Pottery clay starts to dry out as soon as it comes out of its plastic bag. As it dries, clay particles form clay dust. It is unavoidable that if you use clay you will be exposed to some amount of clay dust. As potters have become increasingly aware of environmental hazards, they have wanted to…
My hands are in and out of clay all day, and if I don’t make an effort to look after them, they can become very dry. In this article, we’ll look at some of the things you can do to avoid getting dry hands from pottery clay. Disclaimer – Before we go on, I wanted…
These days, underglaze is usually applied first and then a clear or semi-transparent glaze is applied on top. But what happens if you do the reverse? Can you put underglaze on top of glaze? Yes, you can put underglaze on top of glaze. However, it depends on what underglaze you use, and the combination of…
Airbrushing underglaze is a great way to add sharp lines, shadows, shades, and color gradients to your pottery. On the surface, airbrushing seems like a simple process. You load the airbrush with underglaze and you spray, right? Well, not exactly. There are a few things that it’s helpful to know from the off. These will…
Burnishing pottery involves rubbing it before it’s been fired so that the surface is smooth and shiny. There are lots of ways to burnish, and one of the easiest ways is burnishing pottery with a plastic bag. This might sound strange, but it does work. What is Burnishing Pottery? Burnishing clay is a way of…
Raku firing is quite different from regular firing in a gas or electric kiln. If you are new to raku, this may have left you wondering if raku glazing techniques are different too. When I started out in raku, I was left with similar questions. I wanted to know exactly how to glaze raku pottery…
When I started looking into raku firing, I was keen to avoid my pottery cracking as it cooled. I knew that it was common for potters to lose their work as it was taken from the raku kiln. So, I started to look into what might be the best clay for raku pottery, and this…
There are two occasions when you might want to clean raku pottery. If you have made or bought a piece of raku you might want to know how to keep it dust-free. Or, you may want to know how to clean off the carbon residue left from the firing process. This article is mainly about…
One of the things I love about pottery and ceramics is that they are very elemental. With its dramatic mix of earth, fire, air, and water raku firing is one of the grittier approaches to pottery. So, what is raku pottery, and how is it made? Raku is a low fire process, reaching around 1830F…