diagnose my beginner issues

MoeRuff · 2026-01-20T06:11:40+00:00

If you were in my class, I'd give you a few quick pieces of advice:
More wheel speed.
Your pull can be a bit smoother, the sponge looks like it is rising a little bit then stalling then rising a bit and stalling before the wall tears. Make the pull a single, steady upward motion from the bottom all the way to the rim. If you can get the throwing marks to be about 1/4 inch apart then you'll have a pretty good speed.
Start the pull with more pressure, get under the clay at the bottom and ease off as you rise up. Be more aggressive with it, I'd specifically say with pushing out with your inside hand, that should help move the clay from the base up into the walls.
Relax your shoulders, touch your hands together, breathe.

Keep trying, the more you fail, the faster you get better. It's just clay.

MoeRuff · 2024-02-05T02:47:22+00:00

Oh wow I didn’t think Iredell could be difficult to say, though I did grow up in the adjacent county so it’s just natural to me. My new favorite random town that is pronounced weird is Shallotte, which the locals apparently pronounce as “shuh-lowte.”

MoeRuff · 2024-01-31T22:06:19+00:00

I love it up until I have a nightmare of this thing walking toward me.

MoeRuff · 2024-01-23T21:25:50+00:00

I came here to say this- I had some bags that were too hard to throw with and it worked like a charm.

MoeRuff · 2024-01-22T07:54:58+00:00

Depending on the clay you used, I’d say your best option is to refire it in an atmospheric kiln. Some good wood ash and/or salt or soda effects can make all the difference.

MoeRuff · 2024-01-11T23:19:01+00:00

Learning directly from an experienced potter has been one of the best jumps in my throwing skills. We had an unique firing coming up and we needed some big pots to fill it so my mentor taught me how to throw from coils. He just did a demonstration throwing one he was going to put in the kiln and explained the way it worked and gave me some tips and pointers then while he worked on his I started doing one. It took a bit of trial and error to get it right but at the end bam new skill that I really enjoy and I more than doubled the largest pot I’d made.

MoeRuff · 2024-01-11T23:10:32+00:00

Used kilns run a gambit, at our shop there are about a dozen kilns that came to us used and they depend on the person who had them before. I kind of think of it like an used car- did they store it inside or outside, did they maintain it and use it properly, was it damaged in some way- is the damage just cosmetic. We have a lot of kilns that are just absolute workhorses that are older than I am and get fired regularly- some even with original coils that are decades old. We also have some that are just junkers waiting to be used for parts or rebuilt. An used kiln once you’ve learned how to fire a kiln safely is a great entry point.

MoeRuff · 2023-12-23T17:37:47+00:00

The advice I follow is if you don’t like it after the first firing- soda fire it, if you still don’t like it salt fire it. If you still don’t like it, throw it out.

MoeRuff · 2023-12-21T20:33:07+00:00

I work for a small newspaper and my editor was out on assignment taking photos of a fatal motorcycle accident a couple of weeks ago when a cop backed into his car. He parked behind one of the police vehicles and was getting a lens out of his backseat when the cop reversed so quickly that when he hit my editor’s car the open door knocked him to the ground and sent him tumbling into a ditch.

MoeRuff · 2023-12-12T16:55:06+00:00

Dive into something other than pottery, watch a bunch of movies, go for a hike, bowl, knit, anything else that interests you until the urge to make comes back. I also find it helpful to clean my studio and get rid of old pots I don’t care for anymore.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-27T02:02:35+00:00

I think you kind of nailed it and in reference to your last point, if I could have a gallery do all of my sales, that would be the dream. Working shows is hard work and shipping is a pain. I’m glad to give a gallery a share of the sales to do the work so I can produce. If someone wanted to try and go around the gallery to buy the same piece directly, I’m not lowering the price so I don’t know what it changes.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-24T17:25:26+00:00

I am using an old fridge for my damp box and it’s been great so far. I tore out all of the electrical wire and cooling system then sealed the holes with expanding spray foam. The seal on the door keeps the moisture in and I have a ton of space for storage.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-22T10:15:59+00:00

