Pottery underglaze is a coloured, matte coating applied to greenware (unfired clay) or bisque-fired pottery before applying a clear top glaze. It acts like specialised paint…

Demonstration of Gold Sharpie as wax resist…

Happy handles demonstration

Comparison of Gold, Bronze and Silver Sharpies as wax resist

Simple trick to keep your pots level…

As you begin working with clay, you’ll probably hear reference to the 4 S’s of pottery: four simple steps that guide every stage of making…

Steps to Make a Pottery Shrinkage Ruler

• Prepare the Clay: Roll out a slab of your regular pottery clay to about 0.5–1 cm thickness, roughly 30 cm long and up to 5 cm wide…

Painting on pottery is  an expression of creativity and relies on brushwork, especially when using underglazes for a specific pattern or story…

Correct glazing of your work is the responsiblity of the potter. Full stop. There are many different ways to do it correctly but it must be done on all glazed works…

Potter’s New Year Resolutions

Sawdust firing is another type of pit fire and is dead simple as it lends itself to firing in an urban area [not much smoke, no high flames]. You will need a metal garbage can for this process and a quantity of clean, dry sawdust.

People have been creating pottery for millennia and only more recently have kilns become popular. Here are a couple of ways to pit fire your pots at home. It is worth noting to take care when firing and do so in a cleared area away from buildings. It is also advisable to have some water, either a hose or a bucket to extinguish any fires that get out of hand.…

To make underglaze pencils and pastels, use a porcelain-type slip with 50 percent white firing ball clay or plastic kaolin. For dry strength in the green state, 3 percent macaloid or 5 percent bentonite should be added…

When coil building, joining coils downwards by pinching and smoothing them into the previous layer is a crucial technique. This downward technique, often referred to as "bonding pinch," creates a strong and seamless connection between the coils, preventing cracking and ensuring structural integrity.

To prevent cracks in pottery, especially those dreaded "S-cracks," compression is key. Compressing the clay, particularly the bottom and walls, helps align the clay particles, reduce water absorption, and minimize stress during drying.

Sgraffito is an artistic technique, often used in pottery, where a surface is decorated by scratching through the top layer of a coating like slip or underglaze, to reveal a contrasting colour or texture underneath. This usually occurs when the pottery is leather hard.

Cone 6 and Cone 06 represent vastly different firing temperatures in ceramics. Cone 6, a mid-fire temperature, reaches around 1222°C, while Cone 06, a low-fire temperature, is around 1000°C, a difference of about 200 degrees

Wild Clay is clay that has been sourced from the environment and not produced by a clay production company. It can consist of all manner of materials and matter and requires a lot of…

MidFire is a kiln firing range that uses clay designed to mimic stoneware at a lower temperature – this saves around 30% in firing costs!

Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (from the Latin terra cocta 'cooked earth'), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic usually fired at relatively low temperatures…