Having some minor issues with cracking when they dry, so playing around with piping onto the jars immediately after throwing them to see if that fixes it. fingers crossed!

So I've done one 8 week pottery class at a different studio before that I thought was pretty great. I'm just wrapping up a second 8 week class at a different studio (I was trying a new spot a bit closer to my house) and I didn't have that great of an experience. I'm still very new to pottery and pottery classes so I want some perspective on if you guys think this warrants a bad review, or if any of this is normal and I'm just lacking in perspective.

The instructor seemed very nervous and unorganized. There wasn't really any kind of structure to the class or outline, and the first 90 minutes of the first class (3 hours weekly) was just her reading random pottery facts off a piece of paper. Out of the eight weeks in the class, we only got to use the wheel for five of them. We were only allowed to throw weeks 1-6 but we lost one of those days because the instructor hurt her hand and made us do hand building instead?

When we did finally get to the wheel, she only demoed two pieces the entire eight week period, a cylinder and a bowl, and even then she only showed like half of the process. Some of the advice she gave felt a little off too, like she told everyone that coning up wasn't necessary. She instructed people to take their work off the wheels by just like, grabbing it with your hands and yanking it up after running the wire tool under the bottom, and she seemed weirded out when I did the method where you take off the basin and slide the piece off instead after cutting it and adding water (sorry I'm new to this and I don't know all the right terminology haha)

We didn't get to trimming until like the 5th or 6th class, at which point some of my earlier pieces were too dry to work with and couldn't be trimmed. When she taught trimming, she didn't go over the right angles or pressure to use the tools with, and she didn't teach flattening out the bottom of the pieces. It kind of seemed like she was new to trimming on the wheel as well?

There was actually a lot of stuff that seems sort of basic to me that wasn't taught or demoed. The instructor didn't show how to pull handles as one example, or make plates.

Finally, one of my pieces got ruined because she told me I could glaze it but it hadn't been fired yet (I know, I should have been able to tell by the color, but I used an underglaze on it and I hadn't worked with one before) and it got a hole poked in it when I grabbed it with the glazing tongs. The piece had sat on the firing shelf for over two weeks. When I asked why it hadn't been fired it was because they had prioritized test tiles for their glazes over student work in the kiln? It was like she didn't realize the piece hadn't been fired when she was standing there talking about glaze selections for it with me.

There were other non-pottery issues I had (the instructor was passive aggressive lol and someone else left a bad review on google about it already) but like, what I want is a reality check here. Like I said, I'm still learning pottery and I don't know how much of this stuff is weird or how much is just a different methodology or perspective on the work. I really feel like if I hadn't already taken an eight week class at a better studio, I wouldn't have come out of this class with any finished work. I don't want to hurt a new studio with a bad review as I know how hard it must be to open one up, but I wouldn't spend money there again for sure. What do you guys think?

I’m pretty new and this is my first time using porcelain but I liked these.

Hi,

I'm a pottery tech for a small studio in canada. We are currently using the glazes from Clay Art Center in Tacoma- I really love them as they are reliable and also very beautiful, but we've been haveing a hard time getting them through our supplier and are also looking for canadian options for obvious reason. I am wondering if anyone has expierence with the house glazes from Pottery Supply House? Some photos would be rad! We fire to cone 6 oxidation.

ps. not currently able to mix our own glazes (mostly because of space and ventilation concerns), but considering that as a long term solution

Hi. I had a couple of my slip dots fall off. How likely is it to work if I re-add them to the bisque and then glaze it like normal? TIA

Hi everyone, I have been practicing throwing for 4 days now. On day three I was able to pull my first fairly tall cylinder (respective to anything else I’d managed to pull). I’ve not had much luck outside of this though. Wondering if it’s normal to have hit and miss experiences like this and if I should persevere with how I’m practicing or change something up? This was pulled using Florian gadsby’s technique. Most of my other cylinders rip in half. Any advice welcome.

I’m trying to achieve a glittery/sparkle/shimmer look but within a white or clear glaze. All of the ones I have been finding are darker or brightly colored. I’ve been searching threads but coming up with nothing. Any recommendations? Thank you!!

Photo of some recent pots going to the kiln just for fun

This is after bisque, stroke & coat underglaze used. Also the handle cracked so I just covered it in more slip and underglaze so it looks like the colors are leaking out from there.

Hi all!

I was just wondering if anyone knows how much those of us living in the US might be affected by the tariffs when it comes to things like clay, glazes, tools, etc? Thanks!