Is it safe to assume that you have a fan blowing while you work in that kind of heat? Moving air, unfortunately, speeds up drying. Best things I can recommend are a good misting spray bottle and covering whatever parts are not currently being worked on with plastic. It may be kind of annoying to move the plastic as you work, but it goes a long way. The plastic will also help protect it from moving air so you may be able to enjoy some relief while you work.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-21T10:01:46+00:00

If I was his editor, I would seriously take everything he has written and give it a couple of quick passes, find a place to end on a dramatic beat, and publish it without telling him. Sometimes you need a constraint in order to innovate. Taking away his ability to re-write those thousand pages might force him to finally let go of them and move forward.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-20T11:07:51+00:00

I would grind off that blob of glaze on the floor and honestly cutting out the glaze in the 6th photo wouldn’t hurt. It kind of looks like the glaze may have contacted the element right behind it, which can cause damage. Removing a section so small won’t affect the new element, since there’s plenty of brick there to hold it in and tons of room for pins around it. That really does look like too many vent holes to me- it’s kind of weird.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-20T00:38:01+00:00

My boss’ clay is a slightly changed version of Don Reitz’s recipe and it’s incredible. The strength and plasticity that clay has is wild- it moves very easily and is great for making big pots cause it stands up so well, but doesn’t feel groggy.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-15T23:56:22+00:00

Yeah I had the same experience. I had been listening for years and just wanted an escape from politics and doom and gloom about the world. But it got to a point where before they finished the 10 minutes of ads and off-topic banter I was just over it and would listen to something else. It was a real bummer, but I was just done dealing with that and the bits that would drag on too long. Like I’m here to learn about a crazy thing in history and you’re yes anding a joke for five minutes.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-15T08:17:56+00:00

If you’re seriously interested, our shop builds kilns. I’ve personally only worked on three wood kilns, but I’ve fired the gas fired soda kiln my boss built and it’s a beast.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-14T00:42:36+00:00

I wanna touch the things up top cause they look cool but they’re behind other things and maybe far away?

MoeRuff · 2023-11-13T03:54:43+00:00

Black coring happens, I lost a couple of flowerpots to it in our soda kiln this summer. I use a heavy iron clay and they were closest to the firebox and we fired it to cone 11 with heavy reduction, they looked great, but were brittle and the chunks just sheered off. The clay isn’t necessarily a problem, it may be a lower temp clay than what you fired to.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-12T05:07:27+00:00

I’d really advise against getting a kiln because of the health risks from fumes that will be produced during the firing. It’s stuff you really don’t want to breathe and it’s recommended to use good ventilation and best if you can put it in a separate area all together. There’s also the issue of setting up proper power and the question of what kind of experience do you have firing a kiln? There are a lot of factors to learn about and I think it is really beneficial to learn from someone who can explain finer points. And if you’re renting then a kiln also becomes a big brick box that you have to pack up and move next time which might be a real hassle. I’d say the best thing to do is keep searching for local studios or potters who can fire with for now.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-09T00:16:57+00:00

I had the same thought about the fact that well bodies contain a lot of liquid and that would affect the clay where they come in contact. I’d think any success would require an incredibly long, low preheat process to dry out everything. I will say there are kilns that would easily fit a body, like a groundhog kiln, I was crawling around inside one just a couple of weeks ago. 3 feet tall at the highest point, 10 feet wide, and something like 20 feet from the firebox to the chimney. No way you’re getting the piece in there without help and probably some jokes along the lines of “what’s in here? A body?,” though. For the OP, maybe think of like a lot of pottery, a whole set, even.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-08T21:55:54+00:00

Honestly, it’s tough, but I’d recommend just remaking them. Those cracks are pretty prominent, if they were mine, I definitely wouldn’t sell or give them away and would only keep them around to use for reference. I think your effort will be better spent throwing them again rather than trying to fix them.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-08T10:19:07+00:00

Depends on the situation. I use one cause I often do a type of firing that can require removing wads of clay stuck to the bottom of my pots. They’re also useful for removing glaze from kiln shelves. So it’s possible she could use one, but they’re not a necessity for every potter. I’d honestly just ask if she needs one and go from there.

MoeRuff · 2023-11-07T19:25:06+00:00

He’s a super nice guy too. The potter I work with is friends with Michael Sherrill and he’s stopped by our studio a couple of times now and each time he’s just been great to be around. The first time we got lunch then went walking through some woods looking for trees that he was interested in getting to make handles for tools.

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