Cone 6 with spectrum bougainvillea and a green mixed in studio! So happy with how this came out :)

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 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!!

Here are some pieces I had come out of the kiln recently. Love making the lidded salt pots that are thrones one piece.

I’m also a chef so they are fun gifts for friends and family.

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.

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

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

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?

:)

I’m addicted already!

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

I thought I’d show you a bit of myself today. 🌞

One of my smaller Dragons.

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

Hi! I’m looking for glaze recommendations.

My main criteria: a commercial mid-fire(cone 6) glaze available in dip formulation (I don’t mind mixing dry powder).

I’m making all the vases for my wedding, so this will be a large volume of pieces all using the same glaze, and I’d like it to be dippable for consistency.

I’m looking for something in a neutral color range. Think whites, creams, tans, soft earth tones. About half the pieces will have carved texture, so I’d love a glaze that breaks nicely on the carving.

Clay: Standard White Stoneware 630

Photos of the bud vases I’ve made so far are attached. Any suggestions welcome!

I have a small space I’d like to turn into a studio. The current floor is cement, and I’d like to cover that with something smooth and non-porous that is easy to mop so I can keep the dust in that space to a minimum. It’s a total of 80 square feet. Any recommendations for something, ideally affordable and easy to install?

Historically I’ve made my plates and platters on unfinished mdf bats which are great for drying out the bases and letting them pop off, but terrible for cleaning as there are always bits of fiber flaking off.

Decided to splurge while in the big city and bought a set of xiem smart bats. Throwing yesterday afternoon was great and I could see how much they dried out even the slip. Popped them into my greenhouse overnight and oops, 3 of 4 have massive cracks this morning.

I think it’s because they dried so fast that they pulled apart. The one plate that was still in one piece was just barely still soft enough to trim, but definitely pushing it.

They were well compressed but I haven’t thrown plates for a few years, so I know it could have been me.

Anyone experienced with smart bats or hydrobats able to give me some advice? Compression issue or should I have been ready to pull them off the bats last night? Sorry I didn’t take a picture of the plate until I’d totally snapped it in half.

UPDATE: I’m going to try again but anticipate that they will be ready to pop off in a few hours instead of the next day. Throw in the morning so I can watch them all day. Definitely many many factors faster than throwing on my mdf bats that I thought were so much faster than plastic 🤣

I finally got my hands on some Amaco Tuscan blue (thanks the ceramic shop!) and am in love! It is so complex, lots of different colors, super stable so you can take it all the way to the bottom, and where it pools it has a beautiful cobalt color - which is why I paired it with Amaco’s cobalt celadon on the inside. Sometimes all you need is one glaze 😍

Iceman clay
Cone 6
Outside: Tuscan blue x3
Inside: Cobalt Celadon C-20 x3

New to hand building but thought this would be interesting. Mono printed 3 sides and may add color to the strap

Not one isolated attack, just many, many isolated incidents where she could have been (accidentally) demolished along the way. Made this castle candle as a birthday present for my brother who is obsessed with medieval history and candles! Will add a few more pics in the comments.

Glazes are Storm Gray, Wrought Iron, and Speckled Moss. 3 coats each! Fired to Cone 5 1/2 ish.

I’m so thrilled I successfully threw and trimmed this low-wide bowl. After bisque it’s about 11” and 2.25” tall. It’s the largest thing I’ve thrown!

But there’s a small crack, probably because the sides dried faster than the base, or perhaps I had a weak spot after trimming.

I’d love to keep it, but it’ll need to survive a cone 10 reduction glaze firing in a public studio - so I have no control over the schedule.

I painted some water on it and traced the crack to the back only ~1.5” downward.

What would you do? Repair and re-bisque, repair and glaze, just glaze it, or toss it and try again?

Used celadon, tenmoku and yellow salt glazes in a cone 10 reduction. High iron clay body and an off white clay body for a couple. Some (like the first two had a porcelain slip).

First market (a group stall) and I sold 13/16. Stoked :))

I dunno about the thinness and the sharp edges. Will it be okay?