r/StudioPottery

Hi! I want to start experimenting with ceramics, but I’m disabled in a way that makes taking a ceramics class basically impossible. I haven’t worked with ceramics clay since I was in middle school, but I’ve done a tiny bit of poly clay more recently than that, and I played around a bit with soft wax in high school.

I want to start with hand building, since that will take a smaller investment than getting a wheel, and I’m most interested in sculpture anyway. I want to start with small to medium animal and plant sculptures and vessels (4”-10” or so for the most part, but I’ll probably fiddle around with some really small stuff like chopsticks rests and tea bag holders)

I figure I’ll be playing with some combination of coiling and pinch pot techniques to make the main bodies. I’m hoping you all can help me out with some recommendations!

What tools do you consider “must have” items? I have some old dental tools for fine detail and mark-making work, but that’s really it so far.

The local kilns renting out shelves fire at cone 6, cone 8, or cone 10. One also fires at cone 5/6 for glaze firing. What clay would you suggest? I would slightly prefer a light color clay, but if you have a darker color clay that you think is better, I’m game.

I’d also like to get some glazes or underglazes to try out. I see that Coyote, Mayco, Speedball, and Spectrum offer sample sets where I can get 4ozs each of several colors. They’re all cone 6 or 5/6 glazes. Mayco and Speedball also offers a set of underglazes, so I could get that plus a clear glaze. I’m leaning towards underglazes plus a clear glaze, since I want to be able to do relatively complex decoration.

Are there any books or tutorials you would recommend?

I have about $250 to spend to start, to cover clay, tools, glaze/underglaze, and I would plan to get any books at the library, at least to start (if I find that they feel like references I’ll need to keep returning to, I’ll probably buy them later, but I’m a fast learner with a good memory.)

Thanks in advance!