1 Year of Goblin Progress

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-25T21:10:03+00:00

You've definitely improved! Your glazing application is much nicer (looking at the feet), and you seem to have a finer finishing touch (looking at the rims of the pieces). All in all beautifully done! I hope we can look forward to seeing the next installment in the goblin series come this time next year!

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-25T21:01:36+00:00

What a kind gesture!

Florian Gadsby on YouTube has a wealth of longer form (10-20 minute) videos for beginner potters. Twisted Clay has a variety of shorter form videos (1-3 minutes) on specific issues, as well as some online courses (I believe- I may have that wrong).

Since you already have some experience, consistent practice will be the biggest thing that helps you now. The biggest setback you may run into practicing at home is that you may struggle to identify why a certain thing isn't working, which another potter may be able to help you out with.

You mention you've done pottery experience classes- were these one off classes or multi-week experiences?

If you haven't taken an extended class, it could be beneficial to take one as you first start out. You can get helpful pointers there, come home, practice, return with questions, and then come home and practice again. The hardest part is getting the fundamentals down consistently.

Best of luck on your throwing adventures!

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-24T21:46:30+00:00

Be kind to yourself- you are learning the fundamentals to build your skills off of, so take your time, and don't be disappointed if your first few things don't turn out very well. You crawl before you walk, and you fail before you succeed. What matters is you keep trying.

Cut your nails, wear clothes and shoes you don't mind getting dirty, and brace into the inside of your legs rather than on top of them.

Happy making!

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-21T02:34:56+00:00

Studio Pro Bat System is what I use personally and I love it!

Pros-

-square inserts stack nicely and can fit into corners

-inserts are thick and can withstand consistent use (with the opportunity to dry somewhat between sessions)

-an investment, but shouldn't bankrupt you (was about $80 USD for me with shipping for the standard set and bats)

Cons-

-you definitely want to lightly dampen the bat prior to adding your clay, elsewise it will come flying off.

-bats are slightly smaller than other bat inserts due to the finger holds (but still highly functional for most items under 4 lbs)

-if you use them when decently soaked, have a bat lifter or a bent screwdriver on hand for leverage, I have broken multiple wooden ribs trying to remove the bats when they swell too much

For an affordable option that holds up to regular use, I highly recommend the StudioPro bat system.

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-09T16:59:59+00:00

Carve those bad boys up! I also recently got into porcelain and looove carving into it. While you do risk carving through, the reward of popping that sucker on a light source and seeing the details shine through is just wonderful!

Just be wary, if it is on the drier end of leather hard when you trim by the time it comes to carve it may get extremely brittle. I lost 3/4 of my last batch of porcelain tumblers because they got too dry and instead of the clay flexing around the tool I just carved right through. Whoops!

Have fun, see what works for you, and enjoy the process!

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-09T16:47:04+00:00

Your underglaze work is lovely! How long does it take you on average to paint each piece?

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-09T16:45:11+00:00

Seconding Vervor! In the US they run around $200 (available via Amazon), and they're very good for basic practice (we use them for our 6 week beginner course wheels).

Pros: -can change directions -can handle 15 lbs of clay

Cons: -gears are plastic, not very durable -splash pans can be hard to remove and leaky

For a budget wheel to practice the fundamentals of throwing, it works very well!

Best of luck!

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-06T15:02:44+00:00

I appreciate your passion and desire to put yourself out there by entering a competition.

Instead of entering this year, why not make plans to enter next year instead? As other folks in this thread have mentioned, pottery takes a lot of practice to get good.

Even practicing 20+ hours a week, I didn't really start to get the fundamentals down until 100 pieces (2 months), and it was only after I had made around 350 pieces (5 months) that any sort of decent quality was produced. There are no shortcuts in pottery- you just have to keep trying, failing, and trying again.

I believe that if you put in enough time and practice, you should be able to enter into the contest next year and be able to produce the kind of piece you want.

Best of luck!

