Pottery is an art that can take some years to truly master, and during that time, it’s reasonable to expect that plenty of mistakes will be made. Many of these mistakes can mean having to start over, but each one also provides the opportunity to learn and make a better piece next time.
While the name of this particular clay might make you believe otherwise, paper clay is in fact extra-strength clay which is best used to create large pieces which would be overly-heavy with standard clay. Made by mixing clay with shredded paper or other fibres, paper clay is a strong and versatile clay which remains lightweight after firing. While ready-mix paper clay can be purchased, here we discuss how to make and use paper clay successfully.
Pottery is a calming and fascinating form of creation, and most potters will create their works inside a studio. But while pottery may e completely harmless, it does, in fact, carry a few health risks that many potters may not be aware of when they start up their new hobby.
Whether you’re making use of melted wax, wax emulsions, or wax resists, they all serve a variety of purposes when creating ceramics and pottery. If you’re not a particularly experienced potter or ceramicist, you may be wondering what on earth the relationship between the two is, but the purpose is to keep liquids from adhering to the clay. This technique is used for decorating through the prevention of adhesion of raw liquid glazes to the body, but there are also several other uses. Here we explore how to successfully use wax emulsions in pottery.
Sgraffito is one of the oldest and most popular pottery decorating techniques around, having been used by countless cultures across the globe over the past few millennia. The word itself stems from the Italian term ‘graffito’, which means to draw or inscribe on a wall or any other surface (this is the same word that gave us the term ‘graffiti’!).
As pottery beginner, you may not realise that you’re able to create striking ceramics without the use of coloured glazes and agateware is one way of doing so. Agateware is created by mixing different clay bodies of different colours to produce a marble effect. Particularly favoured by world famous potter Josiah Wedgewood, you too can create pottery of this kind using our beginners guide to agateware.
Despite being one of the oldest professions in the world, pottery making is still a highly valued skill in a world that’s constantly looking to the past for solutions to many of today’s problems. There has, in fact, never been a better time to begin a business in pottery thanks to the wide reach of social media, business tools, and international online markets where just about every tool and material needed can be bought and delivered in just a few days.
Making and maintaining pottery is one of the oldest hobbies in the world, dating back to when man first began to make use of tools in every day life. Today, pottery is not quite as important as it once was in terms of survival, but it does make an incredibly relaxing hobby that everyone should give a try at least once.
Pottery is made up of plates, dishes, cooking pots, cups, and storage jars that are made out of clay. People use clay to make kitchen pottery for a variety of different reasons. Clay is extremely cheap and can be found all over the world, and just about anyone can make a simple pot out of it. It’s also waterproof when made properly, and it’s also relatively easy to clean.
First popularised during the 19th century in Straffordshire in the West Midlands of England, the process of spongeware is still a popular technique used today. In Straffordshire, the high clay content of the ground meant that the area established some of the most successful potteries in the world including Wedgwood, Dalton, and Minton. All three of these potteries exhibited the most intricate and ornate hand painted designs and spongeware can be seen as a resistance of this conformity. The technique to create spongeware is far simpler and requires less patience to create beautiful and interesting pieces. While the technique went out of vogue for some time, the revival of this technique can largely be attributed to British-born Emma Bridgewater who launcher her spongeware ceramics business in 1985.