blog for Pottery tutorials, the exploration of clay, and everything ceramics
Changing Electric Kiln Elements (Rohde Ecotop 43L)
When you have an electric kiln it's important to have a spare set of elements to hand because you never quite know when they’re going to break. You can, of course, take some steps to reduce the wear and tear to reduce the likelihood of needing to change the elements on your electric kiln, but they will go at some point.
Kurinuki incense cottage: How to carve a botanical ceramic house
You folks seem to really love these cute little cottages I make using the kurinuki technique of carving away clay. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make one of my botanical cottages that can be used as a lantern or for incense cones. I love making these pottery houses using the kurinuki method because it give each one their own personality - unique in its own way!
Kurinuki Tokkuri: How to carve a sake bottle from clay
Once you’ve mastered some of the more basic vessels that can be made using the Kurinuki technique, a tokkuri, or sake bottle, is a great next step.
Kurinuki Teapot: the mindfulness process of carving from a lump of clay
Kurinuki is the slow meditative process of carving from a single block of clay, resulting in pottery that is unique every time. When making a teapot this way, your final piece will not be as “perfect” as if it had been wheel thrown, but I personally love these imperfections.
Kurinuki Gaiwan: How to make a lidded tea bowl by carving clay
A gaiwan is a traditional Chinese lidded tea bowl used for brewing and drinking tea from the same vessel. Kurinuki is the Japanese method of carving pots from a lump of clay and is a great technique for those potters wanting to learn new ways of hand-building with clay.
Kurinuki Yunomi: How to carve a teacup from a lump of clay
Yunomi is the Japanese term for a handleless cup for drinking tea, however, we use ours mostly for gin and tonic! Kurinuki is the traditional Japanese method of carving from a single block of clay and is my favourite pottery hand-building method to use.
How to Reclaim and Prepare Clay Using the Spiral Wedging Technique
How to reclaim your dry clay scraps by rehydrating in water and spiral wedging. There is very little waste when you make pottery because clay can be reclaimed and used again!
Meditation, mindfulness, and slow-living; why pottery ticks them all
More and more people are moving towards, or thinking about, a slow-living lifestyle and pottery fits in with this perfectly. Moving away from somewhat soulless mass-production and towards being more mindful, and making pottery by hand. When you make a ceramic mug yourself you can revisit that creative place you were at, every day when you pour yourself a cup of coffee or brew a tea.