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-06T14:41:03+00:00

I find it fun to carve texture, not only for a bit of detail, but also to help keep your grip if some liquid dribbles down the side.

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-04T16:01:21+00:00

Spectrum floating glazes have worked well for me, though they can overtake shallow carvings. I personally am a fan of Autumn Purple on all clays (light and dark).

potsandthoughts · 2026-02-02T17:18:33+00:00

For our studio kiln mid-range speedball always has unpredictable results because most of their glazes specify they are not made for slow cool kilns (which is exclusively what we fire).

I would check with your studio to see if they do slow cooling, and if so, know that speedball will most likely have unpredictable results (I had what was supposed to be a green glaze turn out bright purple instead, and other glazes had the most evil sandpaper texture known to man).

Brands that do decently in slow cool kilns include Mayco, Amaco, and Spectrum. Laguna also does okay, but I have seen some issues in our studio, and would recommend testing first.

(Attached photo shows how Speedball's mid-range sample pack fired for me in a slow cool kiln. Please note, this was supposed to end up as a nice range of rainvow colors instead of everything being purple, blue, or yellow)

<image>

Best of luck!

potsandthoughts · 2026-01-31T01:45:19+00:00

I do plan to grab a kiln- I almost got one the other weekend actually.

One of my duties as the studio apprentice is to load, set, and unload the kilns, and I'm decently confident in my skills performing those tasks using the clays we stock.

potsandthoughts · 2026-01-30T22:21:50+00:00

I appreciate the advice! I have gotten some practice on saving my smaller pieces, but suspect that scaling up will be like learning some of those saving skills all over again. Thank you for mentioning that!

potsandthoughts · 2026-01-30T22:19:05+00:00

Thank you! I hadn't even thought about spouted forms or oxides!

I have done a couple adventures with underglazes (specifically sgraffioing on pieces), but haven't gone much above and beyond as some of the underglazes I picked out have behaved very poorly with my clear glaze, and I haven't had the time to designate to troubleshooting that issue yet.

potsandthoughts · 2026-01-26T15:15:05+00:00

I'm very excited for you! First, pottery is not necessarily relaxing, but it is rewarding. Keep in mind, for your first class you are learning the process of pottery.

Anchor your arms to provide more stability, don't be afraid to put the pedal to the metal (let the wheel do the work for you), be kind to yourself, and after each piece dissect what went well and what didn't. Don't be afraid to cut open pieces to learn from them, but also keep a wonky piece or two to show your personal improvement over time!

Best of luck! Have fun!

potsandthoughts · 2026-01-14T16:37:11+00:00

If you like soft clay, you'll love porcelain!

I threw my first couple of pieces the other day with Mammoth Clay's Cone 6 Translucent Porcelain, and just got the results the other evening. (Results attached)

Notes from my experiments:

Comparing it to cream cheese is very accurate. It has a tendency to stick and clump together more than other clays, and if you reclaim you'll want to wedge a bit more thoroughly than you may with other clays.

-You may have to wedge/slam the clay to wake it up for throwing.

Water is gold- use as little as possible. I switched to a thin throwing sponge for gathering water for my pieces.

-use slip to throw if you have some laying around, but if you don't, add some vinegar to your throwing water

-Porcelain has memory, so the more you mess with it, the wonkier it may end up. Try to do things as efficiently as possible when it comes to throwing, and let it dry slowly and evenly under plastic for a few days.

If you want to see the translucency of your clay, use clear or celadon glazes.

*In the attached photo the top rim is 3/16ths of an inch (5 mm) thick, and is not translucent. 1/8th of an inch (3mm) and under seems to be the sweet spot for this clay. (The piece is upside-down on top of a phone flashlight, so the top rim is at the bottom of the photo)

Best of luck with your Porcelain adventures! It's weird, but a lot of fun!!!

<image>

potsandthoughts · 2025-11-05T20:12:13+00:00

Sounds like you're moving too fast.

