Making Pots

So ive now made a few pots out of clay slabs. They dont look to bad but they do look a little rough. I would love to see how some of the potters make there pots so exact and also glazing techniques. I cant find anything on the internet, just one youtube video of a man making a tokoname pot. If you scared people will take your pottery master secrets then just pm me. If yall would like to see some of my mediocre pots just ask and ill post them. (they havent been bisque fired yet but I do have some sort of a plan with glazes)

Jake said:


So ive now made a few pots
out of clay slabs. They dont look to bad but they do look a little
rough.

Hi Jake,
Good for you we need more potters , lets see them !

I would love to see how some of the potters make there pots so
exact and also glazing techniques. I cant find anything on the internet,
just one youtube video of a man making a tokoname pot.

O man there is so much, how about start with http://www.potters.org/ ....thousand years of experience

If you scared
people will take your pottery master secrets
then just pm me. If yall would like to see some of my mediocre pots
just ask and ill post them. (they havent been bisque fired yet but I do
have some sort of a plan with glazes)

I don't think there is any need to hide secrets in this age of information. Here is a primer on three ways to make a bonsai pot

Vids by me of my friend "great ladies of bonsai pottery"

Hand Building
https://youtu.be/1Sizx3oLqpw

Throwing
https://youtu.be/tbBDcQ96h2w

Mold made
https://youtu.be/LvFfPk7AA04


Good Luck ...let me know if you get stuck,

Big D

Thanks Dave,

Ill look at those links asap. I will also put up pics of the pots later tonight along with sketches for pots I am going to try to make this week end. I know how to throw, but im not trying to make thousands of round pots

Hey Jake,
Thanks for posting your question, it has spurred me to action, rather than taking over your thread I have started one to share my method of making pots. I am still very much a beginner but have thoroughly enjoyed the journey so far. https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t11829-carving-a-pot#123590

I too would be keen to see some of your first pots, I have always been a pot nut & now making them has increased my pot obsession I am always looking at others work...

Matt

Matt,

Thats awesome, Im not gonna lie at first I was thinking that your pots were going to be a "little" klunky What tools are you using to carve it?

Here are my pots

This one is my first attempt. It had really nice feet but they broke off .


Second is a shohin forest planting pot. The sides are curve along with the bottom "lip". This will have a cracked glazed that gets darker at the line.



Third is just a pot for a conifer, I forgot exactly what im going to do to this pot but it will be a dark brown.

Hey Jake,
They look great, better than my first attempts, its great to see decent size drainage holes too

I only use a few basic tools, have updated the thread with a pic & one of the first pot now its been finished. It can be hard in the early stages to see how it could ever become a pot, but little by little the final shape is revealed.
Matt

Thanks

I know that Jim said make big drainage holes in another thread I have. Plus it just makes sense. The last pot is my favorite. I cant wait to sand it down and have it fired.

If you can, you need to add feet to those first pots. It won't matter how large the drainage holes are if the pot lies flat on the table. It won't drain.

Otherwise, lovely work.

Jake,

nicely done. Holes seem a little large, see how the screen handles it with the soil weight.
Best to you.
Khaimraj

what excelent first pots

you are in a lucky osition to get the drain holes you need for the planned trees in exactly the right places - great big ones like these are really good for trees you want to stay on the dry side, little ones are far more useful though for trees that must not dry out too quickly though. I dont like a large drain hole under the trunk of my bigger trees as this area is notoriously dry anyway and i like solid clay if possible to keep the fine roots in this area moist.

feet are essential to allow air circulation up through the drain holes as well as aiding draining.

nice work
Marcus

Hello Jake

These are nice pots as a start!

I would love to see how some of the potters make there pots so exact and also glazing techniques.

There are no real secrets Jake....there are just only things you will discover for yourself.
This is a big big part of the fun with clay.
All I like to say as an "advice"......Don't work to wet. Try to find the right clay that suits you.
AND....most important.....LOOK AT YOUR WORK! Take the time and look at the details.....IS IT REALLY WELL DONE?
Criticize yourself!

I cant find anything on the internet, just one youtube video of a man making a tokoname pot.

You don't have to look at bonsaipotters.....there is so much on youtube! ....look at any potter's hands.

Kind regards
Martin

These look pretty good for first attempts. Did you make them in some kind of pottery class? Can you describe the method a little bit?

Thanks every one for the replies, sorry for the late reply im not getting emails about the post anymore.

Jim,

The table (plastic containers) that I have my trees on has really big holes in it for drainage.

Coh,

This is a ceramics one class at my college I took for a studio art credit. I had a nack for it and this project was to create a still life, and since I hate nonfunctional objects I decided to make pots and a ceramic tree.

How I made them,

First I threw out a slab to a thickness that I liked. Then I waited for it to dry to a point where it wasnt to flexible. For my designs I cut pieces of paper for the bottom of the pot shape. For the walls I cut a long rectangle and attached it to the bottom by slipping and scoring. For a lip I just made a slightly wider long rectangle and attached it the same way I did the walls. Feet are the same way, long rectangle that I cut an angle into to get the look I wanted. If I was unclear or you need more explanation please dont hesitate to ask. For the rectangle pot I remembered that I was going to put an oxide on it.

Jake16 wrote:Thanks Dave,

Ill look at those links asap.

Very nice start my man.

Hope you get and "A" in your class.

When I took ceramics 1 professor marked me down, he said, "too repetitive, and everything has holes in it, what with all the holes?"

--Big D

Thanks BigDave,

Thats hilarious, my professor is real chill and was all for me making pots. He also said we could make anything ee wanted in our spare time.

This is my version of a drum pot and it is suppose to look very rustic, a very hand built feel. The walls have cracks in them (on purpose) and it is going to have iron oxide when its fired.



This one will have a glaze that stops just above the feet. Probably green. Also it was dropped from about chest height and I managed to save it some how, but the shape is a little off.


This is an oval pot. There is a cheesy mountain scene that I scratched in and put black slip in to. Then I will put a blue celadon glaze on it and the black slip "scene" will show through



This is one of my favorite pots and im not sure about the glaze. Its either going to be a nice color or the iron oxide.


This pot was a pain in the a** to make. That is a dark cinnamon under glaze. I might put a clear coat on it and I might also reglaze it after the first firing.

Wow, those last 2 and the one above the mountain scene pot are very nice. You'll have to update with pics when the glaze is done. I noticed you said that one of the pots was to be glazed, but not the feet - for me, the feet are a bit jarring when they are not glazed as well.
But nice work!

Thsnk you JudyB,

Ill see if I can find the pot I was copying that from, it might just turn into a two color glaze to visually break up the pot

I also see what your saying about the feet not being glazed. I dont like that either but I did find this example and I would like mine to look something like it.


By Rob Addonizio

That pot by Rob A. is super nice.

Jake16 wrote: it might just turn into a two color glaze to visually break up the pot

Jake,

Skills are improving, good job. The first focus of most viewers is the top rim. Focus extra energy to perfecting the lip and you are there.

I use the surform tool a lot for evening out rims... this guy



Any home improvement store has these

Good Luck,

Big D

Thanks for the tip, we have surforms, I mostly use an exacto knife very carefully because I feel that I have more control.

Jake16 wrote: I mostly use an exacto knife

Cool, looks like you are getting good instruction.

you might enjoy the clay forum...

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/index/page__s__4e4c04828c3e7ac42f6312467d42960e

G'luck

D