For potters curious about my methods, and anyone with an interest in the ceramic process.
Concept
My most successful pieces start with a clear concept.
The design often evolves throughout the making process because I like to stay open to happy accidents and new ideas along the way. But it helps to have something to start from.
Throwing
My go-to clay for throwing is Standard 182. It’s so creamy and easy to carve crisp lines into (and hot take, I do like the speckles.) Sometimes I use Brooklyn 308, although it changes the look of the piece entirely and isn’t ideal for the wood kiln, which is my current focus.
At this stage I’m already making choices about glazing. Especially for wood-fired work, it’s good to leave bare clay on the surface like a canvas for the fire and wood ash to paint on. But this can leave a raspy texture, and for cups and mugs you need a smooth surface to drink from. So before I wire a piece off the wheel, I make a guideline for the glaze. This also serves as a nice border for any decoration below it.
After throwing, I put the pieces on a plaster bat and leave them in a damp box to firm up.
Trimming
The next step is trimming. It’s important for the cross-section to be even all around to prevent cracking and make the piece comfortable to pick up, not bottom-heavy. I periodically tap with my tool to gague the thickness by sound and take the piece off the wheel a few times to feel the walls with my fingers.
Once the foot is trimmed, I use a firm rubber rib to leave a smooth finish. Especially with how busy the finished surface will be, a polished foot ties everything together. This is where the piece starts to come to life.
Handling
Mugs get handles right after trimming. This step has probably taken the longest to refine. Everyone has their own way of making handles, and the method I use now is a mashup of different methods and tips from other potters. But essentially, pulling off the pot.
I take my time shaping the top of the handle, and gently roll its edges on the table for definition where the handle meets the pot. Functionally, this also makes a small divet for glaze to pool into and reinforce the joint.
At this stage, it’s vital to control how slowly the piece dries to prevent cracking.
Decorating
My favorite part! Once the piece is leatherhard all over, I either paint it with underglaze or dip it in slip. Then, the surface needs to dry a little bit but not too much.
I use a variety of tools, including small trimming tools, glorified dental tools, and a sharp blade to freehand the design.
Maybe it starts with a big swooping wave that gets smaller towards the bottom. If there’s a handle, I usually start around there to set myself up for thoughtful incoporation of it into the design.
As I work, I’m also thinking about how the size and direction of the shapes can exaggerate the proportions of the form or direct your eye, similar to fashion.
There’s usually a point at this stage where I get stuck; either my hand slipped, the surface is getting too dry, or a shape just isn’t working.
This can be tricky, especially when there’s already so much of the underglaze or slip carved away that if I took off more it would look like dead space, and painting more on isn’t an option because the surface wouldn’t look smooth.
It’s also where a piece can become really unique and fresh, since the only solution is to try new things and make small tweaks to get it right. When it works out, it feels inspiring to see new possibilities created from the small handful of motifs that I start with. This is one thing that’s really special about patterns.
Bisque Firing
Bisque firing is underrated. When you unload a bisque kiln, you can pick the piece up the same way you would pick it up off a table. Especially with mugs, you can finally feel the handle in action.
I bisque fire to cone 04. After unloading, I rinse or sponge them off. Not everyone does this, and I’ve seen interesting experiments that suggest it’s better not to. But my decorating process generates dust, and if I play my cards right the pieces will have at least a few days to let all that moisture dry out again anyway.
Glazing
[Ominous music playing]
Glazing is hard. It should be easy: dunk the thing into the bucket and move on. The tricky part is managing gravity and water.
I choose a limited palette to work with. With time and experimentation, there are now 3-4 glazes that I like and know well. I’m a sucker for blues that look fluid and break over texture.
Before reaching for any buckets (often after unloading the bisque kiln), I lay all the pieces out and sort them into groups by glaze. That sets me up to work in batches.
Then I work one batch at a time, pouring glaze into the piece, swirling it around, and pouring the rest out. I let that dry while I keep working, and then come back to it to dunk the rim. Any unwanted drips, splashes, or thick spots get scraped off with a metal rib into a cup of water.
Firing
Finally, ready for firing! Especially with an atmospheric firing, this is a huge mindset shift from the rest of the process. I’ve worked really carefully, and now it’s not entirely up to me what happens next.
The wood firing takes 6 days from start to finish. First is buiding the shelves and loading everyone’s pieces in, taking care that nothing is touching and everything feels stable.
Everyone in the firing takes shifts to load wood into the chamber, stoke, monitor and log the temperature. It’s important to gain temperature at a controlled pace especially in the beginning to prevent cracks and explosions.
It takes about 2 days to climb up to cone 10, at 2381°F. At the end, salt is added directly into one side of the kiln, which vaporizes and creates a distinctive sodium-silicate glaze.
After a few days of cooling, the kiln bricks come down one by one and the pots are carefully unloaded. Shelves get taken down and grinded, wadding is removed, posts are put away, and everything is left ready for the next firing. Pots get passed around, hopefully there’s lots of oohs and ahhs, maybe some disappointments, and it’s all wrapped up.
Epilogue
After any firing but especially wood firing, quality control and cleanup is crucial. Every piece is carefully inspected for structural integrity, glaze drips, and leftover wadding.
The bottom of each piece is wet sanded so it’s smooth to the touch and won’t scratch your table.
If there’s a big glaze drip or extra wadding stuck on the foot, a rotary toolkit helps with cleanup. It’s slow and careful work, because one slip of the tool can ding a pot that’s taken so long to become a finished piece.
Finally, I rinse off the dust, and decide that I hate it take a moment to appreciate my efforts, noting the details that I want to repeat or do differently next time. But every piece that makes it this far is a small miracle.