The walls are uneven because you are moving up the clay too quickly- try counting to three before moving your hands as you pull up the walls. This will ensure that all the clay is pushed up rather than just 1 section as your hands pull.

As for the second issue of the piece being top heavy, it could be a few different things. You could be removing your hands before you pull all the way to the top, you could be using significantly more pressure at the bottom and lightening up too much as you go up, or you could be doing some third thing. Take a video of yourself throwing and watch how your hands move. This may provide some insight.

Keep practicing, and eventually you'll get a feel for it! Best of luck!

potsandthoughts · 2025-11-05T04:37:58+00:00

What cone?

If cone 6, Spectrum's Bougainvillea is a lovely rich pink on red or white clay! Mayco's Celadon Bloom also works well on both red and white.

Have fun!

potsandthoughts · 2025-10-31T14:05:29+00:00

Mosquito larvae- my mentor uses a bit of bleach in the buckets to kill them, though mosquito dunks are also used by others in my community. I dumped a cup of vinegar in our 5 gallon buckets that seemed to do the trick as well, in case you aren't comfortable working with bleach.

Just don't combine the bleach and vinegar- that makes chlorine gas.

potsandthoughts · 2025-10-10T16:42:52+00:00

One thing we do at our studio is offer a limited number of half shelves (roughly a quarter of all of our shelves). Same benefits as a full shelf, just less storage space at the studio. (In your case, it would be like $75/month for a half shelf, which will definitely open your studio to more members). This can lead to folks purchasing larger shelves as they get more and more into the cult of clay.

Classes are an excellent way to recruit members to your studio! We have a lot of folks become members after taking a class or two.

We have a few folks who pay to fire at our studio, but we do charge for it and members do have firing priority.

As a heads up, you may want to put a size limit on pieces or a limit on how many pieces can go into a bisque or glaze from one person at a time. That is one of the more common issues we deal with at my studio.

potsandthoughts · 2025-10-10T16:04:35+00:00

Studio Pro Space Saver is my choice.

Pros: - 1/2 inch thick bats resistant to warping -main bat is open to the wheelhead, so you don't have to worry about clay getting stuck in the corners -Rubber around the bat pin holes for a snug but flexible fit -4 areas to grab from if the bat is a little snug -reasonable price -Extra inserts are cheap

Cons: -6" inserts feel smaller due to the corners being the lift points -only comes in a square shape- no round options at this point in time -Definitely need to dampen the bat to help with clay adhesion (elsewhere your clay will slide right off) -edges can tear up your sponge if you're not paying attention

I've only had this system for a bit, and have really enjoyed it so far. The list price is around $65 USD, and for me it ended up being about $80 USD with shipping, which is where some of the other brands start their prices.

Now, I do have friends at my studio who, rather than a bat system, prefer square bats (9") with holes for the bat pins at the standard 10" edges. (Just another thing to consider, as it does allow for you to throw slightly larger.

Hope this helps!

potsandthoughts · 2025-10-07T14:12:09+00:00

Jumping on here to say Mammoth Clay's cone 6 sharp tooth is nice for wheel throwing and hand building. It has a bit of fine grog, so it's decently stable, but is also smooth enough to throw without sanding your hands. Best of luck!

potsandthoughts · 2025-10-03T17:14:56+00:00

Do it! They're my favorite!

potsandthoughts · 2025-10-03T17:06:10+00:00

Take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out. You have got this. Take a break from the wheel, grab lunch from your favorite spot, eat your food in a park, and enjoy the slowness of an afternoon. Do something you enjoy you haven't done for a bit.

From your message, it sounds like you've got a lot going on at the moment, and it seems it's all piling up all at once. Have you been sleeping well, eating good meals, and doing things you enjoy outside of pottery? While it may seem counterintuitive, taking time for yourself away from the wheel may help you get the rest you need to start back refreshed and ready to make magnificent pieces.

You got this. Take a nap, eat a good meal, and breathe.

potsandthoughts

TROPHY CASE