Pottery for Beginners: What Nobody Tells You When You Start Working With Clay

Starting pottery can feel like learning an entirely new language while simultaneously trying to convince a spinning lump of mud to become a bowl.

Center. Compress. Leather-hard. Bone dry. Bisque. Cone 06. Cone 6. Slip. Underglaze. Glaze.

And somehow everyone else in the studio seems to know exactly what all of it means.

They didn't when they started either.

One of the most important things to understand as a beginner is that learning pottery isn't only about learning how to make a pot. You're learning how clay behaves through an entire process—and what you do at one stage can affect what happens several stages later.

That's part of what makes pottery frustrating.

It's also what makes it fascinating.

Your First Pots Don't Need to Be Perfect

When you start pottery, it's tempting to judge every piece by one question:

Did it turn out?

But your early pieces are teaching you things whether they're beautiful or terrible.

A wall that became too thin teaches you something about pressure.

A handle that didn't work teaches you something about timing, moisture and attachment.

A bowl that warped teaches you to start asking questions about form, thickness, drying and firing.

A glaze result you didn't expect gives you information you can use the next time.

The goal isn't to avoid every mistake.

The goal is to stop making mistakes without learning from them.

Learn to Recognize Where Your Clay Is in the Process

Clay changes dramatically between the moment you take it from the bag and the moment it becomes finished ceramic.

When clay is plastic and workable, you can form it by throwing, pinching, coiling, slab building or sculpting.

As moisture leaves the clay, it becomes progressively firmer.

At leather-hard, the piece holds its shape but still contains moisture. Depending on exactly how firm it has become and what you're making, this is often when potters trim, carve, refine surfaces or make attachments.

Eventually the piece becomes bone dry.

Bone-dry greenware is extremely fragile and should be handled carefully. It must also be appropriately dry before firing.

After the first firing, the piece is generally called bisque ware. It is ceramic but remains porous enough to accept glaze.

Then comes glazing and the appropriate glaze firing for the materials being used.

Understanding these stages helps you stop fighting the clay.

There is a time to shape it.

A time to refine it.

A time to leave it alone.

And a time to fire it.

Don't Rush Drying

A pot can look dry on the outside before its moisture has equalized throughout the piece.

Thicker and thinner areas can also dry at different rates. Handles, rims, bottoms, attachments and thick areas don't necessarily lose moisture at the same speed.

That uneven movement can contribute to cracking and warping.

This is why controlled, even drying matters.

Your exact drying method will depend on the form, clay body, thickness and studio conditions, but patience is usually far more useful than trying to force a piece through the process.

And never assume a piece is ready for the kiln simply because its surface looks dry.

Clay and Glaze Have Firing Ranges

This is one of the things beginners need to learn early.

Not every clay body and every glaze are meant to be fired together.

Manufacturers specify firing ranges for their materials, and your studio may have its own approved clay bodies, glazes and firing practices.

Also pay very close attention to the difference between numbers such as cone 06 and cone 6. They are not interchangeable.

If you're working in a community studio, follow that studio's requirements.

If you're firing your own kiln, follow the specifications and safety instructions for your clay, glaze and equipment rather than relying on a firing schedule from a random post online.

When you're unsure, ask before firing.

A question is much cheaper than a damaged kiln load.

Keep Records Earlier Than You Think You Need Them

When you've made five pots, you may think you'll remember everything.

You probably will.

When you've made fifty?

Maybe not.

When you've made hundreds?

Absolutely not.

Start recording the basics early:

• What clay did you use?
• What glaze?
• Did you layer glazes?
• How was the glaze applied?
• What did the piece look like before firing?
• What did it look like afterward?
• Which firing did it go through?
• What worked?
• What didn't?

Photographs are incredibly useful because your memory will eventually turn "that blue bowl I made a while ago" into about seventeen different blue bowls.

Keeping track from the beginning makes it much easier to look back and understand what worked, what changed, and what you want to try again. The Potter's Mud Room was created to help potters keep that information together as their work grows.

Don't Throw Away Your Failures Mentally

Some pieces really are casualties.

They crack.

Warp.

Glaze badly.

Break.

Or simply come out nothing like you imagined.

Before you move on, ask:

What can this piece teach me?

Sometimes you'll know the answer.

Sometimes you'll only have a theory.

And sometimes you won't know at all.

That's okay.

Record what happened anyway.

Over time, patterns begin to appear.

You may discover that the same form keeps cracking in the same location. A particular glaze combination behaves differently on different clay bodies. A certain construction method works better when you change your timing.

That's when pottery starts becoming less mysterious.

You Don't Need to Learn Everything at Once

There will always be another technique, glaze, clay body, firing method or tool to learn.

You don't need all of it today.

Learn the material in front of you.

Learn what your hands are doing.

Learn what happens between making the piece and opening the kiln.

And keep enough information that when something wonderful happens, you know how you got there.

Because eventually you'll open a kiln and find a piece that is exactly what you hoped it would be.

And one of the best feelings in pottery is being able to make it again.