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Where there's smoke, there's fun. Get the low-down on low-firing.
Put your pots in the pits -- discover Low-firing and Burnishing.
Put your pots in the pits -- discover Low-firing and Burnishing.
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Slab Roller Techniques and Tips: A Guide to Selecting a Slab Roller and Making Slab Pottery August 30, 2010
There is no limit to the interesting and beautiful ceramic forms that can be created with slabs. And there’s nothing like slab rollers for making beautiful, consistent slabs. Sure, a rolling pin can do the job too, but if you are really serious about slab building, a slab roller might be right for you. In this guide, we’ve compiled three fun slab clay projects and a guide to choosing the right slab roller for your studio space and budget.Read Comments (0)
Underglaze Users Guide: How to Use Underglazes, Slip Trailers, Ceramic Pens, and Underglaze Pencils August 26, 2010
Underglazes are basically clay-based materials with ceramic stains and metallic oxides added to create a full spectrum of color to your work. They’re the fastest, easiest and most dependable way for you to add pizzazz to your pottery or sculptures for just an accent or an entire surface treatment. Like regular art materials, underglazes come in a wide variety of forms – liquid, dry, chalks, pens and pencils – so no matter what your background, a ceramic surface awaits your colorful treatment.Read Comments (0)
Pottery Throwing Tools: A Guide to Making and Using Pottery Tools for Wheel Throwing August 2, 2010
For many years potters had to make their own tools because commercial tools were just not available. That’s all changed today as many manufacturers make a wide selection of tools to fill most of the pottery throwing needs for ceramic artists. However, for the potter with special needs or who wants a special tool, making your own pottery throwing tools can be both creative and fun — plus you get tools that may not be available anywhere else.Read Comments (0)
Clay Extruder Users Guide: Tips, Techniques, and Projects for Getting the Most Out of Your Ceramic Extruder July 12, 2010
The ceramic extruder is now commonly seen in a majority of schools and community ceramic centers as well as thousands of private studios. This versatile tool was relatively unknown back in the 1970s, but that's history. Because of its versatility, the clay extruder has embedded itself as an indispensable tool for thousands of potters and ceramic artists.Read Comments (0)
If
you want to convert cone 10 glaze recipes to cone 6, you'll need to
know something about glaze chemistry and the materials that work best
at those different temperatures. If you just want to start with
established cone 6 recipes, which is often a lot easier, there are now
many people who have done the research and testing so you don't have
to. But don't worry; there will still be plenty of glaze-testing fun
for you to try in your own studio.
In Making the Switch from
Cone 10 to Cone 6 Ceramic Glaze Recipes: A Little Knowledge of Ceramic
Glaze Chemistry and Raw Materials Goes a Long Way, we present several
successful examples of cone ...
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Ceramic Workshop Handbook: Pottery Tools and Ceramic Studio Resources June 7, 2010
The Ceramic Workshop Handbook: Pottery Tools and Ceramic Studio Resources is full of handy clay tools you can make in your own studio, as well as ceramic studio resources and technical references on forming, surface decoration, firing and materials. It also has a comprehensive directory of U.S. manufacturers and suppliers that provide ceramic equipment, raw materials, clay tools and ceramic supplies. Whether you're a professional or amateur, student or teacher, the Ceramic Workshop Handbook is an essential pottery tool, like a wheel or a kiln.Read Comments (0)
Gas Kiln Design and Firing Integrating Material and Energy Efficiency into Gas Fired Kiln Plans May 24, 2010
If you want to build and/or fire a gas kiln, there are several things you need to know before diving in. Whether you plan on doing oxidation, neutral, or reduction firing, and regardless of the type of gas fuel you will be using, knowing how a kiln is designed and put together helps you understand what is happening during the firing. Gas Kiln Design and Firing Integrating Material and Energy Efficiency into Gas Fired Kiln Plans provides guidance and information critical to the success of your ceramic work.Read Comments (0)
Decorating your work before it’s fired provides you with a lot of
creative opportunities. At the soft clay stage, you can stamp and
texture your clay using many types and kinds of objects. When the clay
is leather hard, you can coat your work with colored slips and carve
away to create patterns. And when your clay is bone dry, you can apply
terra sigillata and burnish the surface to a high sheen. Three
Great Pottery Decorating Techniques: A Guide to Sgraffito, How to Make
and Use Terra Sigillata, and Creating and Coloring Highly Textured
Surfaces explains the ins and outs of these ever-popular ceramic decorating techniques!
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Trying out new glazing techniques is always exciting because you don't know quite where you'll end up -- even a mistake could hold a pleasant surprise! If you'd like to try something new, then one or all of these great glazing techniques may be just what you need.
These three glazing techniques are as varied as their origins. Majolica (also spelled maiolica) originates from the Mediterranean and is the techniques of applying color on top of a glaze; mishima originates from the Far East is a technique of drawing on clay and inlaying colors; and crystalline glazes originated in Europe and require specific glazes and firing conditions.
Whether you're looking for a fresh look or looking to see what you can do ...
