r/Pottery • • Mar 27 '26

Question! Ceramic artists: stereotypes and prejudices?

7 Upvotes

Hello everyone!
On Monday (March 30), we’ll be welcoming ceramic artist Lea as a guest on “Work hard – play hard”, a series on Twitch. Hosted by ARD, the biggest German Public Media Broadcaster. It won’t be a traditional interview. Lea will be testing various simulation games designed to "replicate" her craft (i.e. Sims4 & Master of Pottery).

Our goal is to find out how realistic these games actually are and what everyday life in her profession really looks like. To help break down prejudices, viewers can unlock so-called “prejudice questions”. And now it’s your turn:

What preconceptions about the profession of ceramic artist have you come across? What are the weirdest/stupidest/funniest "frequently asked questions" you had to answer? And: What topics related to the job need to be discussed urgently? 

We’d love to include your questions in the show. Thank you!

P.S. Thanks to the mods for allowing us to post here.


r/Pottery • • Dec 04 '25

Kiln Stuff PSA for the holiday season: DON’T buy someone a kiln

1.0k Upvotes

With Christmas approaching the “I want to surprise my [wife/boyfriend/mother/cat/DoorDash driver] with a kiln, what should I get them?” threads are beginning to show up daily.

Do not buy this person a kiln.

Even if they’ve told you they’d like a kiln someday. Even if they’re frustrated with having to take their work somewhere to be fired.

The only circumstance in which a kiln is an acceptable gift is if this person has told you “I want a kiln for Christmas, and here’s the specific model I want.” Period.

A kiln is not like a new TV. Kilns need specific electrical and ventilation requirements that your house/garage/shed/whatever almost certainly does not have. The electrical work needs to be done by a professional, and it needs to be done right- many kilns use heavier gauge wiring and bigger circuit breakers than you typically encounter in a residential setting, and using undersized wire can start a fire. In some cases, especially older houses, the home’s entire electrical service will need to be upgraded. In a best case scenario you’re probably looking at around $1000 in additional expense before you can even turn the kiln on. Worst case you could incur costs approaching $10,000.

Kilns come in all shapes and sizes with different capabilities, and what works for one potter may not work for another. Also, many used kilns you find for sale online aren’t capable of being used for ceramics at all.

Surprising someone with a kiln is like surprising someone with a horse. Without being prepared to take it in the prospect is a burden, not a gift.

If you really, REALLY want to buy someone a kiln for Christmas, have this conversation: “I want to buy you a kiln. Let’s pick one out together.”

Happy holidays!


r/Pottery • • 9h ago

Artistic Ceramic fortune cookies

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2.2k Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 3h ago

Mugs & Cups Two new bird sgrafitto mugs

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144 Upvotes

These are both gifts - the osprey mug depicts a scene with special meaning, and the belted kingfisher is the recipient's favorite bird. It is driving me up the wall that I accidentally dripped a tiny bit of the liner glaze on the kingfisher's face but I'm trying to accept the imperfection. Constructive criticism always appreciated!


r/Pottery • • 10h ago

Jars Schrödinger's Jar

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212 Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 3h ago

Bowls Some bowls I made yesterday

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56 Upvotes

Spent 5-6 hours making these yesterday in one sitting because I wanted to practice trimming. Took inspiration from how Florian Gadsby does his trimming. If you haven’t heard of him, do yourself a favor and go to his YouTube channel. The first 3 bowls are made with WSO clay and the last one was made with Bmix. Lmk if you think there is anything else I could do to perfect “the bowl.”


r/Pottery • • 7h ago

Mugs & Cups hoa hoa hoa season

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82 Upvotes

i’ll never beat this i fear


r/Pottery • • 3h ago

Hand building Related Home studio=bliss

34 Upvotes

You may remember me from a previous post where I moaned about everyone talking politics in my community studio, the costs being high for what I was getting out of the membership, and just feeling torn on what I should do.

Brought home all my glazes and tools from the community studio. Brought home clay I hadn’t gotten around to using. Hubby and I set up a small space in our basement. I have a couple of other tools on order. Have a bucket system in place. Will fire my greenware at a nearby studio that rents out kiln space, but am planning to save up to splurge on a small kiln in the future.

