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Pottery Class

Darren Wright

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
So my wife was looking for something different to do for her birthday this year. It looks like we're signed up for a 5 week pottery class at a local shop on the square. We'll see where this rabbit hole goes, I'm not opposed to another hobby, if I can find time to actually do it. ;)

BTW, I can remember doing pottery in high school and have several pieces that our kids did in HS as well. This is one our son did in HS. Can anyone name the movie it's based on?
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Bill Satko said:
Easy one, The Shawshank Redemption. My wife just finished putting some handles on two items she just made. A cup from the wheel and a hand built pitcher. They now need to dry bone hard; then be bisque fired, glazed and finally glaze fired.
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Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Yup, even has the hole behind the poster on the wall. ;)

Your wife does beautiful work. The textures she did I'm sure are by hand, but was just thinking of what we could do for making moulds/stamps using the CNC for tiles and other embellishments.
 
I took a pottery class. I think it was only 8 sessions. During that time I turned a small pencil cup, a plate and a vahse. The vahse was suitable for any yard weed you wanted to put into it.

We still have the vahse and pencil cup. I am pretty sure the plate went the way of the major award in A Christmas Story but I dare not say it out loud.
 
Brent Dowell said:
Here's the extent of my pottery skills, Made in 8th grade, lol.

Can't believe I still have it and that I haven't thrown it away. Been dragging it around for 47 years.


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Of all of those I've seen, that's certainly one of them. :rofl:

Fortunately, I don't think there's any remaining photographic evidence of any of my ceramic work, lol.
 
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So the pottery class has been a bit interesting. I'm not sure our instructor had much of a class outline for learning the various things about working with clay. I have learned quite a bit more just doing youtube videos as far as technical things. She's been in the process of moving from her old space to her new, and she's been a bit distracted. The first few classes we start throwing something on the wheel and then she's off doing something else. This last class I was a bit more persistent about making her stick close by asking lots of questions, it made her finally sit down and stick with us. She is very knowledgable, I just don't think she's used to teaching adults as most of her day is teaching classes for kids that are home schooling.

Overall, the class is kind of a bust from being a crash course in pottery. I can certainly center and throw a pot just fine now, but I couldn't tell you a lot about the details of pottery.

It has been good though for my wife and I doing some kind of hobby together, and as an enjoyable date night activity. :) We did decide we like it well enough to do maybe more specific classes and buy a wheel.

I actually bought a used kiln that the instructor for $100. It needs some new elements and patches/repairs, but for the price I'm well ahead already...I think. :rolleyes:

I don't think the manufacture is around anymore, but there are companies that make the replacement elements, specific to this kiln. I'll need to also patch a crack in the lid. It's a hairline, but they make cement for the purpose. A few of the element channels are broke on the inside in a short section. The pieces are there and I may be able to re-attach those, but will use element staples to hold the elements otherwise.
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It does have a kiln sitter on it rather than the newer touch controls with a thermocouple.
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I'll have to also figure out how I want to vent this, and set it up with a rolling base. We're looking to order a wheel and we'll buy supplies from our instructor. I'm also wanting the kiln for some fused glass work and may get back to doing some stained glass that I used to do.
 
Brent Dowell said:
Will be interesting to see what it costs to refurbish, but for 100$ seems like most of the important parts are there.
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Dave Hawksford said:
I had an old kiln for years and had no use for it. I must had sold it 30 years ago. Now I wish I never did.
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I’ve looked on FB market place around me and seen some decent deals on them for $400 to $1000. Considering a new one can start at $2k and quickly go to $4k plus for a smaller kiln than this one., it was a deal even with needing repairs.

The new elements are going to be about $220 to replace all of them. I still need to check the controls out, but she said they did work, just one or two elements needed replacing. The cement needed is only about $30 for repairing cracks. If I decide to update the controller, those range from $200 to $700, and a thermocouple, fuses,, and some solid state relays.
 
Thanks for stirring up a good memory. We were a potting family. The city showed up the first time we fired up a new gas kiln at mom and dad's (dad was part owner of a ceramics supply outfit). We froze the meter and set off some sensors down the line. Dad laid in a larger pipe / meter set from the street to the backyard and all was well from there on out. There are still pieces from that era decorating my back yard and house. The large one on the right is one of dad's bears.
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The little bear on the left is a study piece by mom. The owl is mom's too. She made them by the batch. There must be a hundred of them in all sizes scattered around the south-land.
 
I think buying used and doing the necessary repairs and replacement of the elements is very smart way to go. Quite often you can also buy a used wheel, as they can also be very expensive.

My wife's kiln is also on wheels which makes it nice for a small space. She bought a induced draft fan for it which I installed and hard piped along the wall before connecting to a flexible duct. It works great to keep fumes down and is also recommended to help even distribution of heat in the kiln. We may install an overhead hood over the kiln if we find that the kiln generates too much heat in the summer.

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My current mixed doubles partner (pickleball) is a women from MA who comes to the Methow Valley each winter to CC ski for a couple of months. I met her last winter and she is back. Her wife is a very skilled potter and my wife has opened up her "studio" for her to work in while she is here. My wife and her have been busy throwing the last month so that they can do a bisque firing and then a glaze fire. Here is just one item our friend is working on: a tea kettle.

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My contribution to my wife's pottery also includes sharpening her trimming tools which I am getting very good at. In fact our friend was very impressed with how sharp they were and suggested she might have to send hers our way. Just what I need! Between the kitchen knives, my own tools besides my wife's I am beginning to think all I do is sharpen things. Besides those trimming tools are a beast to sharpen.

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I hadn’t thought about the tools needing to be sharp like that, certainly makes sense.

We’ve been watching a series called the “Great Pottery Throw Down”, an English show. They can be watched on the Max streaming service. It’s interesting seeing all the things they make and techniques used. They have a few shorts on YouTube, but the show is several contestants competing for top potter.
 
I have never done pottery, but it always looked like fun. I had a friend that was a turner. He turned bowls, but his niche was he also made beautiful fused glass things. This make me think of it because fused glass requires a kiln also. So he started make fused glass lids for his bowl.. They were very beautiful and he sold a bunch of them.
 
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