Marsh Wade - Pottery Book for Beginners: An Instruction Guide for Potters to Sculpt Wheel Thrown and Handbuilding Ceramic Projects With Tips, Techniques and Pottery Tools Included

Pottery Book for Beginners

An Instruction Guide for Potters to Sculpt Wheel Thrown and Handbuilding Ceramic Projects With Tips, Techniques and Pottery Tools Included

By

Wade Marsh

Copyright 2021 Wade Marsh

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Disclaimer

This publication is designed to provide competent and reliable information regarding the subject matter covered. However, the views expressed in this publication are those of the author alone, and should not be taken as expert instruction or professional advice. The reader is responsible for his or her own actions.

The author hereby disclaims any responsibility or liability whatsoever that is incurred from the use or application of the contents of this publication by the purchaser or reader. The purchaser or reader is hereby responsible for his or her own actions.

Introduction

P ottery, a craft introduced far back, is responsible for most of the ceramics and other earthenware projects that we use today. It is a process by which clay is molded either by hand or wheel-thrown to produce different pieces of pottery crafts such as cups, plates, mugs, vases, and many more. To make these pottery crafts, several types of tools, supplies and equipment are employed, and so, you would need a proper guide as encapsulated in this book to put you through how they work and their usage. Also discussed in the pages of this book are the processes involved in making pottery projects and the different pottery techniques you can employ to make awesome pottery projects. That is why this book, Pottery Book for Beginners , was written to take you by the hand and to guide you on your journey from being a novice to becoming an experienced potter in the art of pottery-making.

Now, lets delve into the art of pottery making, shall we?

Chapter 1

Fundamentals of Pottery Making

P ottery making is one of the commonest and easiest arts that you can delve into as an artist. It requires very few and relatively cheap materials and can serve to make a lot of money. Here, we will be studying the fundamentals guiding the art of pottery making and the basic things you need to know as a beginner.

What is Pottery?

P ottery is the finished work of clay molding. It is usually done through molding, drying, firingeither with a glaze or finishand other detailed techniques to form a container or another item. The principal material used in the art of pottery is clay, and clay can be obtained from the earth naturally.

Clay is a kind of soil that is formed from the decomposition of rocks within the soil for several years. The decomposition of the rocks is a process that is activated when water repeatedly runs across the surfaces and then causes them to get eroded gradually. Eroding usually weakens the forces at the uppermost layer, which breaks down the whole entity.

Now, the term clay is entirely different from clay bodies. The latter is a term that describes a lump of clay that contains elements that improve the qualities of clay. This way, when the clay body is taken through the firing or any other structural process, it comes out with a unique property from the other clay bodies.

The term clay bodies comes into play in pottery since that is what is used, not the normal and unrefined kind of clay. The clay body can form the final product when it is worked on, e.g., cups, mugs, etc. The working can be done with the hands of a potter or with the aid of a throwing wheel, which is powered electrically.

Other tools aid in replicating the models or designs used in crafting out the original pieces of a clay project. But then, usually, the clay is set in shaped molds and then dried. Once it is dried, it is then cut up and stamped at different parts.

To also get the clay set permanently in the size in which it is shaped, the process of having it fired comes out as another very crucial step. Here, the molded clay project is placed in a kiln where it is heated up to very high temperatures that toughen it up. This way, properties like the water carrying capacity of the clay project are improved. The addition of glazing material to the body of the clay is another crucial procedure that must be done before the firing of the clay.

The process of glazing a clay project is to alter a couple of chemical properties that it possesses. It also allows it to be able to hold more water in it. At this stage, the clay project is referred to as being vitreous.

Understanding Handbuilding Pottery

P ottery is a craft that can either be done by hands or with the aid of a throwing wheel. When it is done with your hands, the craft is referred to as hand building. You get to create actual crafts with a clay lump in your hand and some other basic tools. You just need to know the basic techniques, and then you are good to go.