Ceramic Resource Recommendations
educational videos, articles, books, & podcast recommendations
Videos
Hand-Building
Slab building 101
Learn from slab building expert Lisa Naples who explains the best tips and tricks for working with slabs. In this video she demonstrates how to work with soft slabs to make a basic cylinder.
Darted Cup
In this video Liz Zlot Summerfield teaches you how to cut out small darts in a cylinder to create round cup with a square foot. Also see her video about using templates here.
Slab Mug
Sarah Pike demonstrates in this video how she makes slab built mugs with “flare”. Also checkout her video on how to make your own texture rollers here.
Pinch Pots
Watch how Didem Mert makes pinched cups out of soft slabs. She demonstrates the importance of proper body mechanics during this process to protect your wrists.
Templates
In this video, Sandi Pierantozzi demonstrates how to design and use paper templates for slab building. Also check out her video on how to make a tripod pot.
Throwing & Altering
In this video Martha Grover demonstrates how she drastically alters a wheel thrown ring of clay into an elegant oval form with a slab bottom.
Basics: Wedging
Rams Head
Jeni Hansen Gard shows how to properly wedge clay using the rams head technique.
chrysanthemum
Hsin-Chuen Lin demonstrates how wedge with the chrysanthemum technique.
Throwing & Trimming
Cylinders
Learn from Adam Field how to throw a cylinder on the wheel. In this video he demonstrates the basic concepts for how the walls are pulled up.
Lids
Watch how Adam Field throws a beautiful lid.
Trimming
Learn how Ben Carter trims his pots and avoids trimming a hole through the bottom.
Platters
In this video Adam Field demonstrates how to throw wide forms such as a platter or plate and the importance of compressing to avoid S-cracks.
Handles
Coil & PUll Handles
Learn from Ben Carter how to use a coil to create a perfect handle.
Pulling Double Handles
See how Jennifer Allen adds a twist to the traditional handle pulling technique to add style and interest to handle design.
Surface Decoration
Defining Space
Now watch Ben Carter use various slip and sgraffito techniques to decorate the surface of a plate form.
Tactile Decoration
Learn from Liz Zlot Summerfield how to use slip trailing to add a raised surface decoration to your work.
Slip trail Sprigs
Watch how Lisa Orr uses slip trailing in a very creative and abstract way to decorate her surfaces. She uses the slip on a separate surface and lets them dry to leather hard before attaching them to her work.
Generally Inspiring
The Great Pottery Throw Down
The Great Pottery Throw Down was a British reality series that show that aired on the BBC between November 2015- January 2020. It ran for 3 seasons all of which are available on YouTube. While I’m not generally a fan of “reality” style TV, I do recommend the 1st season. It offers an entertaining and educational sample of many different types of pottery styles, techniques, such as throwing, hand-building, surface decorations, and firing. The despite the pressure drummed up for the show with unnecessarily short time constraints, the potters’ find success when faced with the same challenges that all potters deal with on a regular basis, wether they’re novices or professionals. Wether you’re just beginning, or you’ve been at it for years, every potter can identify with the potters on this show as they deal with uncooperative clay, cracks in pots, surface decorations, glaze fusing to the kilns, and collapsing coil pots and the joy that comes from a successful firing. You wont regret this binge watch.
Articles
The following is a curated list of online articles from the Studio Potter archive. Thank you to the The Studio Potter for generously sharing their archive with us during this time of social distancing. To read the following articles please contact info@millvalleypottersstudio.com for the login information.
Cultural Continuity: Experimental Anthropology in Colombia and Beyond
Santiago Isaza is an anthropologist in Columbia that is trying to preserve the practices by ancient cultures called "experimental anthropology". Follow the link below to read more about his practice of studying and recreating ancient forms of pottery.
Alyssa Ruberto: A Brief Sighting of a Potter in Residency, Sensorial Connotations of the Material
Potter Alyssa Roberto is inspired by nature within her creating process. She wants her work to resemble fog. Her piece above shows how she sees her work covered in fog.
I Dig Clay
Margaret Boozer digs her clay locally. Originally from Alabama, she likes to use native clay to create. She like the feel of the rocks that stay in the clay when she is throwing with it.
Steve Harrison
NATANIA HUME
Steven Harrison below produces salt-fired ceramics in his home in London and Wales. He likes to incorporate different mediums of clay, wood and metal.
Sustainable Ceramics: A Climate Crisis Reminder (a.k.a. Sustainable Efforts for a Ceramics Continuum)
Reclaim, Recycle and Repurpose. Author of Sustainable Ceramics: A Practical Approach, Janet Mansfield talks about sustainable living in this great article on reusing materials for art.
Ask Me Anything: An “Instaview” with Melissa Weiss
Melissa Weiss author of HandBuilt- The Potters Guide, talks about her kurinuki pots, cups and bowls below. She loves to handbuild and likes the organic shapes and natural lines clay takes on when building by hand. See her instagram here.
Slow Clay
WILLI SINGLETON
Willi Singleton writes in this article about a movement we are all going to be working on in the future in regard to living slower.
Podcasts
Tales of a Red Clay Rambler
is a fantastic podcast hosted by Ben Carter which seeks to create an auditory and online archive of the ceramic community of today. The TRCR archive contains over 300 podcast episodes of interviews about a wide variety of topics, including sculpture, functional work, installation, methods of firing, etc.
Also check out his @historyofceramics- Instagram feed draws from auction house catalogues and digital collections from museums. 380 posts
Also follow Ben Carter on Instagram
The Potters Cast
is an interview style podcast hosted by Paul Blais who connects with potters all over the world over video chat. It’s a great way to learn about many different artists and makers. Follow Paul on Instagram for reposts of the artist he interviews and more
Wheel Talk
is a conversation style podcast between two potters, Ryan Durbin (@rdceramics) and Becca Otis (@5linespotterystudio), who like to discuss their experiences as potters, makers, small business owners, and creatives. Becca is a full time potter and studio owner, while Ryan is a full time website developer and part time potter.