Thank you so much for buying my book

I designed the below videos as a companion to some of information featured in the book.

When you’re learning something new it’s helpful to have multiple resources at your fingertips. I hope you find them helpful. There is also a list of all the glazes I used in the book at the bottom of this page.

If you enjoyed my book and the videos below - take a moment to consider joining my Pottery Club. My Pottery Club is a place where I share even more insights into my pottery world - real time video pottery tutorials, lessons and learnings from my 15 Years of potting, PLUS limited edition work and seconds sales and in return you will be supporting my work - I’d love to see you there!

Wedging can be slightly tricky to grasp and as it’s right at the beginning of the process I thought it would be helpful to see the steps I talk about in the book, in action - getting you making quicker!
Watch the videos below and practice, practice, practice! Happy potting.

Slam Cut Wedging - Preparing The Clay - Pottery for Beginners

It is super important to prepare your clay before you start using it. The best pots come from taking your time with preparation. It’s all too easy to think you can skip this step, go straight into the fun making part and if things go wrong, make it right later. I have learned the hard way that this is not true. The clay you buy from a pottery supply store has been processed and packaged in a controlled environment, so it is likely that the moisture content will mostly be fairly even. However, the clay may have been stored for a while before it got to you and may have uneven moisture. This can cause difficulty working with the clay and lead to problems such as cracking or warping. When working in a community or shared studio, the clay you will be using will likely have been recycled and probably be very uneven in its moisture content and the particles may not be sufficiently packed together. In all instances it is super important to prepare the clay properly before you use it. In this video I will show you how.

This video was designed as companion material for my book 'Pottery for Beginners' Order now HERE.

Rams Head Wedging - Preparing The Clay - Pottery for Beginners

Wedging is a way of mixing the clay by hand to even out the moisture contained in it, rid the clay of any air bubbles and get it into the best shape to work with. This will mean you are far less likely to have problems later on in the making process—it is an essential step and cannot be skipped. Wedging may feel a little tricky at first, which is normal. But the more you practice, the easier it will become. It is worth the effort, I promise. And as a bonus, after wedging you won’t need to go to the gym!

So called because the clay will take on the appearance of a ram’s head during the wedging process, what you’re doing here is similar to kneading bread, but instead of adding in air, you are pushing air out. You are mixing the clay and forcing the particles to pack tighter together creating a homogenised lump which will be stronger and easier to work with.

This video was designed as companion material for my book 'Pottery for Beginners' Order now HERE.

Spiral Wedging - Preparing The Clay - Pottery for Beginners

Spiral wedging takes its name from the shape created in the clay during the process: The clay creates a spiral pattern. The Spiral wedging technique is a little more advanced than the Ram’s Head method and takes a little more skill to master. It’s worth putting in the time though, as I find you can wedge more clay in one go. It is also quicker, which gets you started faster. This method is actually very difficult to do slowly, building up your speed and rhythm makes it easier. Getting the spiral going is the hardest part, but once you have started the spiral shape it will become easier.

This video was designed as companion material for my book 'Pottery for Beginners' Order HERE.

Making a Plaster Wedging Board - Setting up your creative corner - Pottery for Beginners

A hard, absorbent surface is perfect to work on when making pottery. The surface needs to be made of something that the clay won’t stick to. You can use natural stone, untreated hardwood, a HardieBacker® Cement Board or a concrete board.

A slab made of potter’s plaster is ideal because it is highly absorbant and it’s heavy so it won’t move around while wedging. You can also use it to help you reclaim your clay.

In this video I show you how to make a plaster wedging board the easy way.

List of the Glazes I used in the book

To ensure the projects in the book were super accessible I used all commercial glazes. These are readily obtainable, though your local availability may vary. Here’s the brand and colour codes, I have listed the page references next to each:

Glazes

Bath Potters:
BP24S Lavender Brush on Pg 3, Pg 6, Pg 102, Pg 112, Pg 137, Pg 138, Pg 155
BP22P Shiny White Powder Dipping Pg 3, Pg 6, Pg46, Pg 49, Pg 56, Pg 60, Pg 109, Pg 112, Pg 155, Pg 158
BP19P Transparent Powder Dipping Pg 3, Pg 38, Pg 138, Pg 167
BP135 Turquoise Matt Brush on Pg 120, Pg 125
B373 Speckled White Glaze Powder Dipping Pg 62, Pg 69, Pg 125

Botz:
9890 Turquoise Granite Brush on Pg 3, Pg 4, Pg 6, Pg 38, Pg 75, Pg 109, Pg 112, Pg 155

Mayco:
SW - 150 Celadon Bloom Brush-on Pg 3, Pg 6, Pg 38, Pg 49, Pg 55, Pg 94, Pg 102, Pg 137, Pg 138
SW - 105 Frost Blue Pg 3, Pg 38, Pg 49, Pg 102,
SW - 401 Light Flux Brush-on Pg 6, Pg 38, Pg 49, Pg 75, Pg 94, Pg 100, Pg 109, Pg 112, Pg 125, Pg 138, Pg 155
SW - 158 Lilac Matte Brush-on Pg 3, Pg 6, Pg 94, Pg 102, Pg 137, Pg 138, Pg 155
SW - 167 Sand & Sea Brush-on Pg 4, Pg 6, Pg 38, Pg 49, Pg 71, Pg 94, Pg 100, Pg 109, Pg 125, Pg 155
SW - 201 Turquoise Brush-on Pg 50, Pg 55
SW-255 Gray Opal Brush-on Pg 40, Pg 50

Spectrum:
1180 Lagoon Brush-on Pg 50, Pg 55
1522 Soft Blue Brush-on/ Dipping Pg 6, Pg 40, Pg 50, Pg 55, Pg 94, Pg 129, Pg 138, Pg 167

Terracolor:
616 Ultramarine Blue Brush-on Pg 3, Pg 50, Pg 107, Pg 112, Pg 129, Pg 138, Pg 158

Underglazes (Brush on)
Spectrum:
508 Baby Pink Pg 3, Pg 160, Pg 164, Pg 167, Pg 164
501 White Pg 3, Pg 38, Pg 71, Pg 160, Pg 164

Amaco:
V - 386 Electric Blue Pg 164,
V - 326 Medium Blue Pg 160, Pg 164

Pg 174 Potter’s own

The clays I used in the projects were:
Bath Potter’s APC Buff Stoneware
SCARVA EARTHSTONE SPECKLED STONEWARE E-S109
SCARVA EARTHSTONE EXTRA SMOOTH CLAY E-S10

If you enjoyed my book and the videos - take a moment to consider joining my Pottery Club. My Pottery Club is a place where I share even more insights into my pottery world - real time video pottery tutorials, projects, recommendations, behind the scenes and lessons from my 15 Years of potting, PLUS limited edition work and seconds sales and in return you will be supporting my work - I’d love to see you there!

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