Spent the last couple of hours hand-building a footed bowl while listening to soft jazz and the Digger movie soundtrack. 🪏

I wish I had done this a lot sooner.


r/Pottery • • 8h ago

Artistic meet the whole crew together

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57 Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Glazing Techniques Trilobite Test Tile collection grows!

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1.1k Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 10h ago

Firing Fist high fire ever

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17 Upvotes

First time throwing with porcelain this glaze didn’t do what I thought it would do. High school art student btw so please be nice!


r/Pottery • • 12h ago

Firing Wood firing in PNW of US

19 Upvotes

Long shot, but I am moving from the east coast of the US to the PNW. I know we have many wood fire options where I currently live, but as I’m searching for some in the PNW area, I’m seeing way less than expected. Anyone know of any options in the area? Thank you!


r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Vases handcoiled vase :)

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501 Upvotes

I was so excited about how this glaze flowed with the shape that I didn’t notice one of the handle holes got filled, embracing the asymmetry of it though!


r/Pottery • • 3h ago

Teapots Work-in-process teapots, unsure how I’m going to glaze them

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2 Upvotes

I had three, but unfortunately knocked the best looking one over onto the floor. Clay is New Mexico Ironstone


r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Artistic My first collection of pieces.

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190 Upvotes

I’m still learning but it’s lovely to have a body of owrk start to come together.


r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Vases Pot raccoon pot

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237 Upvotes

So happy with how this guy turned out! Hand painted with underglaze


r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Pricing Questions 💱 Looking for advice for my first market

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227 Upvotes

Hey I’m doing my first ever marker on Saturday, and im pretty stumped with pricing. I just like to give my work away to friends and family usually and I’m not very business minded. If any of you have sold similar work can you let me know what sorts of prices you go for?

For context:

Location/ where the items are being sold- the market will be in stoke on Trent (uk) and it is a ceramics fair with 40 other potters. So it’s a good vibe but also West Midlands so not like London prices or south of England prices.

How long each takes to make- I find it hard to quantify how long it takes to make each item, I’m pretty scatterbrained and not the most logical, plus I feel like I’ve really sped up with my sgraffito recently, so what used to take ages I can knock out quite quickly. So figuring out how much to sell something for that way, isn’t straightforward in my opinion.

Overheads: the stall price is £40 for the day.

I see locally spoon rests going for about £12 and then mugs going anything from £18-25. Then I’ve seen in posher areas mugs on sale for like £30-35 though I think that wouldn’t sell in my area… I’ve looked online but I feel like Etsy has such a massive range it’s hard to gauge.

Then the more artistic items, like a sgraffito vase or jug, or a sodium silicate pot I have zero clue on pricing and feel really unsure.


r/Pottery • • 9h ago

Question! Which brown for a fawn color

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4 Upvotes

Okay so wanting to see which brown would best emulate this like fawn color brown, definitely leaning towards the more rich dark brown! These are the underglazes I picked up. Terracotta, chocolate brown, and spice brown


r/Pottery • • 9h ago

Mugs & Cups a little mix of my work :) its made in gres

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3 Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 16h ago

Question! Another clay & water question - rehydrating

5 Upvotes

When clay just needs a little rehydration, I've been following the clay in a bag in a bucket of water method but the water always gets in the bag. I've double bagged, used brand new clay bags, ziploc bags, and food grade bags. I keep running into this issue and end up with a sloppy mess. Suggestions?


r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Artistic Mistakes were made, but I had fun.

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41 Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Artistic Some Deprecins, are modeled sides by hand and cone 06-012 🫐🩵

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118 Upvotes

r/Pottery • • 14h ago

Question! Why do my glazes come out like this?

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4 Upvotes

I never learned how to properly glaze because my teacher wasn’t the best, but I still have access to the studio and their glazes and am trying to finish glazing some final pieces.

Any ideas as to why this is happening?


r/Pottery • • 12h ago

Help! Anyone know the cause for this?

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0 Upvotes

I wiped the bisque fired piece and let dry before glazing and it still turned out this way. Looking for some tips? Too thin, too thick?

Cone 10 if that matters.


r/Pottery • • 1d ago

Vases Marble Pot

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100 Upvotes