There are scores of techniques, hundreds of variations and thousands of combinations in ceramics. And it’s these combinations that make pottery art so exciting since no two people can produce the same work. This is a book about variety, but, more importantly, it’s about possibilities. This compilation of techniques from a wide spectrum of experienced clay artists illustrates the variables of figuring out processes, perfecting techniques and combining some really weird stuff to come up with something different. In Studio Ceramics you’ll find techniques for double-walled vessels, miniatures, templates, carving, sculpting, mixed media, throwing, handbuilding, surface decoration, photo transfers, and much more.
Workshops in print
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to attend a conference or workshop and watched a ceramic artist make a presentation, you probably found that the most exciting part was when they revealed one of their techniques. And if you had a camera, you more than likely snapped a couple of photos to remember the key points. In Studio Ceramics: Advanced Techniques you’ll find many techniques like those found at a workshop — some of them challenging or enlightening, but all of them inspiring.
Hiroe Hanazono always had a great passion for food — cooking, eating, setting the table, and sharing in the full dining experience. It’s why she makes functional pots. And because of her love of food, her muted glazes and simple line forms don’t compete with anyone’s surroundings or the food that they hold.
Amy Sanders grew up in southern Ohio spending her early years watching her mother and grandmothers sew. After moving to North Carolina she began to sew because she lacked a clay studio. However, once she was back into clay, her sewing experience breathed life into her clay work with patterns, textures and seams from fabrics and textiles appearing in her stamped clay vessels.
In her numerous workshops, Posey Bacopoulos shares with her students the historically rich and beautiful process of majolica glazing, a decorative process where colorful imagery is painted over a white glaze. This wonderful technique allows her to create vibrant imagery on pottery without fear of the colors running or blending together as many glazes do when they accidentally overlap. Posey creates and fires her work in her small New York City studio. Majolica is the perfect technique for her, as it requires only one glaze, a few overglazes, and an electric kiln.
Although the mesmerizing spin of the potter’s wheel originally motivated Ann Ruel to work with clay, she soon began to break out of those circular boundaries and started to alter her pieces into more complex forms. She describes an Out of Round technique she picked up from Dewane Hughes you can try in your studio.
Handbuilding on a Stick is a process that Mitch Lyons has perfected. His technique not only allows you to construct elegant forms without a wheel, but also decorate them at the same time with color slips and inlays. All the work is done at the leather hard stage.
When Judy Adams took a workshop from Japanese potter Kaori Tatebayashi, she was impressed with the handy tool Kaori used in her thin-walled handbuilt pieces. Judy shows you Kaori’s method for Making a Sandbag.
Jane Graber began making Miniatures when she was the resident potter at Sauder Village, a living folk museum in northwestern Ohio. She discovered that working at a small scale requires a different skill set than the normal potter uses.
At the other end of the size spectrum, Joel Betancourt describes his technique to take a pot and Super Size It. Unlike joining separate thrown pieces or adding coils to gain height, Joel’s technique combines both.
William Schran teaches ceramics at Northern Virginia Community College. After his students have developed some ability with clay, he assigns a project where they need to create multiple forms using Throwing Templates. See if you can complete the assignment.
Alice Ballard’s path in life has been as rich and textured as the surfaces of her ceramic Pod Series. Treating her pods as a three-dimensional canvas allows her to have more fun with color and texture.
We all love a good fish story and you’ll find Lisa Merida-Paytes’ Fish Tales pretty entertaining. Embellished with colorful background, she leaves nothing out of her raku fish sculptures in this step-by-step technique.
For many years Eva Kwong’s iconic biological forms have been exhibited internationally and she has influenced countless clay artists of all skill levels. Here she demonstrates the construction of organic forms for her Biomimicry series.
As a sculptor of highly detailed pieces, Scott Ziegler can only be found guilty of Pursuing Perfection — something he’s been criticized for. His glazing technique is time consuming, but necessary to achieve the level of detail he needs.
Dee Schaad springs into action when he discusses his Action Figures. Following his step-by-step process, his simple slab-built sculptural figures can take on any character you wish — political, historic, religious, personal — a technique for fun.
Ceramics is versatile but there’s no need to stop there. Coeleen Kiebert uses Multiple Firings and Mixed Media for her sculptural pieces and Todd Shanafelt enjoys Combining Found Objects with Clay to create objects you may find in an old mechanic’s shed. Maybe combining objects with clay is somethng you’d like to try.
Steven Driver wanted something different to set his elegant teapots apart. Instead of using the standard cane handles, he shows how he makes Home-grown Handles from wisteria vines growing in his backyard.
Meg Oliver’s mark-makers, so to speak, are Plaster Stamps. Most have a biological origin. Some are marks from found tools but most of the marks are unrecognizable from their original source. Meg begins her process with a walk outside and goes from there. Make your next walk in the woods part of a studio technique.
Virginia Cartwright makes Great Stamps in 30 Minutes using polymer clay. This technique allows her the flexibility to get create a durable stamp and use it within a very short period of time.
At a workshop, Hank Murrow watched Joe Bennion facet bowls on the wheel and continue throwing. He liked the idea of Expanded Throwing so much he came up with his own version and designed a faceting tool specifically for the job.
If you ever wanted to transfer images to the ceramic surface, then you might want to try Kristina Bognadov’s Photo Lithography Transfer on Clay that uses Xerox images and a process not unlike traditional lithography. Paul Wandless offers an Easy Image Transfer technique which involves a product called PhotoEZ. With this process, not unlike using a silkscreen, makes it possible to create hi-res screens without the chemicals and equipment that traditional silkscreens require.
For a young potter in Japan, coming up with a unique style can be challenging. Fumiya Mukoyama came up with his unique Zogan Yusai technique. Zogan means inlaid and yusai means coloring with glazes and his step-by-step shows you how.
Michelle Erickson has extensively researched historic pottery making techniques. She describes How to Create Agateware and Thrown Agateware using the same process potters did in the 18th century. Truly a technique that holds as much beauty today as it did hundreds of years ago.
While agateware utilizes colored clays creating a pattern that goes through the clay body, Marbled Slipware relies on colored clays resting on the surface. Michelle Erickson again brings to bear her penchant for historic research to reveal this long lost surface technique in a detailed step-by-step explanation.
Emily Reason enjoys Carving and Slip Trailing her surfaces and enhances the textures with celadon glazes. Using simple tools, her work reflects the simple beauty found in Chinese Yaoware pottery.
Molly Hatch has always been interested in drawing and uses The Clay as Canvas. Her technique for transferring images and using a mishima process provides her work with a unique look and perfect for anyone with the urge to draw on clay.
When you create a beautiful piece, you don’t want it to end up being stored in a cupboard and your horizontal surfaces may already be filled. What better solution is there than to Hang It Up and admire clay creations on the wall with this simple mounting technique. |