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How to Sell Your Ceramic Artwork Through Galleries: A Guide for Ceramic Artists April 12, 2010
If you are at a point in your ceramic art career where you'd like to start selling your work, How to Sell Your Ceramic Artwork Through Galleries: A Guide for Ceramic Artists will help take the fear out of approaching galleries. It's all about knowledge, and understanding that a gallery and a ceramic artist must work together in order for either to be successful. How to Sell Your Ceramic Artwork Through Galleries includes the gallery perspective, so that you hear directly from the source what they want and how they approach a relationship with an artist.Read Comments (0)
Graduate Programs in Ceramic Art: Profiles of Several Top Institutions for Obtaining an MFA in Ceramics March 29, 2010
If you’re an undergraduate trying to determine where to study for your MFA in ceramics, this will help you get started in your search. If you’re already in graduate school, it will keep you informed of what’s going on in Ceramics MFA programs at other institutions. And if you’re just worried that there is no next generation of studio ceramic artists and potters, never fear! Graduate Programs in Ceramic Art makes it clear that clay is alive and well in post-secondary education.Read Comments (0)
Ceramic Mold Making Techniques: Tips for Making Plaster Molds and Slip Casting Clay March 15, 2010
Plaster molds make it possible for you to repeat complicated patterns and create forms not possible to efficiently construct using any other pottery technique. For thousands of years, potters used bisqued clay for molds but the major drawback was that they could not get a lot of detail. With the discovery of plaster in the 17th century, potters immediately saw the advantages and plaster has been the choice for ceramic molds ever since. If you're interested in exploring the world of making plaster molds for slip casting or handbuilding, Ceramic Mold Making Techniques: Tips for Making Plaster Molds and Slip Casting Clay is a great place to start!Read Comments (0)
Contemporary Functional Pottery: A Discussion of Handmade Pottery by 11 Working Potters March 1, 2010
There are a lot of people who use pottery, but there is a relatively small group of those who use handmade pottery. These are the folks who really understand the value of the handmade object in their everyday lives. As it happens the most dedicated of those people are often potters themselves. In Contemporary Functional Pottery: A Discussion of Handmade Pottery by 11 Working Potters, we present the observations and perspectives of those who know handmade pottery the best - not only the pots they produce, but what it means to make functional, utilitarian pottery in the contemporary world.Read Comments (0)
10 Tried and True Cone 10 Glaze Recipes: Recipe Cards for our Favorite High-Fire Pottery Glazes February 15, 2010
Guess what cone 10 potters?! We've gathered some of our favorite traditional cone 10 glaze recipes in a convenient recipe-card format, perfect for printing and taking to the glaze lab or pottery studio. Whether you are interested in trying out some of the beautiful cone 10 pottery glazes that have been used for generations, or if you want to try something new, you've found the perfect resource.Read Comments (0)
A Guide to Ceramic Kilns: Choosing the Right Kiln Firing Method and Design For Your Art February 1, 2010
Without kilns there would be no ceramics. Since the very beginning when primitive man discovered the soil around a fire changed to rock, learning how to contain the heat and control it has been an ongoing endeavor. Many types of kilns have been constructed over the millennia and today we're fortunate to have such a wide selection to choose from. You can choose the type of kiln atmosphere you want (oxidation or reduction), the type of fuel you want to use (oil, gas, electric, or wood) and maybe even the special surfaces you want (salt, soda, raku, or pit). A Guide to Ceramic Kilns: Choosing the Right Kiln Firing Method and Design For Your Art will help you make all ...Read Comments (0)
The Salt Glaze Surface: A Guide to Salt Glazing and Firing January 18, 2010
Salt firing and salt glazing have been common practice in ceramics for centuries, initially as an industrial glazing method, and then as an artistic treatment and technique in studio ceramics. Not only does salt glazing seal the ware, but it creates a distinctive orange-peel texture that has become a desirable decorative trait of salt glazed ware. We also use sodium in many of our glazes, but if you're going to fire with salt, it is best to use slip and glaze recipes designed to react with the salt in the kiln atmosphere. All of this and more is covered in the free download, The Salt Glaze Surface: A Guide to Salt Glazing and Firing.Read Comments (0)
Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the Ceramic Surface to Life January 4, 2010
One of the best ways to make a piece of clay work your own is to literally put your mark on it. In Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the Ceramic Surface to Life, you will learn to go further, bringing the form and surface of your work together into a signature style using a variety of carving tools in combination with carving techniques like sgraffito, etching, wire-cutting, relief carving and more.Read Comments (0)
Successful Tips for Buying and Using Pottery Clay How to Select the Right Clay, Estimate Your Clay Needs, and Test Clays for Better Results December 21, 2009
Buying the right pottery clay is one of the keys to your success in the studio. There are many variables that determine the right pottery clay for your needs including color, temperature range, the type of pottery you make, and what kind of forming methods you use, just to name a few. When someone offers you a bunch of free clay, watch out! Most of the value in a piece of pottery is in the time and effort you invest, and the clay is one of the least expensive elements.Read Comments (0)
Tips, Techniques and Tools for Getting the Most Out of Your Pottery Wheel: From Centering to Trimming, Tips for the Potter’s Wheel December 7, 2009
Tips, Techniques and Tools for Getting the Most Out of Your Pottery Wheel: From Centering to Trimming, Tips for the Potter’s Wheel is our gift to you when you sign up for your free Ceramic Arts Daily newsletter. Subscribe today for free!Already a subscriber? Download your copy right here! (current subscribers must be logged in to download free gifts).Throwing on the potters wheel is exciting and fun. Once you can center then you'll never get tired of the many things you can do with wheel thrown pottery. Here we've gathered some tips and techniques that will increase your enjoyment for ...Read Comments (0)
Successful Tips and Techniques for Raku Firing: How to Select Raku Clays, Glazes, Kilns and Combustibles November 23, 2009
Successful Tips and Techniques for Raku Firing: How to Select Raku Clays, Glazes, Kilns and Combustibles is our gift to you when you sign up for your free Ceramic Arts Daily newsletter. Subscribe today for free!Already a subscriber? Download Successful Tips and Techniques for Raku Firing: How to Select Raku Clays, Glazes, Kilns and Combustibles right here! (current subscribers must be logged in to download free gifts).Raku firing is expressive, exciting and fun. Whether you’re raku firing in your own studio or taking part in a group raku firing at a school, workshop or community center, raku ...Read Comments (0)