How to guides and pottery tutorials

Affiliate Disclaimer

As an affiliate, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. We get commissions for purchases made through links on this website from Amazon and other third parties.

How To Guides and Pottery Tutorials

The Pottery Wheel has a ton of practical pottery tutorials to help you hone your skills.  Many of these ‘how-to-guides’ are step-by-step instructions that you can follow to make a particular pottery project.  Others are more practical and are designed to give you tips on working with clay.

These how-to guides fall naturally into four groups. You can use the links below to jump to that section if you like. The groups are:  

There are lots of guides in each of these groups.  But I thought it would be helpful as an introduction to highlight some of the most popular tutorials for you to take a look at here.

If there is anything that you want to know about, that isn’t mentioned on this page, use the search tab to find what you are looking for.  But for now, let’s take a look at some examples of the pottery projects you can make…

Creative Pottery Tutorials

These tutorials focus on making specific pottery projects.  As a rule, they provide detailed instructions with images to help guide you as you work.  They often have videos, but if they don’t you can check out my YouTube channel here for loads more how-to guides.

Here are some of the most popular how-to guides on The Pottery Wheel to get you started:

How-To Guides on Working With Clay

Making pottery is very creative.  However, it’s important to know how clay behaves so that your pottery project will survive.  One example is that pottery clay is prone to cracking and warping (bending) as it dries.  It can be heartbreaking to labor over a piece of beloved pottery and find that it has cracked before it’s even been fired.

Part of learning how to make pottery is also learning how to work with clay.  There is a wealth of information on The Pottery Wheel focusing on tips that will help you make pottery successfully.  There are also plenty of tips on how to refine your pottery practice.

Here are some of the most popular how-to guides on working with clay… 

Practical Pottery Tutorials

Pottery clay is basically a fancy kind of mud or dirt. In fact, you can make your own pottery clay out of dirt!  Admittedly, it’s dirt that has been mined, processed, and sent to your door in a nice plastic bag.  But nevertheless, it is mud, and most of the time that’s part of the fun of it.  It’s a great excuse to get your hands dirty. 

But if you are working with clay, it helps to know some practical information that will help you manage your pottery space.  For example, pottery clay creates dust, and it’s not good to inhale that dust as it can cause respiratory issues.

This is just one example of the more practical aspects of making pottery that it is helpful to understand.  Luckily, there are measures that you can take to help you manage your potter space.

Many of the guides on The Pottery Wheel focus on practical issues.  These range from storing your pottery clay to making tools and gadgets that will help you in your creative endeavors.  Here are some of the most popular practical pottery guides…

Firing Pottery Tutorials

When you start making pottery, chances are you won’t own an electric kiln.  But don’t let that put you off.  In time, you may want to invest in buying a kiln, however, it’s not essential.  There are plenty of places that will fire your pottery for you for a small fee

Also, there are alternative ways of firing pottery that you might like to experiment with too.  Some of the pottery tutorials here will focus on issues related to using an electric pottery kiln.  But many will explore some of these alternative firing techniques. 

Here are some examples that you might like to take a look at…

I hope you’ve found this selection of pottery tutorials helpful.  Remember to use the search button if you are looking for something that didn’t appear in this collection here.  And, don’t forget to sign up for The Pottery Wheel newsletter below to get the latest how-to guide and pottery tutorials.

Join The Pottery Wheel Newsletter

Interested in starting pottery? Never miss a post