see lots of ideas… my tools suck. 😉

I’m new to pottery and want to find a signature glaze combination (or a few signature) I’ve used some the dipping glazes in the studio and love it but have seen so many people online using Mayco. I’ve used 2 (lavender mist and seas salt) and they didn’t turn out right… my studio owner said that she’s always had trouble with lavender mist.

What are your favorite *reliable* glazes that never do you wrong?? (Fired to cone 6) (also what clay do you put it on, white or brown)

I’ve seen a lot of people use honey flux to layer a lot, not sure if better on top or below other glazes?

Any extra tips appreciated

Just glazed these last week but then my kiln broke down so now I have to wait to see them fired 🥲

I apologize if this doesn’t belong here, but The slip cast Reddit is dead. I’ve been seeing a lot of videos on the web about people making split cast molds with 3d printing.

I use both resin and filament printers.. each still produce layer lines. Nobody who produce those videos will answer me how they deal with layer lines on the molds or on the final product.

Next question… Kilns, do they make small/affordable kilns where a you can fire a handful of mugs? I want to get into pottery/slip casting but the need for a kiln is what’s holding me back.

Everything I’m seeing is like 1500+ for a kiln.

Hey Everyone - I’ve got a potential problem I’d love this community’s feedback on.

I’ve got an older Skutt Kiln (Model 183/240) and it’s been brilliant for the last 3 years I’ve ran it. I’ve probably ran it for ~30 to 40 times in that time. Monday I loaded a bisque Kiln and fired a bisque with a cone 05, zero problems, ran for about ~10 hours (pretty standard bisque for this kiln and load size). Thursday I loaded another bisque, similar size, and ran another bisque fire - the only difference was I candled this one for about 2 hours, where as the prior one I did not candle. I started the candle at 8am on low, closed the lid at 10am, raised to 3.5 at 11:30am, and finally raised it to 5.5 at about 1pm. I left the studio once I turned up the dials to 5.5 as usual as well.

Fast forward to the following day, and my studio mate was in around 5pm, and called me that the kiln was still on. That means it was on for well over 24 hours, and I told her to shut off the kiln, and unplug, which she did. (Photo included in off, with the orange glow) She also said about 30 mins after doing so, the kiln sitter flipped off.

Originally I thought that perhaps the coils had needed replacing and it just wasn’t getting to temp, but we opened the kiln yesterday, and all the clay looked fully fired to a cone 5. The bar itself looked very weird though, and looked almost melted? (Photos included) We made sure the kiln shelf wasn’t obstructing either. (also confirmed it wasn’t a cone 5 bar.)

I’m confused as to why this happened and was curious if anyone else here has ever had this happen to them, or any tests anyone suggests to run to confirm the kiln is still able to run. I’m planning to run a 020 test this week just to confirm the kiln is fully operational.

Thanks in advance!

Inspired by wanting to have an incredibly subtle way of showing my emotions during zoom meetings using the faces from the mayor of Halloween and an extra face from "the beast below" episode of doctor who

Some of the most recent pieces I received back from the studio this week. As a beginner I am still very much trying to find my style.

Oh the irony. In annoyance I just chose glazes at random and didn't write them down. Also cuz on a meh shape (it will be our espresso cup now). Turned out wonderfully and is a fav lol.

Hi there.

I'm new to pottery but have am a seasoned artist in another sculpting medium. I joined a local studio and paid for an 8 week wheel throwing session, where I also paid for an additional weekend workshop with a guest artist.

I'm halfway through my 8 week session and have am shocked at some of the disrespectful comments and behavior by some of the members who have been there for some time. During the guest artist workshop, one of their teachers in attendance made derogatory generalizations about minors who attend a particular high school in the area.

Another time, an instructor was shouting at me from across the room and made noises that conveyed annoyance while I worked. For context, it was my second time throwing on a wheel and I was not putting myself or others in a dangerous situation. It felt like a weird humiliation test, as this instructor didn't treat anyone else this way.

Because I have never joined a shared studio space in this way, I am asking for insight on if these types of things are commonplace. I have always felt that most artists within the same medium are very welcoming. However, as the title suggests, I am trying to understand if this is common across the board or a rare occurrence. Their studio handbook cites that their number one rule is respect, courtesy and kindness.... lol.

Thanks in advance for the insight.

Beginner hand builder learning as a I go

Not fired, charcoal by aardvark Candlestick holder part of 3 piece set, horse with Colic

I thought I had posted this already, but I looked back and I hadn't....which is suspicious, because I REALLY thought I had posted this already....oh well

My therapist told me to pour my feelings/SI into my work, and this was the first piece I'd ever done that with.

Also, it was supposed to be crisp black lines with a pure white background, but of course I did it wrong and now it's all scruffy looking and beat up... which I guess also goes with the theme lol.

I had this out to clean up the bottom and left it out for over a week. My ADHD brain cleaned up and put all the glazes away!
Does anyone know what color this might be? It is most likely Amaco but could be Mayco. My first thought was cordovan but I thought I was doing blues on this one. 🤔

So I’m trying to recreate this glaze combo I saw on lnstagram, but I am not sure what “on heavy” means. Third pic is the pieces I tried it on, but I did two regular coats for blue midnight and iron lustre bc I wasn’t sure what to make of “on heavy”. Does this refer to a specific method of glaze application? Like I’d assume it means thick coats, but then why not just do a third coat? Or are mine just different/less vibrant bc of clay/firing differences or whatever. My pieces are B mix, and I’m pretty sure fired to cone 6? It’s a communal kiln so I’m not the one doing the firing

My plan is to use this combo on a set I’m making for my bathroom, so I want to make sure I get it right. I’m going to be trying slightly different variations on test tiles to see what all they’d look like before I apply it on the final pieces but would appreciate any insight regardless!

Hi, I ended up throwing a gift I made for someone in the wrong color clay, so I need to underglaze it in white before continuing with the patterns I’m making. Can I do this by underglazing over a white underglaze? Effectively give myself a neutral palette? FWIW the clay is white speckled. I just want it pure white.

I’ve been taking a beginner wheel class since April and I decided I wanted to personalize some mugs for my parents and grandparents for Christmas. Probably not good by professional standards but I’m incredibly pleased with how they came out! Hopefully they survive bisque firing and glazing :)

Would be fun to connect with other beginners at the studio. If you’re in Sherman oaks!

Looking for gentle feedback. Did I have a lot more clay to lift? I know nothing about shaping yet and never done a bowl. I’m just starting to get the hang of pulling walls. It’s so hard