Hi everyone, I recently started to run my pottery class in my local community. I promoted my class through online platforms, created a pottery lover group of 200 ppl, and got 10 people to sign up for my first-ever class. That is a pretty good turnout, but since then my group has gone quiet, and very few people have responded. I am struggling to find new ppl to join, and w/o new class pictures, etc it will be harder to promote as well. What other ways should I try to attract more students? There is a massive demand for pottery classes and space in my town but I am just not finding them. I live in Boston btw.

Hello, I am looking into learning more about making my own glazes. Both theory behind it and some hands-on recipes for glazes that fire between 1200-1280 Celsius. Any recommendations? If you also know some other way of learning besides books I’d be happy to hear!

New to pottery. I've been attending some local classes in a tiny studio with good but still limited material resources (due to its size). I've started working on these ancient egypt inspired coasters but I'm not sure how to fill in those carved in lines. My idea is to somehow fill the crevices with black and glaze the flowers either with brush or that bulby syringe (I would have to buy my own, as I'm not sure the studio has it). So the questions are:

How to fill in the lines? (Painstakingly apply the medium with brush or dotting tool?)

What medium to use? (Glaze or engobe)?

How hard is it to glaze with the syringe? I realized I hate glazing :D and I don't wanna mess it up.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I’m looking for recommendations for a place where I can commission a custom ceramic urn, preferably in South Wales but anywhere in the UK also works.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks.

My brother is a huge Cuphead fan, so I made him a custom breakfast set for his birthday. Not gitfted yet, but I bet he would like it!

Hi all! My son made this in my studio last week and left it out to dry. It’s about 3” at its highest point. Is it too thick to fire? I can hollow out some clay from the back side. Thanks for any insight!

I am making a cup for a friend and am fairly novice at pottery still so I had some questions regarding glazing.

The studio I go to didn’t have the color glaze I wanted for this one so I got a small bottle of Mayco stroke and coat to potentially use. I want to simply write a phrase on the cup in black (underglaze I’d assume) and have the outside of the cup be in the mayco s/c color I got. I’ve read a little bit about this product and now have some reservations so I’m hoping to get some suggestions.

If I apply the s/c to the bisque cup, will it run or cover any letters that I paint on it at the greenware stage? The studio I go to high fires everything (I think cone 6?). Will it end up opaque or splotchy? Also, if I wanted to do a different color in the inside of the cup would the mayco bleed into that?

Ok so I have a load of pieces that my mom and grandmother started roughly 20 years ago. Grandma is not available to sort it out and mom is not sure and suggested licking the pieces. Though I am not sure what to look for licking the pieces—other than a candid camera because it sounds like I’m being punked. Everything was bisque fired to a cone 04. Unfortunately, in the greenware and bisque state they all look the same. There is at least one piece that I am 90% sure is porcelain. I would like to finish the work they started but I would like to have a fighting chance at success and not ending up with a puddle in the kiln lol. Any ideas or tricks I’m not aware of? Does licking help at all and if so what should I be looking for?

Sooo I seriously want to get into pottery after having my first lessons, and I’m thinking about getting a decent wheel.

I found an offer that sells a Shimpo rk5t for 300€, however it’s 7 years old and was used two years professionally. Is this a good offer? Is there a high risk that the machine is at risk to break down or hast lost power? Here the link https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/loisirs_creatifs/2967960469

Thank you in advance!!

I currently use a shared kiln, it's around 50 years old but has been updated to be programmable. While I'm happy enough with the arrangement, at some point I'd like to start scaling up my production and it would become a lot more practical to have my own kiln. Spending thousands on a kiln and setup is not realistic for me at this point, so it wasn't something I was thinking about too much until I recently spoke to someone who told me he built his own backyard kiln for a couple hundred bucks that fires up to 1400 Celsius and is connected to a regular 230V power supply. If this is actually feasible it's something I'd love to do at some point.

Anyone else that has built their own electric kiln? How did you do it? Are there any specific tutorials or resources you'd recommend? What kind of setup do you have, especially in terms of power supply and ventilation? What kind of controls does it have? What temperature do you fire at? How efficient is it in terms of electricity? Any other tips?

If relevant, I currently fire up to cone 6 and can program [ramp 1, hold 1 (temp/time), ramp 2, hold 2]. I'd want to be able to do the same if I got my own kiln.

I'm aware these are a lot of questions and I'll definitely be doing a lot more research myself about specifics. I'd really love to hear other people's experiences and tips to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into if I pursue this!