Categories

If you've ever been lucky enough to take a pottery class, you already know how much fun it can be. However, when you leave class and all of the materials you use in the studio, it can seem as though taking your pottery lessons home just isn't possible. After all, you must need a full studio in order to complete your work, right? This is far from the case. In order to bring your pottery lessons home with you, you only need to purchase a few things and you can continue to make pots and vases long into the night.

Things You Probably Can't Do

Before you begin building your home pottery studio, there are some things you should probably never purchase on your own. You will not need a kiln, for example. These pieces of equipment are very dangerous and they are often quite expensive to purchase. Most local pottery studios will allow you to fire your pieces in their kiln for a small fee, so this makes this step much more feasible. In addition, you might not want to purchase a potter's wheel. Though they are a lot of fun to use, they can also be quite dangerous and difficult to master on one's own. If you are interested in learning how to throw pots, you will want to take a class first and learn from a professional before investing in your own wheel.

Things You Can Buy

The most important part of your home pottery studio is the clay. You can purchase this clay from any of a number of online pottery supply stores for a low price. It will be delivered in blocks or buckets that you can then keep underneath a large working area before you are ready to use it. You will want to keep it wet until you need to use it. That way, it will keep fresh and pliable for a long period of time. Though you can rewet dry clay, this can be a time consuming process and unnecessary when you keep the fresh clay damp. If you don’t want to fire your pieces, you can find air dry or oven bake clays that will harden up without a kiln. You will also want to have a large working area that is sturdy enough to hold clay. A simple card table will work, just spread newspapers over it in order to protect the surface. You will want to also lay down some sort of plastic sheet in order to create a surface which does not allow the clay to stick while you work with it. And when you're done with the plastic, you can just tear it off and replace it. Sculpting tools can be simply tools from your kitchen. Butter knives work very well as do metal skewers for carving and cutting the clay. You will also want to have a rolling pin to roll out your slabs as well as a spray bottle filled with water. Some small sponges and some cups for water will also be helpful to use.

Glazing

The trick with glazing is that you will need a kiln in order to fire the glaze onto the surface. So, instead, you might want to simply use paints and other varnishes to finish off a dried piece of clay that has air dried or sat in a regular oven.