#Potters

Most potters don’t realise they’re doing this when pulling a tall cylinder 👀 It can even ruin an otherwise perfect pull. When the inside hand applies too much outward pressure on a tall cylinder, the clay begins to tilt and eventually buckle. This often happens when the inside hand or forearm pushes too hard into the inner walls, it should apply just enough force to stabilise the cylinder during the pull. It’s easy to miss when you’re focused on bringing the clay up, in the rhythm of the pull. Buckling can have several causes, but most of the time it comes down to imbalanced pressure during the pull(or in this case, after). It also happens with overpressure from the outside hand(Pushing in too hard.) Both hands should be guiding the clay upward toward a shared central point: an imaginary point that stays perfectly aligned with the axis of the wheel 🎯 Too much drag or pulling too quickly can also cause buckling, but that’s a topic for another time. ✅ Tips: • When pulling, try to look at the entire cylinder, not just where your hands are. Your eyes should move up and down the form, constantly gathering information and adjusting in real time. (It’s difficult to catch this if you’re rushing through your pulls.) • Throwing in front of a mirror can help if you haven’t tried it. Personally, I prefer throwing without one. Another great option is to film yourself from different angles so you can spot small habits you might not notice while throwing 🎥 Bonus tip of you've read this far: • Sitting too close (or too far) from the wheel changes how your hands & arms moves. Pay attention to each time you're at the wheel. And general body posture. Being too hunched over makes you tense and unable to adapt 😉👍🏼 Filming my own practice and reviewing it later was actually how most of my self-learning happened. It’s also how this account started 4 years ago. ☺️ I hope this helps. When there’s a wobble, it’s always better to address the root cause. But knowing how to fix it is also a valuable skill. I’ll show you how I fixed this in the next video 🙂 have a good day ✨ . . . . . #potterytips #wheelthrowing #tips #potterytechniques #clay

This is Master Potter Kwon Tae-young completing a large moon jar at the Master Potters Pavilion during the ceramics festival. The process of joining the upper and lower sections and refining the round form is captured here. From a long oval shape to a full, rounded form, the piece is shaped through repeated, careful movements—almost as if it’s being gently guided into form over time. To be honest, when I first saw the oval shape, I thought, “Did it go wrong…?” But watching it gradually take on a perfectly round form, little by little—like a snail—it was truly fascinating. Thank you for watching this long video, and we’ll continue to share more from the festival. Thank you! #rowonstudio #pottery #wheelthrowing #ceramicprocess #potteryclass

Experienced potters, what did I miss? 😆 #creatorsearchinsights #potteryclass #beginnerpottery #potterywheel

50k followers… what?! 🤯 I mean, I knew it was coming so it wasn’t exactly a surprise 😂… but it still feels very surreal seeing that number. Thank you so, so much for being here and following along. It genuinely means the world, especially knowing so many of you are potters, creatives, and small business owners. I kept telling myself that when I got close to 50k I’d plan something to celebrate… but I haven’t thought of anything yet, other than thank you! But I’d actually love to know, what do you want to see more of from me going forward? More pottery process / throwing / trimming videos? More honest business advice? More behind-the-scenes of running a creative business? Or anything specific you’re curious about? 👀

Sometimes destroying something makes it way better. This is a quick tutorial on how to make a bookend set of planters on the potters wheel. If you have any questions on the process just let me know! #ceramics #pottery #clay #tutorials #plants

It’s interesting how beginner potters try to center their very first pieces for trimming, even when those pieces aren’t quite even yet. And that makes learning the technique much harder. If you want to learn tap centering or the method I use, take a smooth, symmetrical, and preferably heavy object and practice with that first. Once the skill is solid on a simple object, you can move on to working with your real pieces. #potterymaking #potteryvideos #potterywheel

I've seen the match striker made by other potters before, but I always wondered if there was a way of holding the match striker WHILE lighting the match AND discarding the match. I've always seen lids that people have to lift to discard the burnt matches but then you have to put the match striker down! I wanted an uninterrupted candle lighting experience... So I took inspiration from my love of mugs, added a handle, and now we have the Mug Match Striker... Do we like the prototype? Should I make more? #matchstriker #creativeexperiments #potterylove #creativepottery #handmadepottery

I think as craftspeople, us potters can be quite well adjusted to failure, after all, a significant part of the process, the final step, as it were, is completed in a fiery, flame-filled chamber where we can’t see inside and only have ‘limited’ control. Firings can change everything and as there’s always a few duff pots, failure becomes a regular part of the process as opposed to some rare phenomenon. With that said, there are times where failure isn’t as heartbreaking, for instance, if a vessel cracks of breaks when it’s bone dry, at least it the material used can be recycled and reused, the clay softened back to a slurry and reconstituted into a workable consistency via a reclamation process. Whereas with the bowl in this video, with the pot smashed after the biscuit firing to 1000ºC, the vessel is no longer recyclable as the clay has partly vitrified, essentially reversing millions of years of erosion as stone is turned to softer clay. Then there’s failure at the final step, after the glaze firing like discussed at the beginning. This is the hardest pill to swallow in my opinion as you’ve used all the energy in terms of fuel to fire it, it’s taken up space in the kiln only to emerge as a ruined waste. Breakage and failure are two facets that with time you get a better grip of, yet both still regularly make appearances no matter how careful you are. #pottery #oddlysatisfying #craft #ceramics #fail

potter’s kitchen class at @theclaycentre filmed 98% of the reel back in December and I’ve been procrastinating filming the last two clips since 🤦🏽‍♀️ #pottery #wheelthrown #clay #ceramic

1. Beginner potters should start with hand building, and then move on to the wheel. 2. Air dry clay isn’t food safe, even when sealants or resin is used. 3. You probably already own 99% of the tools you need to make pottery. 4. The bumps and fingerprints are what makes the piece, not what breaks it. If this is you, you’ve found the right account - welcome! Follow along for handbuilding tips that will get you making.

This might be the easiest glaze cleanup hack I’ve seen… A simple tray + wet carpet = perfectly clean pot bottoms. No more messy sponges. No more over-wiping. Just slide and done. Honestly, for beginner potters (especially kids), cleaning the bottom is always a struggle—and this makes it way more simple and even kinda fun. I’m definitely making a few of these for my studio on glaze days. Pro tip: keep the carpet damp, not soaking wet, so you don’t mess with your glaze thickness. Shoutout to @marlooceramics for this one 🙌 Would you try this setup? #potteryhack #ceramics #glazing #potterytips #claystudio

Here's something that I was thinking about: Like how we all have our comfort food, space or people that we return to after a long day, I feel as potters, there's a comfort form or technique that we unknowingly return to, hand built or wheel thrown, or maybe both. It's a shape that knows us, one that our hands remember even when our minds are wandering. In its familiar curves, we find a sense of ease, a quiet confidence that comes from creating something that's fundamentally ours. I find myself returning to this form lately on the wheel - a shape that draws me back to it even though I try staying away from it for the sake of it not becoming my identity. What once started as a curious experiment, became something that evolved with me. It's not just about aesthetics; it's the memory of touch, the rhythm of the clay, and the quiet confidence of creating something familiar. Like comfort food for the soul, in its curves, I find a sense of belonging — a reminder that some things remain, through all the shaping and unshaping. ❤️ What's your comfort form that calls you back?